Flashpackers stay home!

Well, as Dorota enters her 11th last day prior to departure from Berlin for Accra, the coming week will hopefully see me have a return plane ticket in hand and vaccines in bloodstream as part of my own preparations. I'm also waiting to be sent an invitation letter from a local organisation so I can get a 3 month business visa and then all will be set - apart from the packing that is.

After reading an interesting article recently about flashpackers (backpackers with a colossal amount of tech gear in their rucksacks), I've decided the most sensible thing is to leave behind my laptop. It'll only be a nuisance to carry around and consume time that could be better spent learning Twi and meeting people in Kumasi, playing the guitar, not to mention the detrimental barrier to communication that it poses between couples.

My laptop has it's time and place - but this time and place will be best served with my friend Gerald, who has been thinking of getting a laptop for a while. He'll have a free one for a year now and can then decide whether he wants to splash out on his own. And I'll have pain free shoulders when I transport my luggage.

So that's one load less to think about mid-October when I am wedging stuff into my bag. Now, how about the digital camera? yip, no need for that either I think. If I'm desperate I can always get a disposable somewhere. MP3 player that I got from a friend en route to the Mid-East last year? Well, it's very handy for language learning and doing interviews, and most importantly is tiny and weightless. Mobile? Hmmm, well it's also weightless and small and a must for emergency contact, so best bring that too. For sure nobody will pinch it even if I left it behind somewhere as it's falling apart.

On a less tech but still on the bulky side, the classical guitar will also have to be left somewhere in Ireland. I already managed to find a grateful new owner for my acoustic guitar in Poland prior to travelling to Dublin. Hopefully I can pick up a cheap one in Kumasi to avoid losing my mediocre talent.

Knowing that I will be away from TV, my laptop and the multi-faceted digital assaults one must endure in Dublin for a year is quite therapeutic. I'm looking forward to meeting more people face to face and not on facebook! Surely that is the proper foundation for inter-cultural networking.