Feel the Power

My wife and I recently completed a trip to Havana Cuba as I mentioned in one of my previous posts. During that trip we quickly found out the importance of planning ahead.

Having brought along several pieces of electronic equipment for the trip: laptop, camera, battery charger etc. Only to forget the most important thing. A power adapter. We had a European power adapter at home, but I forgot to bring it along. I pretty quickly discovered this mistake when I attempted to use my battery charger for my camera and it promptly died. Pretty stupid.

Make sure that you plan ahead for these sorts of things. This one little error lead to running out of battery power for my camera at one of the most photogenic locations in Havana. The Colon Cemetery. This location had some beautiful stonework for various graves and tombs. Fortunately I got a few pictures, but not nearly as many as I would have liked.

If I'd been more careful I could have charged my batteries in the hotel lobby, but that is what I get for not paying attention.

Plan ahead.

NDrive Canada

NDrive Canada For the IPhone.

While definitely not the most feature laden Navigation Program available it is definitely affordable costing just $24.99 for the Canada version. The North America version cost $44.99.

The NDrive software has served me pretty well in Calgary. The directions are pretty accurate and it gives you enough time to get prepared for turns. I find the menus a bit odd and could use to be simplified and more intuitive. There are no monthly charges and you get lifetime updates to the map. It also claims you do not need any data plan to run the software.

Not the best app out there but its ok for the price. I give it 3/5

Stone Rings

When I was a kid I became very interested in neolithic sites. One of the most famous of these is of course Stonehenge. Unfortunately when I went there I found it to be a bit of a tourist trap and as such you generally can't get up to the stones. If you are interested in these types of historical sites there are many others that are less well known and much more easily accessible. A little bit of research and you can find all sorts of these sites both in continental Europe and across the British Isles.

I had the good fortune of visiting Orkney and for neolithic sites it is a wonder. You can find everything there from tombs - complete with Viking graffiti - to standing stones, to settlements. The neolithic village of Skara Brae overlooking the Bay o' Skaill and originally inhabited between 3200BC and 2200BC is an incredible site to visit and well worth a trip if you are in the area. The standing stones of Stenness are also quite beautiful, especially at sunset and are easily accessible - just watch out for the sheep. The Ring of Brodgar is another group of standing stones and is just down the road from Stenness - just a few minutes apart by car.

I took the ferry from Gill's bay to St. Margaret's Hope to get to Orkney, driving up from Inverness but it is also possible to fly to Kirkwall from other locations in Scotland to get there.