Vincent Blake | June 03, 2008
FEW Tech warriors are as crazy brave as Rebecca Campbell, who has so many gadgets, chargers, cords plugs and batteries in her backpack that there is only room for three changes of clothes for a 33-day global trek.
Rebecca Campbell took on the challenge of being a Skype Nomad
The Sydney-born, London-based advertising copywriter took on the Skype Nomad challenge to travel non-stop around the globe.
The gear she is carrying is cutting-edge stuff. Skype kitted her out with a four 3G phones a MacBook Air, a Sony PSP with Skype, a Panasonic HD video camera that writes to flash memory cards and a Canon Ixus digital still camera.
The Skype Nomad deal includes a rider that Campbell is not allowed to stop moving during the 33-day round-the-world trip, which includes travelling in jets, on dog sleds, on camels, in canoes and sky-diving.
Skype really means non-stop - Campbell has to sleep in something that is moving, such as a boat, train or plane; leisurely dining has been organised in revolving restaurants, and other meals are figuratively and literally taken on the run.
Tech Warrior caught up with her last month on the Ghan an hour out of Adelaide heading for Alice Springs and then Darwin.
"It has been a bit of a whirlwind for the past 12 days. It has gone quickly and the days merge into one big day," she says, looking at the broad-acre vineyards as the Ghan heads north.
The 3G mobile reception beyond the Adelaide hills was fine, but that had not been the case a few days earlier when she was on the Indian Pacific heading east from Perth. Her phone reception crossing the Nullarbor Plain was not as good, she says.
"We passed about four people in 30 hours," she says indicating that any business case to provide mobile reception would not rely on locals.
"Because Australia is home, I had forgotten how desolate it is in some places."
Earlier in this long, foggy constantly-on-the-move-nomadic journey, she was in China cruising the Yangtze River.
"I had pretty much a full-bar signal about 95 per cent of the time in China. It was great," she says.
The full 3G signal included day trips to places such Fengdu, a little ghost town on Shenlong Stream.
"We went there as part of the tour, past mountain villages, past men pulling boats and women in rice paddies.
"There were people but it was sporadic, probably 20 in a day." Sparsely populated as it was, it was all covered by 3G mobile phone reception, she says.
The boat trips were her favourite when she spoke to Tech Warrior.
"The boat trips are the best. The train trips are very rocky, but the boat feels like you are still, even though you are moving," she says.
These relatively quiet times let her catch up with updating her blog share.skype.com/sites/nomad and to edit and post videos and stills.
"I have a lot of memory cards and a backlog of editing, that's for sure.
"I have a MacBook Air. I'm editing video with Final Cut Express and stills with iPhoto.
"The MacBook Air is fantastic. I have the regular black MacBook at home, which I splurged on about six months ago. I thought it was really light, but it's nothing compared with the Air."
Shortly after Tech Warrior spoke to Campbell, however, she posted a blog saying her MacBook Air had an unreadable screen.
Like the rest of her blog it is no-holds-barred. if the gear she had was not up to the task, she would nail it.
On May 6 she wrote: "Only one of my four phones works and my internet has been down. Less than 24 hours in and the idea is already proving to be a challenge. Everything always sounds great in concept. Different when you are actually the warm body having to execute it."
Similarly with her experiences of the Great firewall of China on May 7: "I'm in Beijing airport at the only internet point with a lot of frustrated travellers who can't get into their emails. Yahoo works but is temperamental. Hotmail and MSN are no-go zones. The connection is really slow. I'm going to be careful with what I say in the airport with so much security about."