Of particular interest to me (and probably nobody else, ha ha) is the equipment and software I use during these vacations. Obviously it has changed over the years, but a particular constant has been concerning:
Cameras Used
Notebook PCs and External Hard Drives or Flash Drives For Organization/Storage of Photos/Videos
GPS Navigation
Music En Route
Cameras used: I started with a Nikon D5100 D-SLR along with an Olympus E-PL1. Later I was using Sony NEX-C3 and then the A6000. In 2017 the A6000 fell into a river so I fell back on my wife's Nikon D3100. In 2018 I started using the Nikon D3300 and a pocketable Sony RX100. In 2020 I switched to an Olympus E-PM10 II. In 2021 I started using the Nikon Z50 which I've continued to use since, along with a pocketable Sony RX100 III.
The first two years, 2012 and 2013, for phone service we used Virgin Mobile phone service, a version of Sprint, and it had virtually no service in the area. I thus used Garmin Nuvi "windshield" GPS units, since they required no phone service and a Verizon flip-phone in case a phone was needed. Starting in 2015 I was now using Cricket phone service, a derivative of AT&T, and they usually worked in the area so I started using Google Maps on the phone more often. Music typically came either from the radio or a phone based MP3 player piped (awkwardly) through the car's stereo via a cheap FM modulator. Around 2017 I started using Pandora on a cell phone for music. By 2022 I was using Bluetooth natively without the need for an FM modulator. Starting around 2018 I was using CoPilot as backup GPS which works offline, in 2024 I switched to OsmAnd. I sometimes still have a Garmin Nuvi around as a backup too.
As of 2025, the equipment and software are as follows:
Cameras Used: Nikon Z50 and Sony RX100 III for myself (wife uses her phone, Moto G Power 2024), unchanged since 2021. Each uses a 128G Sony SD card.
Photos are offloaded to a notebook PC running Windows and FreeFileSync, with a portable external hard drive also used (previously used USB flash drives, but they were too slow)
Moto Stylus 5G 2024 phone running Google Maps for most GPS. OsmAnd is also installed for offline GPS usage in weak signal areas, sometimes a Garmin Nuvi is packed for this as well
Points of Interest are saved on a Google "My Maps" as GPS coordinates, and also this site, and also in a PDF which can be downloaded (and is printed off in case of hardware/software issues).
Music is provided via the phone and Pandora, which is typically sent to the car's audio system via Bluetooth. This allows music to be constant and free of searching (unlike radio stations which drift in-out as you drive) and helps assure you hear the driving directions since it's funneled through the car's music system and also interrupts the music itself
