{"id":915,"date":"2024-03-21T20:39:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T00:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/?p=915"},"modified":"2024-03-21T20:39:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T00:39:39","slug":"off-to-oz-and-other-ruminations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/2024\/03\/21\/off-to-oz-and-other-ruminations\/","title":{"rendered":"Off To OZ And Other Ruminations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next week I will embark on what I think may be the longest vacation trip I’ve taken since reaching adulthood.\u00a0 Taking my ninth Road Scholar<\/a> trip, I am flying to New Zealand for two weeks, and then on to Australia for another two.\u00a0 This is a trip I’ve long wanted to take, and it will also mark the sixth continent that I’ve stepped foot on.\u00a0 That leaves only Antarctica, and I’m not highly motivated to visit there, although I hear it’s fascinating.\u00a0 Well, one trip at a time, yes?<\/p>\n

Given my penchant for traveling light, I’m carefully considering what to pack.\u00a0 I’ll check one bag, carry on another, and keep my laptop and electronic devices close at hand.\u00a0 It’s just beginning Autumn south of the Equator, so I need to make sure I have appropriate gear for cool, but not cold weather.\u00a0 It’s mildly warmer in Australia, but I think what works in one locale should work in the other.\u00a0 Lightweight, easy-dry pants and shirts, with perhaps a parka and a hat will suffice.\u00a0 Choosing them is the task that I’m facing.<\/p>\n

Well, all of this wouldn’t be worthy of a blog post, so I’m adding some additional content.<\/p>\n

My father once kept a map of the world on the wall of his home office, and he’d place a pin on every country or city that he’d visited.\u00a0 It was an impressive display!\u00a0 I’ve tried to follow suit, but using modern technology, instead.\u00a0 For a number of years, the travel site Tripadvisor<\/a> had a feature where you could search the globe and mark every place you’d visited. It would then provide statistics, such as how many countries, states, cities, etc.\u00a0 I had quite a list, but it’s all but gone now.\u00a0 If Tripadvisor still has it, they’ve hidden it well.\u00a0 I couldn’t find it the last time I looked.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, during the early stages on my wonderful Greek Island Odyssey (also a Road Scholar<\/a> adventure) I happened upon an iPhone app called “Pin Traveler<\/a>.”\u00a0 I downloaded it and began logging the islands, cities and sites during that trip.\u00a0 It was such a great replacement for the Tripadvisor online-only experience that I bought the Lifetime Membership!\u00a0 I don’t recall the actual price, but it was something like $30 US.<\/p>\n

\"Pin<\/a>

The pins mark each place in Greece and Turkey I visited.<\/p><\/div>\n

Recently I was reminded of this app when I received an email from the developers announcing some new features and updates.\u00a0 I was delighted, as I do not like applications that become “abandon-ware.”<\/p>\n

Now for the down side.\u00a0 I have difficulty at times navigating the user interface.\u00a0 It’s easy to “drop a pin” and add comments.\u00a0 The app will locate (using the Google API) the city or place, but I’ve had a very difficult time gathering the locations into “trips.”\u00a0 The above screen, for example, is in my mind a single trip (my Greek Odyssey), but each element (Pin) seems to appear as a single trip instead of a segment.\u00a0 I haven’t found a way to back fill these individual pins into a single “Trip” entity.\u00a0 Perhaps that’s coming in an update?\u00a0 I’ve written to the developers, so we’ll see what happens.<\/p>\n

In any event, I’m hoping for this upcoming trip I can “pre-heat” the journey by creating a trip and then adding the pins as I drop them to it.\u00a0 Even if isn’t possible (or at least obvious), I will still have a record of the places I’ve been, and more pins and statistics I can share with those who may be interested.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next week I will embark on what I think may be the longest vacation trip I’ve taken since reaching adulthood.\u00a0 Taking my ninth Road Scholar trip, I am flying to New Zealand for two weeks, and then on to Australia … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfna.org\/rfo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}