App review- Orange Diary

Since I decided I am not going to bring a laptop and will strictly stick to using my phone to record trip logs, I did some hunting around on Google Play for a suitable journal-keeping app.

I started out with EmoCube and Memoires and tested them for a bit before giving up on both of them. I really liked EmoCube because it provides easy sharing link to FB and Twitter, but since each post was only allowed 1 single pic attachment, it's really more suitable for single-occasion uses and not for continous logging purposes.

Memoires was next on the list to try. The interface was really awesome, it even records GPS locations of each entry and weather at that time using google map. Everything looked fantastic... until I tried to share it. To my disappointment the sharing features in Memoires was super lacking. The fancy weather and location feature doesn't get shared through to other social medias so that was the major let down.

So finally I came to this - Orange Diary. While lacking the location and weather record features, it had two major selling points for me.

1. It has all the features perfectly suited for recording travel logs. Journal functions, reminders, and expense records are all laid out in easily accessible fashion and not hard to use.

2. It auto backs up data into google docs, spread sheets, and dropbox! Now best of all, it supports blogger publishing! The latter was totally worth the purchase since I have long loathed Blogger's own publishing app. Actually, this review post was entirely written on my phone and published using Orange Diary to test its functions. So far it met all my needs and I give it two thumbs up. I am going to do some more tests to see if I can really ditch my EeePC for this next biking trip.

The Map

THE map, 2012 version.

To me, travel is...

As I search for books and articles that would provide some insight about my upcoming China trip, I was increasingly annoyed by all the travel books and guides out on the market. 

"Travel" has cheapened in the present day. In practice and in concept. 

Browsing on Amazon, I couldn't help but feel that somewhere in the process of mass reproducing these travel success formulae the magic about traveling and exploring the unknown got left out of the mix. 

Modern day travel is really more about management than physically exploring terra incognita. Travelers meet their expectations by carefully managing their logistics and expenses for maximum entertainment value -  with the help from Frommer's or Lonely Planet. 

Just like how we have developed expectations about movies, (oh you knew what you were getting when you sat down for Titanic 3D!) certain expectations are set before we even leave home, and once we leave the house, all that's left is completing the checklist. Familiar much? Yeah, project management 101! "Initiate, design, implement!" 

To me, by-the-number tour routine is anathema to the idea of traveling. 

Travel should be about living while on the move. What you are able to experience while traversing across the land, that's something the books certainly don't talk enough about but that's what I think makes travelling so alluring.

Well, all that rambling is really just me saying, pretty much all the travel books out right now are crap, if you want to make travel fun, I think ditching your Frommer's or Lonely Planet would be a good start. As for my trip, still thinking about what to make of it. Just pure urge to go out and explore? Or is there something deeper behind the drive to do this grueling trip again? Still figuring it out...