Yeah, so I lost my camera in Bangkok. I was pretty upset when I discovered it wasn’t in the pocket of my bag where I’d been keeping it, the morning I had to head to the airport to catch my flight to Chiang Mai. But thinking about it later, I realized there were a bunch of ways the situation could have been worse. I’m glad this happened at the beginning of my trip to help me take these things in stride.
- There were only two days worth of photos on the camera.
- These were photos of a place (Bangkok) I already have photos of from previous trips.
- I was headed to one of the few other places on our trip (Chiang Mai) where a cheaper replacement could be easily purchased.
- I lost the camera after the last stop of the night with friends, at a small bar where one of them knows the owner. This makes it likely to be found.
- If the camera isn’t found, my parents can bring me the older (but nicer) one I just sent home since they’re meeting us in Vietnam.
It’s important to realize that these things will usually happen at some point, and being prepared to deal with them is one thing, but it’s nice if you’re lucky enough to have good timing. My sister has dealt with a broken laptop and a lost ATM card (ATMs here don’t remind you to take your card after a transaction). But she also somehow managed to lose these at the right times and places, allowing her to get them fixed/replaced with minimal hassle aside from staying sticking around an extra few days in a city.
In any case, getting a camera in Chiang Mai at the Thai equivalent of Best Buy was a “cultural experience…”
Canon cameras, fit for royalty...
Hey Danna!
Congrats on starting your amazing-sounding trip, but really sorry about your camera! I’m glad you were able to pick up another one, and I look forward to seeing the pictures you share throughout. When Alona told me you were planning to take this trip, I was immediately, insanely jealous. So, just so you know, I intend to live vicariously through you for as long as you roam. Love the posts so far, keep them coming!
Good conclusions. But there are other lessons that can be learned: 1) transferring the pics regularly to another media (laptop, external disc, uploading to internet, etc.) is important, you could have lost only one day of pictures or none; 2) loosing a laptop is more painful than the same issue with a camera, you lose a lot more info (not to mention money), so again doing a backup regularly could mitigate (or alleviate) the problem, that’s why I always bring a light portable external drive with me and have a copy of stuff on both; it’s good to have much of it as a backup back home, wherever it may be
, too, just in case you lose both… Uploading pictures of everything is too difficult I guess but doing it with selected pics would also serve as a backup of favorites and would provide your fans with a very fresh material. My two cents… Giving advice is soooo much easier than following them by yourself. I wish I did all these backups, uploads, etc. 
Well, I do SOMETIME but not regularly and this should be like brushing your teeth…
Dad
Thanks Dad — keep in mind that this happened on the second day of my trip. I definitely had plans to back everything up!
also, ALWAYS BRUSH YOUR TEETH! otherwise, you will lose them, too.