A quick word about traveling with electronics...
Obviously, while you’re out having the time of your life, you’ll want to document your trip- preserving those amazing memories for the future, while stockpiling photos used to make your cubicle-bound friends back home sick with envy... Just in case you haven’t thought about it during your ‘Planning Phase’- you’ll need a camera to do this. A fancy D-SLR or a small hand-held, it doesn’t matter- you will definitely want to take a camera along for the ride. Inevitably, along with the camera come extra batteries, a charger, a cord for the charger, a camera case, power adapters and converters, maybe multiple memory cards, perhaps a flash drive or an external hard disk for storage/back-up*... You get the drift. Traveling with electronics turns out to be MUCH more than just popping your hand-held digital camera into your pocket. Take this into consideration when thinking about taking your laptop, your video camera, your eReader, your music player, your portable speakers, your electric shaver, your hand-held video games- anything and everything electronic ends up taking up about 3 times as much room as the device itself, and it all adds up to HEAVY. You may have to prioritize these electronics and the space/weight limitations of your backpack, and select accordingly.
Along with this, you will want to check the voltage parameters of any and all electronic devices you decide to take with you to determine if you will need an adapter, a converter, or (in most cases) both. Many high-end electronics (laptops, camera chargers, music players, etc.) are now designed to handle the wide range of voltages you may encounter when traveling abroad, but your everyday electronics (shavers, razors, dryers, etc.) may not be. Make sure to check on the parameters, and use the right converter when necessary. Otherwise, your electronics may go up in a puff of smoke- quite literally...
Also, while most backpackers adhere to the ‘Backpacker’s Code’, there is always the risk of theft. Expensive electronics are always in danger of being nicked, so if you are traveling with a virtual photo editing suite, use some common sense, make sure to keep a close eye on your belongings, and lock them up whenever possible. Some sort of baseline travel insurance is a good idea to protect yourself should something go missing during your trip.
*Sidenote: Always, always, ALWAYS back-up your media, and keep the back-up copy SEPARATE from the originals. There are few things more frustrating than losing photos, videos, and/or other media of the incredible places you’ve visited, the crazy things you have done, and the amazing people you have met while you’ve been traveling. It SUCKS- believe me... Avoid this tragedy by taking the simple step of backing up your media regularly while you are on the road. External hard disks/flash drives are TINY these days, and pretty cheap as well. Definitely worth the investment to have a place to store copies of everything you accumulate during your trip. If you’re not traveling with a laptop/netbook, use the computers at a local internet cafe (Double-check to make sure they have some sort of virus protection before plugging in- computer viruses are a very real hazard of ‘Computing on the Road’), or ask a fellow backpacker if you can borrow theirs for a few minutes to back-up your photos. They’ll understand where you’re coming from, and most won’t mind letting you use it for a few minutes. Again, it is DEFINITELY worth the time and effort. Besides, organizing and backing-up photos is a great way to while away some time on long bus/plane/train trips. If you do it while you are traveling, you will save yourself HOURS of organizing and editing after your trip.