Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Riding the train from Brussels to Amsterdam, I feel the urge for a confession.  I am an innocent bystander who benefits from a certain addiction of Ken’s; however, I am embarrassed to disclose it as we are recently married and I don’t want to admit I am powerless over this.  His obsession is predominant, his comfort and agileness dependent upon this closeted secret that no one knows but me.  From the exterior he is a simple backpacker in search of adventure, but the caverns of his backpack expose an electronics hoarding compulsion unlike any other mobile nomad.

Here it goes, because isn’t the first step to admit that one cannot control one’s addiction?

1. MAC Book Air laptop
2. iPad
3. 2 iPods
4. iPhone
5. Kindle
6. HTC EVO (Droid phone)
7. 2 unlocked GSM phones with various SIM cards
8. Canon T3-1 DSLR camera with three lenses and a tripod
9. Canon digital point and shoot camera
10. Sony Cybershot camera
11. Battery charged STERI pen (UV purification)
12. Garmin GPS-activated watch
13. Flashlight (or as the English say, Torch)
14. 2 Headlamps
15. Headset (for video chatting)
16. 1 terabyte external storage (“passport”) device and two 32-gig memory cards
17. Travel extension cord
18. 10 electrical plug adaptors for every country on Earth
19. 12 separate power cords
20. And drumroll... the “piece de resistance”... a wireless “N” router.  Yes, he is “T.W.R.,” Traveling With a Router.  Our accommodations often offer us a manual ethernet cable for connecting to the Internet, but it is simply insufficient for such a collection.

May our electrical power grids be efficient, our batteries always be full, and the voltage be forever 110-220V.