Equipped for THE Genealogy Show 2019?

I try to travel light!

As I prepare for my trip to the UK to attend THE Genealogy Show 2019 I need to think about packing. Prior  to THE Show Mr GeniAus and I are doing a Garden Tour, visiting some UK archives and graves of the ancestors and  catching up with a cousin. I anticipate being exhausted after THE Show so we'll be boarding one of our favourite cruise ships for some R&R.

My cases are open on the floor of a spare room and the bed is littered with clothing, medications and other essentials! 

This is what I must remember:

• Airport transfer - After a 23 hour flight we want our transfer to the hotel to be stress free.
• Books - I'll take a couple of unread books that I can swap on our cruise ship once read. Will also download a few eBooks from the local library onto my phone.
• Purchase breakfast bars, liquid breakfasts and healthy snacks for quick meals - packed.
• Deliver Paddy to his second home where he loves playing with his mate Freddo.
• Empty the Frig and Pantry - In Progress - they already resemble Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.
• Flights - Booked, Seats are allocated so no need to book in online.
• Foreign Currency - Task delegated to Mr GeniAus. Have GBP and Euros.
• Hotel Accommodation - All booked.
• Luggage - Two small suitcases are easier than one large one for an old girl to manage, I take one small carryon for the plane basically because I can't pack batteries and laptop in luggage for the hold. I can't understand why so many people carry such large bags on board - they must pack the kitchen sink. I could make do with a large handbag.
• Maps - Taking a UK road atlas and Western Europe SatNav (if you are renting a car for more than a week buy your own SatNav - works out cheaper).
• Mobile Phone and Battery Pack - We have a plan that gives us international roaming and a small data allowance. It is handy to be able to phone Mr GeniAus when I lose him in a cemetery or shopping mall. I had a dinosaur battery pack that is so heavy. Now have a lighter new one that give two charges.
• A Notebook - I lose loose bits of paper.
• Passport - Already in travel handbag with sleeping pills for the plane.
• Pegs and Laundry Soap -  No need to buy expensive "travel" products. 
• Pencil Case - a few pens and pencils and a small ruler that has a magnifying window(Handy for reading small print or old handwriting).

Nifty ruler with magnifying window 

• Phone the Banks and Amex:  Need to let them know we are travelling, helps them monitor for fraud - Done.
• Pills and potions - All sorted, have packed an emergency 'just in case' kit of favourites. A few days supply in handbag in case we part company with our bags.
• Plastic Plates and Cutlery -  Just two sets.There's nothing like a picnic dinner of bread, cheese,tomatoes and ham.
• Rental Car - another job for Mr GeniAus, done months ago. 
• Compile list of research tasks for The National Archives - In progress in my Family Historian Database.
• Clean off all my SD cards - have backed up all photos on them to two hard drives.

Storage for my SD Cards

• Technology: Digital camera and charger, Laptop, Portable 4 TB HDD Drive ( I download and tag my photos religiously most days), Chargers, Universal Adapters. Most of this stuff lives in a purpose designed case that doesn't get unpacked between trips.  Of course my mouse will be travelling with me, I can't get by without my mouse.
• Scan Travel Docs - Include copies of prescriptions for drugs and glasses, health report from GP, Passport, Credit cards, Driver's Licence. Save onto phone, hard drive, Google Drive and computer. Mr GeniAus carries a hard copy of files as well.
• Should I take a Selfie Stick? I have a cheap, light one and a quality reliable one that is heavy.
• Travel insurance - Renewed.
• Walking stick - needed for cities with cobblestone and uneven paths.
• Water bottle - Can fill once I have passed through security at airports.

My Travel Tech setup 

Specifically for THE Show

• Follow fellow Show attendees on Twitter - added a few new genimates to my feed already.
• Find out names of Aussies who are travelling to THE Show -- wonder if I have missed anyone?
• Conference Registration - Done
• GeniAus Business Cards - Packed
• GeniAus Ribbons - Packed
• Blogger Beads - which ones will I wear?
• Comfortable, professional looking outfit and shoes for when I'm on stage.
• A light day bag for conference - Packed
• A Schedule - Haven't studied the program in depth but need to have a spreadsheet in Google Docs or put everything into my Google Calendar. Needs to be accessible on my phone.
• Back up my presentations - Still fiddling with the order of my slides.Need to prune a few too.
• Technology - I take a few extra toys when attending a conference as I may want to blog, vlog or interview genimates. A dual headed microphone for interviewing with my phone, my headset and microphone and a webcam - all packed. 

Any further suggestions?

An Academic Family?

2019 is a year of travel for Mr GeniAus and me. As we trot around the globe I try to keep up with Geneanews and most days manage to share some Geneagems on my Facebook Page.

I somehow missed the release of the video about The Society Of Australian Genealogists  that I am sharing below. The intended audience of the video was retirees or seniors so those (except for Heather Garnsey) who featured in the video were closer to 80 than 18.

I'm a retiree who volunteers on The Education Committee at SAG and each year present a few talks, webinars and workshops on their Education program.

The Society, however, is not just for seniors. I think that I am the oldest person on the Education Committee! Many of the people who attend my talks are below retirement age and the person at the helm of the Society, our President, Melissa Hulbert, is young enough to be my daughter.

The narrator in the video described the Society Members as an Academic Family,  that sounds a bit offputting and pretentious to me. We members are not all academics we are a diverse community of passionate people and lifelong learners who are keen to discover our roots and share our ancestors' stories.

Silly Me!

I set the Six Feet Under Downunder site up in February and then took off to a genealogy conference, Rootstech,  in the United States. I came home for a couple of weeks and then took a cruise around China, South Korea and Japan.

The site is a listing of Australian Burial and Cremation indexes and records available online. I hope that the many generous genies around Australia who know of such indexes of  memorials, headstones and burial sites will share them with me so they can be loaded on the site. I will initially only link to free sites that are available online, sites that one can visit via the internet.

Now that I am home for a few more weeks I thought I would see how the site stats were going and add a few more resources to the pages. I was flabbergasted, there were absolutely no visitors, not one person had accidentally stumbled on my site!!

I fired up a different browser from the one in which I usually work and pasted in the URL to find that this site was Private and I could not access!

The site settings have now been changed so that YOU can now access my site, https://6feetunderdownunder.wordpress.com/

Genealogists for Families.

You may have seen the Kiva tab on the top of my blog page but have you ever clicked on the link to see what it is all about?

I have been a member of The Genealogists for Families Team at Kiva for nearly 8 years and in that time I have made 188 microloans to people in third world countries. Genimates who have joined Kiva as a result of my invitations have made another 158 loans. It is so easy to make a difference.

This week I made two more loans. How about joining me in the team. Click here for details