Seekingpeace
Unpacking
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Astorga-SdC, CF, June 2023
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You'll need to define Social Media. For some WhatsApp (and the like) are SM, for others not.Looking for recommendations for sharing short updates with family… especially those not on social media?
That's what you want - you might want to make sure that the recipients understand that too!not wanting something that draws away from the focus of our walk with long/involved conversations & responding to comments
Just on this, whatever about a Blog, my travel experience has been heightened significantly by developing the habit of taking notes as I wander along. On a modern phone, most photos are geotagged so I can see exactly where I was when I took them, notes and voice memos then can flesh out the detail of that one photo (normally conveniently time stamped).Not looking for anything too involved like a blog
I always turn on location sharing with my husband and kids. Works great unless you break your phone!All good suggestions. In addition if you want to just let one or two people know where you are so that they can follow you on a map then Google Maps let's you share your current location.
This is what I used as I did not want to spend much time on my phone. I could create a footprint, add photos and videos easily, go back and edit if I wanted to and post it one time. When I got back, I ordered the book they offer and it completely blew me away! It is top notch and contains everything I put in plus photo captions and all the comments made by the people who followed me. In addition, things like the elevation and temperature were added to each post. Videos are included by way of QR codes and work perfectly! The whole book, mine was 195 pages, cost less than $90 including shipping and came in less than three weeks.I know that you said not a blog, but the app/website Find Penguins is super easy to use. The people that you invite to view it don't have to have the app or even sign up for the site. You give them access via a link, and you can set it as private or public. The benefit to you is that you only have to upload the photos once, and your friends and family can check in on your Camino any time. It also creates a map of your route as you walk.
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I used Find Penguins and noticed the same thing but the good thing is that I didn't have to change anything I was doing while walking. Now that I'm home and ordered the book that Find Penguins offers, I have a quality product to show anyone interested plus I can look back on my trip and relive so much.Another thing to consider.
In 2019 lots of friends and family were interested in what I was doing before I left and so I set up an email group and a group to share photos with on Google Photos.
Once I was walking I found that people were interested during the first week but after that their interest dropped off quickly and after about three weeks only one person was actually reading the photos and associated commentary and they were probably deleting the emails without reading them.
People have their own lives and mostly people are really busy and so I quickly drifted out of their attention zone.
The only person who kept up to date with my "postings" was my retired brother. I guess that he had plenty of available time for this.
This is worth keeping in mind. The Camino is a big deal for you when you are on it, especially that first time but for everyone else it has to fight for attention.
I recommend concentrating on you and your reactions to the Camino as it is happening rather than trying to capture what you are experiencing in order to share that with others.
Keep your own diary and if others are interested then you can share with them after you get back home.
I am leaving for my next Camino in three days and this time I am not planning on keeping anyone updated on my progress. If someone asks then, of course, I will update them but this Camino is for me.
My Camino was about a year ago and while I still have flashback memories of a particular moment, the details can be pretty sketchy. I used the Find Penguins app to create a daily footprint to which I attached pix and video. As long as I got a footprint started, it also contained the elevation and weather, details I would not have thought to add. I was able to edit footprints to add detail at the end of my day and once I posted, anyone following me could stay updated. Or not. Their choice. But now I have a printed book with everything. It is beautiful and well worth the $90 it cost and the book contains way more than any album I could create.You'll need to define Social Media. For some WhatsApp (and the like) are SM, for others not.
That's what you want - you might want to make sure that the recipients understand that too!
There are lots of good suggestions already but most are going to require the recipients to download/log in or at least navigate to certain websites.
The challenge for you will be sending the appropriate link(s) if they already do not use any of the main electronic communicators.
For any folk especially reluctant to go online you could start in advance of your departure and help them through the process.
It may be worth considering if one link will allow someone to follow the whole journey or if they will need to receive new links to see the new "content",
It may also be a good idea to clearly set out your purpose with this, otherwise the lack of an update or two or "deadlines" missed might lead to a stream of calls/texts and unnecessary anxiety. You might have done your research but they might have some strange ideas about where you're going to!
In fact, there's a good argument to be made for an almost complete "switch off" and a "no news is good news" policy. Perhaps one family member is nominated to be the contact and they get a regular message to say that all is good. The news filters out from them.
Is there anything to be said for a good ol' postcard?
Just on this, whatever about a Blog, my travel experience has been heightened significantly by developing the habit of taking notes as I wander along. On a modern phone, most photos are geotagged so I can see exactly where I was when I took them, notes and voice memos then can flesh out the detail of that one photo (normally conveniently time stamped).
Maybe it's me, but it's amazing how a daily routine like on a Camino can become blurry and confused over time. (In fact, there's a lot to be said for not being particularly bothered by what day of the week it is!) A daily flick through some photos and a quick read (or listen) of notes at the end of the day can really "bed in" the memories.
Not for anyone else. For you.
Buen Camino
All true. I was still able to create a footprint but sometimes had to wait for wifi to post it so others could read it. That was never a problem. Each footprint still had temp/elevation info attached and I was able to edit/add info/correct spelling and then post it for whoever was following me to see it.Also, in response to a DM, just to reassure anyone who might have concerns reading this post - gratefully the family members in question aren’t the reactive type and know that I tend to unplug while overseas. When I was a teen exchange student over 3 decades ago in a village of 500 with one satellite phone, I called them a couple days after I arrived and then didn’t communicate for 2+ months. I think the forums and U.S. embassy will be safe from panic!
I will, however, emphasize to them that 1) this Camino is for me and my son 2) wifi can be spotty at times along the Camino - just so they understand updates (IF they happen) won’t necessarily be linear or regular.
What is footprint?This is what I used as I did not want to spend much time on my phone. I could create a footprint, add photos and videos easily, go back and edit if I wanted to and post it one time. When I got back, I ordered the book they offer and it completely blew me away! It is top notch and contains everything I put in plus photo captions and all the comments made by the people who followed me. In addition, things like the elevation and temperature were added to each post. Videos are included by way of QR codes and work perfectly! The whole book, mine was 195 pages, cost less than $90 including shipping and came in less than three weeks.
Google Docs would work for this.I've only considered this method but it could work. It doesn't require anyone to use a tool they don't already have, only you can write to it and it should be private enough. Just keep writing to a file that is kept in the cloud in some common format that has an editor that you have experience with. Give it a weird name and permission for others to read. Then give others notification of where the file is so they can use their browsers to read it whenever they want.
On Find Penguins it's a new post.What is footprint?
In the Find Penguins app, a footprint is a post that you can name. Footprints will also contain the date and location and, I found out once I got the book, the elevation and temperature of the location where you created the footprint. You write the post and add pix and videos to each footprint. You can create as many footprints as you like. For example, when I was in Bilbao, I created a separate footprint of the Guggenheim Motion display.What is footprint?
I’m using Polarsteps and loving it. Both for keeping people informed and for me, to reflect on and record the day.Hello! Excited to be walking <3 weeks from now. Looking for recommendations for sharing short updates with family… especially those not on social media?
Not looking for anything too involved like a blog, and not wanting something that draws away from the focus of our walk with long/involved conversations & responding to comments… just something relatively simple where we can quickly jot down a couple sentences and maybe a picture or short video. Does such a thing exist, are there apps out there that make this easy?
I used What’s App….worked wellHello! Excited to be walking <3 weeks from now. Looking for recommendations for sharing short updates with family… especially those not on social media?
Not looking for anything too involved like a blog, and not wanting something that draws away from the focus of our walk with long/involved conversations & responding to comments… just something relatively simple where we can quickly jot down a couple sentences and maybe a picture or short video. Does such a thing exist, are there apps out there that make this easy?
I do the same.I always turn on location sharing with my husband and kids. Works great unless you break your phone!
Thanks for this info. Wondering if you take the photos in the app, or select them from your phone camera roll?In the Find Penguins app, a footprint is a post that you can name. Footprints will also contain the date and location and, I found out once I got the book, the elevation and temperature of the location where you created the footprint. You write the post and add pix and videos to each footprint. You can create as many footprints as you like. For example, when I was in Bilbao, I created a separate footprint of the Guggenheim Motion
The latter.Thanks for this info. Wondering if you take the photos in the app, or select them from your phone camera roll?
You select them from you camera roll. To make it easier, on my Android phone I can mark pictures as "favorites" with a redThanks for this info. Wondering if you take the photos in the app, or select them from your phone camera roll?
Yes, in a manner similar to copying files from your smartphone to your computer. For that operation your PC is the "master" and the phone is the "slave". You need a device called a USB OTG (for On The Go) to convert the phone into a master with the OTG becoming the slave. You hook a flashdrive into one end of the device and the other into the phone and then use a file manager app to copy the photos. (You can also copy photos from the phone to a flashdrive for backups this way.) The flashdrive you use to get photos from a camera is most likely one that you insert your camera's SD card into (but possibly your camera has USB connections that you can plug directly into the OTG or through a cable connection).Just to be pedantic and take us even more off course, it is also possible (at least on Android) to add "external" photos (from a camera, for example) to your "Camera Roll" and include them too.
Recently my cousin used What'sApp for the month she and her hubs were in Thailand so they were able to keep interested parties informed. However, the time difference meant that often we in the states were getting the pings when we were sleeping. Also, several of us ended up with all their pix in our pictures! They took a lot of pictures! It caused us to have to scroll through tons of pix to see things we needed to see. Because there was a concern that they had lost something in their travels that might have included their pictures, we were afraid to delete the ones we had until we were sure they had theirs.I used What’s App….worked well
I like this. Obrigada.I know that you said not a blog, but the app/website Find Penguins is super easy to use. The people that you invite to view it don't have to have the app or even sign up for the site. You give them access via a link, and you can set it as private or public. The benefit to you is that you only have to upload the photos once, and your friends and family can check in on your Camino any time. It also creates a map of your route as you walk.
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Also, those who follow you can opt out of notifications if they want.So to contrast WA to Find Penguins or something similar, notices to followers came by email and could be read during waking hours and none of my pictures showed up in anyone else's pictures
We used Find Penguins and loved itHello! Excited to be walking <3 weeks from now. Looking for recommendations for sharing short updates with family… especially those not on social media?
Not looking for anything too involved like a blog, and not wanting something that draws away from the focus of our walk with long/involved conversations & responding to comments… just something relatively simple where we can quickly jot down a couple sentences and maybe a picture or short video. Does such a thing exist, are there apps out there that make this easy?
I did that, so every day I'd just do a "reply all" w/o quoting previous content, and attaching 1-3 photo collages, so they'd transmit easier, showing scenes from my day. I'd strongly consider a WhatsApp group now, although not everyone has that (more universal o/s the US, in my experience, but more and more folks in the US have it now)Anything wrong with a simple group e-mail list? No apps required.
I second the Find Penguins app. I have used on road trips across the US when I was driving long fast days and wanted family to know my whereabouts. You must have your phone locations permissions on so that the pics and your track are live- posted. Family could see where I was by logging in. Pics and comments tracked with me. Once I was lost in the middle of nowhere New Mexico or Utah, not sure, I called them to see where I was and give directions because I couldn't get google maps. Weird but it worked.Hello! Excited to be walking <3 weeks from now. Looking for recommendations for sharing short updates with family… especially those not on social media?
Not looking for anything too involved like a blog, and not wanting something that draws away from the focus of our walk with long/involved conversations & responding to comments… just something relatively simple where we can quickly jot down a couple sentences and maybe a picture or short video. Does such a thing exist, are there apps out there that make this easy?
Thank you I just signed up to find penguins, it took 2 minutes.If you / your family members use Messenger or What’s app, you could create a family group before you go and send brief updates with photos / videos that way. Both will work with wi fi. And your messages will go to all in the group. Or you could use ‘old fashioned’ email. And you could let them know you probably won’t regularly respond to comments etc for the reasons you mention
Apps like Find Penguins (which I use) or Polar Steps are excellent but will require a little more set up
A problem with WhatsApp is that all the photos could end up in the recipients' photo galleries on their phones as @RibbonRomanceAuthor said:I'd strongly consider a WhatsApp group now, although not everyone has that (
Recently my cousin used What'sApp for the month she and her hubs were in Thailand so they were able to keep interested parties informed. However, the time difference meant that often we in the states were getting the pings when we were sleeping. Also, several of us ended up with all their pix in our pictures! They took a lot of pictures! It caused us to have to scroll through tons of pix to see things we needed to see
Picture mixups aside, the message notifications with time zone difference are more of a dealbreaker here. Both for my 80+ year old non-techie parents, *and* for me… my sleep will be disrupted enough on the Camino without people on the west coast pinging me at 3am!A problem with WhatsApp is that all the photos could end up in the recipients' photo galleries on their phones as @RibbonRomanceAuthor said:
For reference, my book that included all my footprints/photos/captions/comments from followers and videos came to 195 pages. Total cost including shipping was just under $90 USD.Hi @Sandcruiser . Good idea to have a trial run to explore! I also find it easy and intuitive.
The Travel Books are also easy to customise and have printed, if you'd like that keepsake when you return. Good quality too. Enjoy!
PS Something to bear in mind if you think you will want to make a printed book later. The more pages in the book, the more it will cost - naturally. And the book is not completely customisable, e.g. if you want to reduce the size of your book by deleting some words and photos for the book version - you can only do this by making those changes to the online 'footprint'. At least that's my understanding. I only upload some of my photos - you can mark them in advance if you want as @trecile mentioned at #31.
My location sharing is always on for hubby regardless if I am on Camino or at home. It has other pluses than just camino situations.I always turn on location sharing with my husband and kids. Works great unless you break your phone!
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