Misc Affiliates

Coopers Brew Products  The Cooper's Microbrewery Kit comes with everything you need to get started; the 6-gallon drum, bottles, caps, and all the accessories.  We recommend starting off simple, pick some beers you like and get the complete kit (try a variety of 'flavors' to see which you like best).  At Makebeer you can order complete "Beer Kit Packages" which include the beer kit, brewing sugar and/or malt extract, and carbonation tabs.  We have tried and like the following:  IPA (India Pale Ale), Real Ale, Pilsner, Wheat Beer, and the Sparkling Ale.  We have also tried a few of the Dark Ales, but they just don't compare to Guinness out of the tap!  Read some of our brew tips for cruisers on our What Works page.

Seriously you WILL thank yourself!!

eBay New or used, ebay is a good place to find a great deal.  And if you're getting ready to jet-off use ebay to sell off your unneeded goods and boost your travel kitty.  Just be careful you don't get carried away in the excitement of the auction: know what you can buy the product for elsewhere to ensure you don't over-bid!

Buy.com From computers to cameras to books, Buy.com has a large range of stuff to select from at some pretty decent prices..

Lonely Planet Guide Books We've used a number of guide books for our travels, and have found we continue to come back to Lonely Planet. We like both the traditional country guides as well as the "On a Shoestring" guides.  We recommend the Shoestring guides for countries where you might venture inland for longer periods of time and are looking for an inexpensive way to travel.  Otherwise stick to the traditional country guides, as they have budget options as well.  You can buy guides for individual countries or multiple-countries (for example "South Pacific & Micronesia Guide" contains  22 of the small Pacific Islands/Countries).  We recommend the multi-country guides for small island-countries, but for the larger countries or for a country where you plan to spend an extended amount of time we suggest you get an individual guide (the multi-guides save space and money, but they do leave out some information). 

Also consider their phrasebooks (small enough to actually carry around), and if you are especially into wildlife watching, diving/snorkeling, or hiking consider one or more of their activity guide books (one we really found useful was "Tramping in New Zealand")..

Finally, be aware that books in New Zealand and AU are outrageously priced compared to the states (example:  The AU lonely planet guide in AU is $47 AUD which is about $42 USD, however bought in the States it is $30).  So, try to get the books you need ahead of time!!!

e-Book Travel lighter; leave the paperbacks at home and go with an e-book! While you might not be able to find the latest-newest releases, the selection is still pretty good, and the prices are great.  You will need the free reader software, and you'll either have to use your laptop/computer to read the books, or purchase a hand-held device. Most devices can fit 200+ titles - think of all the weight you'll save!

newegg.com carries a full range of IT components to Consumer Electronics. While their prices are still competitive they can tend to be a couple of dollars more than other electronic sites. However you can sometimes find things here not available at other sites.

We use Adobe Photo Products to manage and edit the thousands of photographs we take along the way.  Adobe Photoshop Elements provides an awesome photo organizer along with an easy to use editor.  If you are a serious editor you can combine Elements with the full powered Photoshop tool.  Adobe Lightroom is another Organizer/Editor tool, but we have not yet reviewed it.  For video editing try Adobe Premier (while we don't use Premier, it has gotten good reviews across the board).

Vista Print What do you need business cards for if your traveling or cruising?  How about for all those new friends you'll make along the way ...what better way to keep in touch then to hand out a card with your phone, email, and/or BLOG site?   You can also use Vista Print to create your stamps, stationary, and more. See our Boat Card and Boat Stamp.

Yahoo While our S/V Billabong website is graciously hosted by www.neoscape.com, we host our creative-cruising.com website with yahoo.  They have good prices for both domain purchases and web hosting, and their web managing tools are easy to use.

With Skype you can call all over the world for almost nothing.  It doesn't get any cheaper than this.  We use Skype whenever we are at port, and now many internet cafes are offering Skype-calling services as well.

Land-based?  Skype is still for you; now with voicemail, text messaging, and more, you can use Skype to call State-to-State or around the world.

FoodSaverIt's a luxury to have a vacuum packer, but really amazing how much longer things will last.  We even know people who vacuum spare parts (that they don't plan on having to use for awhile) in order to prevent rusting.  While you can purchase a FoodSaver or vacuum sealer at other places, the FoodSaver website usually offers some pretty good discounts.

Drugstore.com We used this online store for discount buying before we left (deodorant, toothbrush tips, skin moisturizer, etc).  Now that we're "out here" we use the online store to order the items and brands that we can't get (and are really desperate for).  If someone is coming to visit, we can order and have it shipped to their house to bring to us, or if we are going home it saves us from having to run around while we're home, and leaves more time for visiting.

Clothing + Accessories When it comes to clothing, travelers today have it made.  Light-weight, quick-dry, no wrinkle sports clothing is available just about anywhere.  Some of the brands we have onboard are:  Columbia, Teva, Chaco, Keen, Nike, Camelbak, Smith, Patagonia, and North Face.

These brands and more can be found at Altrec.com and Sierra Trading Post.
You will also find our recommended shoes, hats and other accessories in our amazon.com a-store.
 

Barnes + Noble Good books, good prices, good selection.  Need we say more?