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The DJI Phantom FC40

Being in my early 30’s I no longer expect to receive big box presents from my parents on Christmas day but this year was a little special as they got me and my little brother a joint present… a DJI Phantom FC40 Quadcopter which is the entry level offering from DJI but it’s a powerful piece of tech which comes with a fixed mount 720p HD WiFi Camera that connects to a smartphone to provide a live video feed with a standard range of about 100 metres.

Our first flight was out in the fields by my house and I was immediately impressed by how responsive the controls were and also got to test out the automatic fly home feature when the controller loses communication, the quadcopter returned to our position and slowly descended for a perfect landing.

For the next flight I’m going to use a WiFi repeater to see if I can get a better range out of the WiFi camera as the connection cuts out between 50 – 100 metres away which limits flying distance.

The blog is back!

I’ve spent some time rebuilding the blog, and I’m slowly re-adding the blog posts so keep checking out the site for the latest posts from 2011 to 2014.

We’re coming home

Because we didn’t have access to WiFi for long enough in our hotel (it was ridiculously priced!) I didn’t have time to write my blog on Hollywood and San Francisco, so I thought I’d do it now.

I’m currently in San Francisco International Airport where I get 45 minutes of free WiFi so I thought I’d write a quick blog before we board our plane for the 10 hour journey home.

Hollywood was busy, and full of crazy people. Within minutes of stepping onto the famous Walk of Fame some guy thrust a demo CD into my hand and somehow I gave him $3 for it! Basically got mugged with a smile. On the 2nd day we decided to go on a tour of the Warner Brothers studio where they have filmed thousands of famous tv shows and movies such as Friends, Chuck, The Ellen Show, The Matrix, Dukes of Hazzard, 2 and a Half Men, The Perfect Storm, The Yogi Bear Movie, Scooby Doo The Movie, and so many more. The best part was our tour guide explained that the same streets and sets on the studio backlot had been used in countless movies and tv shows. All they have to do is dress it up slightly differently each time!

After a long drive along the California Coast road and a stop over in a little coastal town called Monterey we reached our final destination San Francisco and had to say goodbye to our little car which had shared the journey with us.

San Francisco is an incredibly interesting place, and not just because it’s the hilliest city in the world! It has something for everyone, and also quite a few homeless people, most of which are completely nuts.

We spent the first day riding the Cable Cars and the Street Trolleys (Trams to the rest of the world), and the next day we had booked two amazing experiences. A Segway Tour of the city, and a journey to Alcatraz Island. The Segway trip was awesome and I highly recommend to anyone to try one if you get the opportunity, and Alcatraz Island was incredibly interesting and although I’m not normally a fan of the Audio Tours you can carry around in famous places, I don’t think I would of learnt so much about the prison and its history without the tour.

So we’ve come to the end of our holiday and the last of my Route 66 Roadtrip blogs, but if you’ve enjoyed reading about our travels then keep checking back as I fully intend to continue blogging about interesting things that happen in my daily life.

See you all soon!

Tinseltown

SharonStone1I haven’t had a chance to write a blog while in LA as we have been using this as a chance to relax.

We are off to drive the California Coastal Highway tomorrow upto Monterey before continuing on to San Francisco. The next time i have Internet I will update you all on our time in Hollywood.