Hey Gadget Guru, where should I go on holiday?
Q Dave Fackrell, Preston
A
Seeing as you’re a reader of T3, Guru knows you won’t settle for somewhere that doesn’t indulge your tech desires. One thing you should be thankful for is the everexpanding global mobile coverage: if you happen to luck into the right combination of phone and network, most popular international holiday destinations have seen 4G upgrades in recent years – there’s nary a beach in the Canary Islands, for example, that doesn’t offer a way to ignore your family and/or those forgoing all concept of public decency. Watch for those horrendous roaming charges.
But that’s not enough, is it? So let’s explore proper tech destinations. GaGu suggests that any silicon-fancier’s world tour begins with the bright lights of Las Vegas. In January, Sin City hosts CES, while in April and May there’s the enormous, kid-friendly Science and Technology Festival. Even when there’s not a specific event to visit, Vegas contains locations of great gadgetary importance. Don’t dare miss a visit to the Pinball Hall of Fame, an otherwise-unassuming off-strip establishment that’ll knock your socks off.
San Francisco, to the west, has its own pinball palace – the Pacific Pinball Museum – and some very obvious places of interest; head a hundred miles down the road towards San Jose to find some of the world’s biggest tech companies. They won’t let you in, of course, but you can have a look, and the Apple Store on its Cupertino campus is the only place in the world you can buy official fruit-branded merch.
True gadget enthusiasts may be better heading eastward rather than west; Hong Kong is, naturally, bustling with new tech, and Shenzhen, just to the north, is quickly building itself a worldwide tech reputation. Visit its international market if you fancy finding yourself sucked into a vast mall with literally days of browsing on hand. Or if Japan is more to your taste, Tokyo’s Akihabara district is basically a crazy neon land of make-believe. Bring cash, expect to leave with none.