A weekly ode to the joys of moaning about your holiday, by Tim Roxborogh.
It's a shame that life lessons generally have to be learned the hard way. Like don't send angry emails unless you've slept on it and don't try to pull short balls for 4 until you've got the pace of the pitch. Another age-old gem is to not let your mates look after your camera in the same bag as they've put their wet swimming clothes. Particularly if you're backpacking through Southeast Asia and smartphones don't really exist yet.
This was quite some years back and there's a four-day camera-less blackout in my travel photos as I sailed upriver through Laos into Northern Thailand. Before the river adventures, we'd gone swimming and I hadn't taken a bag, so when a friend offered to put my camera in his bag, I didn't think to grill him as to the moisture content. About an hour later I asked for the camera, only to find the lens foggy and with drips visible on the inside. The camera would turn on, but alas, it had taken its final photo. All it could do was whirr; a sad, pathetic whirr.
I later found out I'd done the wrong thing by trying to take photos with a clearly water-damaged camera. All the (subsequently learned) advice seems to be: leave the camera overnight for a better shot at resuscitation. Then there's the rice trick. Whether with a good old-fashioned camera or with a smartphone, there's enough evidence that the rice trick really does work. At least in minor cases of water damage, that is.
So the YouTube tutorials tell us, bung your wet device in a tray of rice overnight and you'll maximise your moisture-removal potential. And if that doesn't work, then rest assured your camera is stuffed and you'll be relying on everybody else for your holiday snaps. At least until you reach Chiang Mai and you find a camera shop.
