So you’ve flown halfway around the world to trek the Himalayas and live the simple Nepalese life of walking amongst mountains, eating healthy…all without a mobile phone or internet cafe in sight. Then suddenly, homesickness strikes.

When you finally reach civilisation, text messages and emails just don’t cut it: you want to see a familiar face and hear the sound of their voice.

What to do? Buy a USB Webcam of course!

USB Webcams mean you can beat the homesickness blues with face to face connections. Whether travelling for business or fun, what better way to get your point across than with a USB Webcam you can clip to your lap-top or connect to a computer at any internet cafe.

As with all recent technological innovations, USB Webcam technology has come a long way. Instead of the old-school grainy, black and white images that moved slowly in chunks, the latest models offer up to 33 frames per second (yes, per second, not per minute!) and some even have motion sensors, so you will never be out of shot!

For decent voice recording, so your voice is as clear as your picture, have a look at Creative Live!Cam Voice. This baby comes equipped with one of the most sophisticated microphones around so, forget about dodgy voice calls. It also has clear imaging and a spring-loaded base that clips to your lap-top or can sit on a desk.

The Creative Live!Cam Voice usually retails for $96.99USD, but you can buy it at amazon.com for $69.95!

Alternatively, try the Logitech QuickCam S7500 USB Webcam for a top quality image. The folks at Logitech have equipped this one with ‘Rightlight 2 technology’, aka awesome lighting detection, so you can say bye-bye to dimly-lit, blurry shots. It has a 1.3MP camera, and can handle up to 5MP pictures.

The microphone is also decent quality. Whilst this one doesn’t offer motorised technology to follow your every move, it will keep you in the shot if you don’t start on the star jumps mid-conversation!

Logitech QuickCam S7500 is available on Shopbot.com for between $58USD and $118USD.

Another truly handy USB Webcam is the IPEVO PoV Web Camera.  With this hand held or mounted device you can point and zoom in any direction to show off all the details around you.  Perfect for sharing any travel experience with friends, you can use the web cam to take photos or Skype.

It has automatic and manual white balance and gamma correction options to get the right light as well as a built in microphone for sound.  Take note, it’s only Windows compatible, but very portable.

www.ExplorerGirls.com / Gemma Considine & Courtney Crow

Photos: Logitech, CreativeLive, IPEVO