Queen Elizabeth proclaimed 1992 as an 'annus horribilis.' Queenie may have jumped the gun a tad, as many people would like to slap that catchphrase on 2009.

I'm not one of them, however. Though not without its challenges and stress inducers, 2009 was a good year for me, particularly in travel. Despite the collapsing economy and growing fears about the future, I went ahead and took a three-week trip to the U.K. in August. Two of these weeks I spent in a superb course taught by the excellent Michael Zam, "Modern British Drama in London." The third week, I went off to explore the Cotswolds and take in the Edinburgh festival. I returned home, broke but enriched.

But we're here to talk about travel gear. So beginning today and through the end of the year, I'll be blogging about some of the best travel stuff I bought for the U.K. and other trips this year. 

I'll start with the Samsung N120 netbook, which I reviewed for PC World. I did tons of netbook research before settling on this classy portable.

The keyboard is as comfortable as a netbook gets for extended typing. The battery has lasted me over 5 hours at a time, even with screen brightness all the way up and Wi-Fi on. It's compact, lightweight. The 1.3 megapixel Webcam enabled me to have good-quality Skype video chats with my partner Nick back home.

I paid $410 for the netbook from J&R back in late May. Though I didn't find the netbook on J&R's site just now, it is available at B&H for $330.

There have been plenty of new netbooks released since I bought the Samsung N120. Some might be better for your needs. But six months after the purchase, I'm still extremely happy with the N120.

Next time: the digital camera I bought for my trip, and why I love it. 

Amazon has released a free software update to the Kindle 2. It adds native support for PDF files. But even better, it lets Kindle 2 owners adjust the e-book reader's display orientation (a feature Amazon gave to the Kindle DX).

Switching to landscape mode somehow makes the text on screen seem as if it has a bit more room to romp around in. The reality is actually the opposite, however. In a typical e-book or publication (such as the Kindle version of The New York Times), you'll actually get more text on screen in the original portrait mode than in the new landscape orientation. Amazon touts the abilities to see more of a Web page and to magnify pages in PDF files as reasons to use the landscape mode. Whatever. I just like the fact I now have a choice.

In other Kindle musings, I've realized in the months I've owned my Kindle 2 that I don't particularly like reading books on it--especially fiction. When I read a novel in print form, I tend to develop a 'connection' to it, especially if it's a great book. A well-written novel is one of the most intimate forms of entertainment there is--it's just you and the author.

But on a Kindle, I've yet to feel a bond with a novel. In fact, it's quite the opposite. If I hit a tedious patch, I start thinking about all the other books I could download to the Kindle and start reading within a few minutes. Ultimately, reading a novel on a Kindle feels like speed dating, vs. a long-term relationship.

That said, I love using my Kindle to read newspapers.

I gave up my New York Times print subscription several months back to cut costs and reduce all the paper flowing into our home. And yet, I missed the Times. So I'm now subscribing to it on my Kindle. It's $14 a month for the 7-day-a-week subscription vs. $14.80 a week (at the non-discounted price) to have it dropped outside our door every day.

I did the math, folks: That's $168 a year for the Kindle Times, compared to $769.60 per year for the print version, a savings of $601.60. Not to mention the reduction in paper, ink, gas used to deliver the paper, etc.

So if you're thinking of giving someone a Kindle 2 for the holidays, and that person is a newspaper fan, you'll actually be saving them money. What better gift to give during a recessionary holiday season?