Ten, five, even two years ago, documenting a road trip meant disposable cameras, a fold-out map, postage stamps and planning ahead. Now a road trip means streaming video, GPS, email, and Hotels.com.

Even if you’re not rocking an iPhone or BlackBerry, I know from personal experience (like last month, before I had an iPhone) that you can still have a digital adventure with something as simple as the Sony Ericsson w580i. In fact, if I’d had an iPhone then, I wouldn’t have been able to take all of the embarrassing footage I ended up with after 62 hours in the car.