Tips For Healthy Travel

We’ve discussed health and travel before, but if you’re going to travel healthy, there are some things we can add and there are some things that bear repeating!

We’ve said that you should be healthy when you leave on your trip. A last minute cold aside, you don’t want to be climbing on a plane if you have the flu or some serious illness. That seems obvious, but people do it all the time. Not only will you be miserable, but you might be infecting others on the plane with you.

Most people can leave on a trip without consulting their doctor, but for some itineraries, it’s wise to get a check-up. If you’re planning a trip to an exotic location, meet with your regular doctor or your travel medicine doctor.

Find out if you need any vaccinations or medications for your trip. They can probably give you a prescription for a broad spectrum antibiotic and give you instructions on how to take it in case you get diarrhea and need it.

If you have some health issues, like a heart condition or something that limits you, discuss with your doctor the proper care you should take for those conditions to keep your travel healthy.

Make sure your teeth are in good shape too. If you’ve had some little pains in a tooth, go get it checked out. My spouse had resisted getting a wisdom tooth extracted for years. It had broken, but didn’t bother her. She started having “twinges” on that side of his mouth, but she was sure it was further forward. I told him it was probably that tooth, and it would probably blow up on him when he was on the plane! Turns out the tooth had decayed since his last checkup. She got the tooth extracted and we had a great trip.

Be sensible about what you eat and drink on your travels. Eat what you like, but if things look unhygienic, you might want to take a pass. If food looks like it’s been sitting out for the flies for a few hours, you wouldn’t want to eat it anyway.

Try to eat nutritiously. If you have a dietary restriction, try to learn how to say it in the local language (or get it written down). And let the restaurants know. Ask if they can help you if you need to avoid something for health reasons.

If you have serious food allergies, like allergies to shellfish or peanuts, you should carry an EpiPen or its equivalent. Of course you’ll try to avoid the culprit, but in a foreign country, you may not get your point across, so it’s better to be prepared. A precaution like this not only keeps your travel healthy, it could keep you alive!

Drink bottled water in places where the water isn’t safe. It is usually pretty easy to tell where that is. Drink tea or coffee made with boiled water, or drink bottled or canned soft drinks, beer or wine.

You have to watch your own hygiene as well as the water and the food. Make sure your hands are clean. Wash them before eating or use those hand sanitizers that are available now. They come in small packets that you can take in your carry on luggage.

Get in shape for your trip so you’ll feel good about all that walking and all those stairs. Try to get plenty of exercise when you’re on your trip. And get plenty of sleep.

Sure you want to run around and not miss anything, but if you’re going to travel healthy, you need to rest. That way you will be able to keep going, and you will see it all.

Multi-Generational Holiday Ideas

Multi-generational holiday ideas are not all that hard to come up with. You do need to think about how you are going to accommodate the different generations, and how you are going to keep everyone occupied, but you have a lot of options if you just start using your imagination.

Some grandparents want to create once-in-a-lifetime adventures with their adult children and their grandchildren.

One way to holiday together as a family that seems to be very popular among people we’ve talked to is cruising.

Cruising offers the best of both worlds depending on the cruise line you choose. You can be all together as a family as often as you want – especially at meals – and you can go off and enjoy different activities when you feel like you might want a little space for yourself. Some cruise lines cater to families with small children, some don’t. So choose your cruise line according to your needs.

Sometimes the planners choose multi-generational holiday ideas that are more out of the ordinary or meaningful – perhaps a safari in Africa or renting a house or villa far from home. Villas in Tuscany and Provence are easy to arrange. You can find places to rent for your family all over Europe and America for that matter.

You don’t have to go far, far away. You could just choose to take a house in one of your favorite Holiday spots. Or rent a couple of apartments, side by side in Bali or Phuket. Two apartments gives different generations more chance for some quiet time when they need it.

You could choose a resort someplace tropical. The Fiji is a great spot for this. Choose the right one, and there will be something for everyone. Be careful though. Remember that not all resorts are open to the youngest generation. At one of our favorite scuba diving resorts, children under 5 are not welcome. If you want to go scuba diving together, the kids should be over 10 anyway to be certified.

If you’re looking at all inclusive resorts, keep in mind that some all inclusive resorts are for couples or singles only.

If your family is into winter sports, another multi-generational Holiday idea is to go to a ski resort: where the grandparents can ski and the younger generation will most likely be snowboarding in a different area. Everyone can enjoy some family togetherness around the fire in the evening.

Dude ranches are another great option with lots of activities for all ages such as horseback riding and swimming. Why you might even get to try a little roping or something!

Exploring National Parks anywhere in the world can be a great educational opportunity for all the generations.

For families that love the outdoors, camping is a great option. Tent camping is affordable. Some families opt to take their own or rent recreational vehicles. Wild areas and cities all over the world have spaces for these.

If your family is more the rugged outdoor type, you could try backpacking. When we hiked into the Grand Canyon years ago, we encountered a multi-generational group of hikers. The grandparents had hiked the Grand Canyon several times. Everyone was keeping up and carrying their own weight.

I’m sure that now that we have you started, you can come up with some great multi-generational holiday ideas of your own – ones that will fit your budget and be just perfect for your family to create some great memories.

Travel Preparation 101

We think lists are good to help you remember everything: a travel preparation list, grocery lists, honey-do lists. Notice the order we put those in? Might make you think that travel is more important to us than eating. And you might be right! But then you would expect that, wouldn’t you, since you know how much we love travel.

Our travel preparation list is a little different from our pre-departure checklist. Actually, this one is kind of a combination. There are just some times you want to make a couple of lists and check things twice. You don’t want to be half way around the world and have an anxiety attack because you can’t remember if you turned the water off off somewhere.

We actually have our travel preparation list (or should I say our lists) in the computer so we can print it out before each trip and check things off as we’ve done them or packed them. Even as much as we travel, and as routine as packing is, we want to make sure we don’t leave something at home.

I actually don’t like packing. It’s probably the part of travel I like least, but my list gives me a starting point. I print it out, and it helps get me motivated. I try to get going a couple of days before we leave. I know some people who say, “I always just throw some things in the night before.” If that works for them, fine. I’ve done that too, but I prefer having a day or two in case I need to do a last load of laundry or pick something up at the store that we’ll need for the trip.

You know we love telling stories on ourselves to illustrate our points, so here’s another: We were going to Brazil a couple of years ago – to see Rio de Janeiro and Iguazu Falls, but the focus of the trip was the Pantanal. We were going to see birds, and if we were lucky, jaguars. So we packed our “safari clothes”, our bug repellant, and our Pepto-Bismol, and off we went to the airport. As we were boarding the plane, we looked at each other and said, “Did you pack the binoculars?”

Neither of us had! Can you believe it? We were on a birdwatching trip without binoculars.

Good thing there was a duty free shop upon entry into Brazil. That saved us some embarrassment, but the whole incident shows you that anyone can forget something they’ll need on a trip. It also proves the point we often – if you forget something, you can always get it there.

Now that does not mean you should pack everything you might need “just in case”. We advocate packing light and that means packing smart. A travel preparation list, a packing list, a documents list, a pre-departure checklist. Any or all of those will help you keep your packing light, and give you peace of mind once you’re on the road that you haven’t forgotten something.

Salary Sacrifice for Personal Travel

One member this week has been pleasantly surprised by the news that they can salary Read more

Unjustified Travel Trepidation

You might think that with all the travel we do, we would have no travel trepidation. I can see where you might be justified to assume that, but you’d be wrong. We just got back from a wonderful trip that makes for a good example.

We had some free time in November. But at that time of year, weather has to play a role in where you’re going to go. We talked about going wine tasting in South America or maybe going to Tunisia in North Africa – but we settled on Israel.

Or should I say, my hubby really wanted to go to Israel. I slowly let myself be talked into the trip, but I have to tell you, I had more than a little travel trepidation about the goings on in the Middle East.

Counties that routinely end up in the news with stories about violence tend to set many travelers on edge, and you have to admit, Israel has had it’s share of unrest. I was so ambivalent about this trip, that I didn’t do much of the planning at all, actually I didn’t do any!

When you start telling friends about a destination like this, you’re apt to get a lot of negative feedback. We got that when we went to Jordan and later when we went to Dubai and Oman, but we didn’t let that stop us. We definitely got some negative feedback when we started telling people we were going to Israel. Things like, “Aren’t you scared going there?” or “Keep your head down.”

We both kept saying that things had been pretty quiet recently, and that if anything flared up, we’d just go to Pismo Beach, California! But nothing flared up, and there we were on the plane.

We practiced what we preach. We stayed in a local hotel. Not a big name glitzy one that could be a target. We left all of our jewelry at home. We dressed conservatively so as not to offend anyone, and we tried not to stand out.

Just like we’ve found on most trips that make you stretch a little, my travel trepidations were pretty much unfounded on this trip. We arrived in Jerusalem without any reservations. The Israeli Tourist Information desk in the airport was able to get us reservations at a nice little local hotel about a five minute walk from the Jaffa Gate to the Old City.

People had warned us about walking in the Old City at night. But it gets dark early in November, so once we got to our hotel, what did we do but walk into the old city to find a great little Armenian Tavern for dinner.

The whole time we were there, we walked in the Old City at night and had no problems. There was all the usual hub-bub in the bazaars, but the “step-into-my-shop”, “you’re-my-lucky-customer” merchants were polite and friendly when we said no.

We took the local blue bus 21 to Bethlehem and had lots of help from locals once we got there. When we looked lost catching city buses in Jerusalem, we also had help.

Each day that went by with more fantastic experiences, I felt sillier and sillier about the travel trepidation I had had. The point is, if you have travel trepidations, but you really want to go someplace, do your research.

If it’s really unsafe, stay away. But most places are safe to travel to, even places that are often in the news. Face down your fears. Once you’re there, you’ll be glad you did!

Our Travel Preparation Checklist

So we’ve been encouraging you to make lists. Lists like a travel preparation checklist and a packing list. You do it for groceries and for projects around the house. Make a list for your travel preparations too.

We thought that it would be a good idea to show you our list. We actually have a file in the computer for each list so we can print them out before each trip. These are items we think you need to think about in the last week or two before departure: a travel preparation checklist.

You could always start a list as soon as you begin planning your trip. We’ve discussed that in the past too, the early things you need to do like research visa requirements, talk to your travel agent for complicated itineraries, make airline reservations.

If you’re going to try to use frequent flyer points, you might even want to start with that. My sister made reservations for a trip to Italy 330 days ahead, so she knew she would get the dates she wanted!

In those last couple of weeks before you leave, you’re still busy with work, and the kids, and social obligations – so a list will help you stay on track to get ready for your trip. Use your list to check things off and get the right things ready to pack.

Here’s our list:

Call credit card companies and banks about ATMs and debit cards – tell them where you’re traveling and when.

Make sure all bills are paid. Check your available credit on cards if you think there might be a problem.

Get extra cash from the bank, tens, twenties, and hundreds. Just in case your ATM or credit card doesn’t work for some reason, cash will.

Put jewelry and valuables in a safe deposit box.

Make arrangements for pets: pet sitters or kennels and notify the veterinarian. (We do this for long trips or when we had sick and old animals. We left permission slips for our neighbors and family to take the dogs or cats in for treatment.)

Mow lawns and water lawns and garden. You don’t want the house to look unoccupied.

Get neighbors to pick up mail and newspaper (or stop the mail and the paper).

Leave keys, itinerary and photocopies of passports with trusted relatives or neighbors.

E-mail yourself important phone numbers and information – to an online account that you can access when you travel.

Make last minute reservations such as rental cars.

Pack medications and extra glasses or contacts. Take copies of prescriptions if you have them.

Lay out the clothes from your packing list. Pack a day or two ahead so you’ll have time to get the last minute laundry done.

Get passports, visas, and all travel documents together in your travel bag.

Double check that you have all passports, visas and travel documents in your bag!

Check electronics such as pack adaptors and converters. Remember binoculars, camera (and batteries, memory cards or film)

Set timers for lights in the house.

Turn down the thermostat and the hot water heater.

Turn off water to the washing machine.

Power down your computer and unplug small appliances.

Make arrangements to get to the airport on time.

As much as we travel, we worry about forgetting things too. Our list keeps us on track. Use our list to make up a travel preparation checklist of your own. If you’re organized, getting ready to travel is less stressful.

How To Get To Florence

You’re planning a Tuscan holiday, so how do you go about getting to Florence to start it? You know that when you’re going to London, Paris, Rome or New York, you can fly directly into those cities from almost anywhere in the world. What about Florence?

It really is pretty easy. We’ve driven in, flown in, and taken the train into Firenze depending on our itinerary.

You can’t fly non-stop there from Sydney or New York, but getting to Florence by air is an easy connection through Paris, London and of course from Rome and Milan. And the Vespucci Airport is a cute little easy-to-navigate airport fairly close to town only 4 km away.

Florence is a major connecting point on the Italian railway network, so getting to Florence by train is easy from almost anywhere in Italy. The Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (Firenze SMN) is within easy walking distance to the center of town.

We actually took the train from Florence to Rome. Getting tickets at the station was easy. They even told us that our group of four qualified for a group discount! The train takes only an hour and a half, and if you want to, you can stop and see Orvieto on the way.

Getting to Florence by road is easy. There are a couple of major motorways that link it in all directions to the rest of Italy. Getting INTO Florence with your car presents the same problems as getting into any big city.

The touristic city center may be small, but the city is good size, and you’ll encounter traffic and congestion. Once you get close to the old city center, you’ll run up against one-way streets and pedestrian only zones.

We’ve included Florence in a couple of driving trips through Italy. The first time, we drove in with only a street map, and we got lost and frustrated trying to find the hotel and then the garage. That’s not a good way to get into town.

We learned a lesson there, and you can learn from us. Get good directions before you drive into town. Stop and ask questions if you get lost or run up against a pedestrian street getting to your hotel.

The last time we drove into Florence it was easy. We ran into one of those restricted zones about a block from our hotel, so we did have to stop. I ran around the corner and asked what to do about the pedestrian zone.

They told us that guests can drive in to drop off luggage, and they told us how to get to the front of the hotel. Then they had valet parking so we didn’t have to worry about finding a garage for the car, and it wasn’t more expensive than finding that garage on our own would have been. There’s a tip that will save you lots of grief!

Getting to Florence, however you choose to do it, is easy. Whatever works for your itinerary – plane, train or car.

The Howsar Portable Door Lock.

A universal door lock with a difference – a simple lock for use by all – small enough to carry in a pocket, lightweight and inexpensive. 

Whenever a degree of privacy or security is required, e.g. hostels, offices and student accommodation, in the home or while travelling you are not likely to find a more user-friendly lock to suit your purpose.

Just 14.95, plus $4.00 for Australia-wide Delivery

A COMMON PROBLEM FOR TRAVELLERS:  You never known who has access to the key (or key card) of your hotel room.  The last thing you need on your travels is an unwelcome intruder while you are sleeping in your hotel room!

OUR SOLUTION:  The Howsar Portable Door Lock.  A simple, lightweight, inexpensive universal door lock providing that extra level of security.

Although not intended to replace permanent locks, the Howsarlock provides an additional basic barrier and deterrent protection against intruders.

• Made of durable reinforced nylon – compact, sturdy, lightweight and inexpensive
• Simple and quick to install and release – matter of seconds and no need for any tools
• Adaptable to nearly all internal doors
• Lock is inaccessible from outside the room – provides tamper proof security
• Door will be secure even if someone has the key
• Simple, uncomplicated design makes it less prone to fault
• Ideal for travellers – small and lightweight with no metal parts to give problems at customs!
• Easily carried in pocket or handbag – fits into palm of the hand.

 

Finding Your Ancestral Roots While Traveling

To Australians, especially, I think finding your roots is appealing. We’re a nation of immigrants for the most part. Finding your roots can be appealing to others whose ancestors have relocated: Americans, Canadians, New Zealanders, many South Americans, and even Asians and Africans.

Finding out about your ancestors can be just going through genealogical records. I have friends and cousins who have done that, and I have to admit, it is interesting. But for me, it’s much more exciting to travel to see where those ancestors came from. Let me tell you a couple of stories of our own that might get you thinking about traveling and finding your roots.

The first time we went to Europe, we began in Norway and Scotland because I claim to be mostly Norwegian, and my spouse has a Scottish surname. Good enough reason, don’t you think? That first trip was just a look see; a visit to say we had been to “the homeland”. It also whetted our appetites for more.

The next time we went to Norway, we had friends to visit there, and I talked to that cousin who has done the genealogical research on our family. She put me in touch with an e-mail friend. We met him in Norway and took him to dinner, and he told us where we could find Granddad’s hometown.

It didn’t take a lot of research on my part. A couple of e-mails, a willingness to meet a stranger, and time enough to make the drive to a town 10 hours away. But let me tell you, I was so excited when we rounded the bend in that corner of Norway and saw the sign for the town the same as my maiden name.

It just put a whole new twist on that trip. There wasn’t even much to see in the pretty little town, but it was fun to talk to the people, find great granddad’s name in their genealogy book, and see the church. Proof to me that finding your roots can be just priceless.

We toured Scotland a few times. One time I bought a kilted skirt in our tartan, and while we were in that shop, we saw a book on the Clans of Scotland and where they came from. When we came home, we did a little searching on the internet, and we found the little town where my hubby’s “people” came from. It had a castle.

So we planned a trip to find it. Planned may be a little too strong a word.

We flew to Glasgow, rented a car, and drove to where we thought the town should be. The narrow road we were on didn’t look promising so we asked some locals if they knew anything about a castle. It was less promising when they said no. But eventually we talked to someone who told us about a pub with some information.

By that night, we were in a hotel in a town of about 20, and had walking directions to what was left of the castle – which by the way is a “wee pile of stones” and has been for centuries. But you know what? That just didn’t matter, it was another priceless moment.

Doesn’t that sound like fun. We like to plan trips with a “hook”. Something we’re looking for, a reason to take the trip rather that just ticking off a country. Finding your roots can be a great reason for traveling.

Multigenerational Holidays

Family holidays, multigenerational holidays, call it what you will. It seems to be one of the trends in travel that is growing.

We have good friends who rent a house in Lake Tahoe, California every summer, and four generations spend a week there. This is a great way for families who live spread apart to see each other and have holiday too.

I have other friends who take their holiday every summer to go and visit family. I keep thinking they could plan a multigenerational holiday and have the best of both worlds, just like that first family I mentioned.

Let me clear one thing up right at the beginning: we’ve read some articles that say you shouldn’t count grandparents out – that today’s grandparents are active and engaged. That’s an understatement. All the grandparents I know are so active their kids would have trouble keeping up with them!

I suppose each group is different, but I think a better sentiment might be that you shouldn’t count great grandparents out – they also apt to be active and engaged. I guess the point is, plan for the activity level of your family, and you’ll know how active your parents and grandparents are.

My sister-in-law’s family used to take multigenerational holidays camping! And let me tell you those grandparents and great grand parents really didn’t slow anyone down.

Everyone should have a hand in planning, especially the youngest generation. You need to have them vested in the holiday so they won’t keep whining, “I’m bored!”

Of course, you need to be prepared for them to act bored sometimes. When we took my nieces on a holiday to Ireland, they pretended to be asleep in the back seat when we went looking for dolmens on the Burren. But you know what?

They were pretty proud when they were in school and their teacher ask if anyone knew what a dolmen was and they were the only ones who knew and they could say they had seen one. They really weren’t asleep after all. And when we read the reports that they did for school, we were surprised at how much they had learned.

Now that I’ve harped on how active grandparents can be, I’ll admit, having different generations along on a trip can pose some challenges. You have to allow some down time for the slower members of your party, no matter what their age. You also have to have some wild, active time for young kids so they can “get the wiggles out”.

On the other side of that, I do have to say that having multiple generations along makes you look at things in a whole different way. It can make travel more interesting, explaining history to the younger generation, or listening to stories from the older generation.

So next time you think you should spend some time with Mom and Dad instead of taking a holiday, consider a multigenerational holiday. You might find yourself having the time of all of your lives.

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