E-Reader. Oh, how flat! So light! Look how many books it carries! See how it can take your travel guide in electronic form! I have no opinion on which e-reader to get, but there’s something about the Kindle over the IPad that makes me feel less vulnerable standing around like a tourist on a street corner, especially since the Kindle is only $118 now versus the IPad which is like $499.

World Necklace. I’m still deciding whether this necklace is cheesy or not. It has potential to be really fun, but also look like something an elementary school teacher would wear. Could be a great gift for a female travelhead, but make sure to include a gift receipt. Available in gold, too, from www.uncommongoods.com.

50 Wonders of the World Book. This enormous coffee table book has some incredible photography and description of some of the greatest things in the world. The Great Wall of China, the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, the Egyptian Pyramids, Ankor Wat, Stonehenge, and 45 other things. It’s a great way for job-bound travelheads to dream a little and create a checklist of things to visit next. (Tip: I also found this book in the bargain bin at Barnes& Noble – or maybe it was the now defunct Borders – for about $10. It sits on our coffee table at home, and it is everyone’s favorite book to browse through when they come over.)

Miles. Now that they are set to expire, give a travelhead your infrequently used miles. They’ll love you.  A lot.

A Clear Compact Umbrella. I’ve found ones that are clear, but none that seem to fold up small enough to fit into a jacket pocket or purse. There is nothing like trying to see the Coliseum when it’s raining and you have a purple umbrella that cuts out half your view. I’ve been on a pursuit for the compact clear umbrella ever since. If you find one, please email me! (mytravelhats@gmail.com)

World Dartboard. Another item I’ve been looking for, but no dartboards seem to come with maps on them. There’s nothing like aiming a dart at the world map and determining your next destination as the ultimate adventure. It could be Borneo! Russia!  The middle of the Indian Ocean! Somewhere in Indiana! And I don’t mean a corkboard with the map stuck to it; I mean a solid dartboard with the heavy darts designed to choose your adventure.

In China, we hopped on a tour bus that would take us to the Great Wall and to the Ming Tombs, plus feed us lunch. It seemed like a great deal – two major sites, lunch and transportation, all for 130RMB (about  $20!). Lucky us (note the intended sarcasm here), we ALSO got to tour a silk factory, a jade factory, an herbal medicine hospital (with free footrub), a cloisonne factory and attend a tea tasting.

How did we climb the Great Wall (usually an entire morning or day’s event) and see the Ming Tombs (another whole afternoon), eat lunch AND see all these great other factories? Well, seeing that the tour guide gets a little commission every time someone on her tour purchases anything at these factories, you can see where the priorities lay for her. The Great Wall we crammed into an hour and a half of full ascent and descent at an entrance that is not the picturesque ones you always see. (If you climb, you want to go to the Badaling entrance, which is more touristy for a reason, and has cable cars, but is a more pleasant walk rather than a mountain hike like the one we ended up on. Take a public bus that leaves from Qian Men by Tiananmen Square, which will go to the Badaling entrance). The Ming Tombs? Instead of the dramatic greeting of animal statues and entering the dusty tomb of one emperor, we strolled around some room with a fake banquet on the table and some furniture, then left (20 minutes). After that, it was unannounced shopping, shopping, shopping, and commission, commission, commission for our tour guide. We were supposed to see the Olympic stadium as well, which we did from the bus window. Needless to say, we were all pretty peeved (but we did cave and buy some nice things, which we know are government-guaranteed, authentic products and not knock-offs found in the street markets – so no lead paint in my mother-in-law’s tea set.) In the end, we decided not to deal with the Beijing traffic bus ride home and wandered the Olympic park on our own, then took the subway back.

Similarly, my aunt came across a $99 tour of the beautiful cities around Shanghai (Wuxi, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing) that included all meals, tickets and four-star hotels. However, our mornings were taken up by shopping, and afternoons driving, followed by an abbreviated rushed tour of some garden or temple or boat ride.

How do you avoid this? By doing it yourself. Thankfully, China is a well-traveled country today, and there are plenty of books, signs in English, and English-speaking helpers in hotels who can help you get around. You can also shell out a little more for a private car who will take you there, without taking you to the state-run shops, and allow you to browse as long as you’d like (ask your hotel to book one and be firm and specific that you do NOT want to go shopping). You can also take a street taxi and negotiate a price, but also be firm that you do not want to stop at any shops. Additionally, I’ve heard some hostels have non-shopping journeys as well, but ask to make sure. If you do want to go shopping, don’t try to do it the same day you head to the Great Wall.

beencaughtsleeping.com

I have always slept on planes. Jon can never sleep on planes. In fact, I usually fall asleep before the flight even takes off, even if I’ve slept a full eight hours. It’s the hum and vibration of the engine on the runway that lulls me into sleep and I wake up when the plane is in mid-air. If I’m particularly sleepy, usually because I had to get up at 4am to catch my 6am flight, I will sometimes fall asleep  before the plane takes off and wake up when it’s already landed – but only on short flights like to Chicago. Those are especially cool because as the plane is parking at the gate at our arrival, I’ll turn to Jon and ask, “did we leave yet already?”

It’s not like I find airplane seats oh-so comfortable to curl up and snooze, either – and I don’t wake up from a long flight feeling refreshed like I’ve been to the spa. It is possible, though, to sleep upright – my dad always takes naps in a dining chair, and my grandfather slept in a barker lounger for years (of course, they do recline like first class). I’m also not a fan of medicating. However, here are some tips I’ve learned over the many years that have helped me maximize my sleep so I can maximize my vacation time.

The key, I find, is to already be tired. If you’re taking a red-eye, you should already be tired. If you’re taking a morning flight, sleep about 4 hours the night before.

1. Make sure you get a seat that reclines. Check seatguru.com to see which seats will recline. A window seat is even better, because you can lean your head against the window.

2. Get a neck pillow, an eye mask, and/ or earplugs. I like Brookstone’s travel pack, but it takes up quite a bit of room in the carry-on.

3. Inflate the neck pillow HALWAY – or else your head gets jutted out. Also it will inflate more as the plane changes pressure.

4. Go through your regular night routine: brush your teeth, wash your face, take out the contact lenses, etc.

5. Wear comfortable clothes. Constricting jeans is not what I normally wear to bed. Take off your shoes. Get a blanket or bring a sweatshirt.

6.  If you’re taking a red-eye and if you’re an exerciser, exercising six hours before your flight will also help your body go back to normal rest mode.

7. Though many critics claim alcohol does not help sleep, it’s Jon’s latest discovery: the mini-bottles of red wine. He’ll take one and then sleep a few hours. Another girl I traveled with to India went on a bar-crawl through O’Hare airport and then slept the entire 13 hours to New Delhi.

8. Read a book – don’t watch a movie. Something boring usually helps. Counting clouds helps, too.

Sleep tight!

So far it’s been pretty mundane – someone on his computer, someone else drinking coffee, a maid cleaning the room, someone staring back across the street. However, this morning we received one of the best spectacles ever seen at this office: naked man going through a briefcase AT THE WINDOW. He must have stood there for at least an hour. There’s also a good chance he was going to a conference or meeting in my building, which has conference facilities.

Apparently last year there was a crowd forming in the lobby of the building staring up at the same hotel to an open window where a man nonchalantly ironed his clothes in the nude.

Some helpful hints to avoid embarassing yourself or have unwanted pictures of you showing up on the Internet:

1. If you can see us, we can see you.

2. If you can’t see us because your window is tinted, just assume we can see you too.

3. Even if you don’t care if you’re seen, some of us care and don’t want to really see that much of you.

4. If you’re on business, really think about closing those curtains. You may never know who’s in your meeting.

Turns out, while I was able to adapt the plugs to fit into the wall sockets of other countries, I didn’t actually convert the power. So there I was, sending 220 volts through a water boiler meant to transfer only 110 volts through. There were no resulting electric sparks or electrocution, but I may have fried the water boiler.

Of course, I also spent an entire season in Paris plugging my computer through the adaptor without ever converting the power, but it seemed to be fine. Of course, I did have a surge protector and all that, so that might have helped – I don’t know (I’m not an electrician).

In any case, for our upcoming trip to Kenya and Tanzania, I’ve invested in a little converter to plug into the adaptor which plugs into the wall socket. It was only $5.00 on eBay. It will come in handy in the places that actually have electricity – where we’re staying in Kenya may not have such a luxury. If you live in the United States, you’ll want to make sure you purchase one that takes 110 volts and converts it OUT to 220-240 volts, NOT the other way around. The other way around might cause a little electric surge and a power outage.

USA Today

For example, you’ll need to book a flight for the Fourth of July at least 2 months in advance for the best deal. But for Labor Day, the best deals tend to show up almost 3-4 weeks in advance instead. That’s because by Labor Day, kids have all gone back to school, whereas over Fourth of July, their whole family is in the air. But if you wait until the very last minute, like a week before, the tickets will inevitably rise up again.

And because of the recession, people hesitate before booking expensive destination trips. Those who book, do so well in advance. You’re taking a bigger chance, but if you’re willing to, you might be lucky to score a better price closer to the departure date than way back when. People are less likely to book flights late, and because fewer people are booking expensive trips, the planes aren’t filling up and the airlines start marking down their flights. Airlines also know that people with expensive vacation destinations in mind will tend to book earlier, and they’ll mark up the prices then.

Kayak offers a great historical outlook on ticket prices. Let’s say I wanted to go to Paris in September (but really, I’d like to be in Paris anytime). I enter a flight to Charles de Gaulle, some potential dates, and then it begins searching. Once inside, you click on the top left rail to “show fare charts” which will pull up a nice little chart showing that the historical lowest priced time to go Paris in September from the Washington, D.C. region is September 6-9, with another dip around September 15. It also charts the prices up until now and where they peaked and dipped. If you have a budget in mind, you can set that and a fare alert, and wait for Kayak to let you know when the fare has dropped. The only risk is it may never drop, so you’re still taking that gamble.

I’ve been reading and reading about various safaris around Tanzania for our upcoming trip, and the comments that people have. “Our truck broke down in the middle of the park and we had to sit and wait for the driver to fix it. Why couldn’t the company send another truck out? We lost valuable time.” Etc. The company apparently offered to give them a free tour of another park after they complained, but they couple could not comprehend why the company didn’t send another truck to them. The response from someone else: This is Africa. You think these companies just have trucks lying around to send to people in the middle of the wild?

I’ve heard of people getting upset when hotels change reservations on them, flights change, routes alter, menus change. You can’t argue it. You can try, but you’ll just get yourself more worked up over it. In the Caribbean, you’re on island time. Things will happen when they feel like it. In France (and Italy, and other parts of the Europe), meals are supposed to be eaten slowly and enjoyed. The restaurants are not there to turn tables as quickly as possible. So you can’t get upset if the waiter appears to be ignoring you. He’s probably just leaving you alone. In China, you can’t expect to wait on an organized line for your turn. People don’t wait on line – they push to the front. I’ve been yelled at it several countries by waiters, salesclerks, hotel attendants, flight agents, cab drivers – and they don’t care. In their minds, I messed up and they shouldn’t have to do extra to get me out of the mess, whatever it was.

At the same time, you’ll sometimes come across customer service that is above and beyond what you’d expect.

Short of being ripped off, take it as part of the experience. If you go somewhere and are treated the way you “expect” – people waiting eager to please you, waiting hand and foot, then you’ve missed out on some of the true cultural experiences of dealing with people. At the same time, sometimes you’ll deal with individuals who want to make sure your trip to their country is memorable in a positive way. Take it as it comes and don’t over-expect people to cater to the ways you’re used to back home.

Fortunately I’d already been vaccinated before traveling to India and Paraguay, so all I needed was a shot for yellow fever and a prescription for malarial pills and some Cipro. Jon had been vaccinated for a few before he traveled to Ecuador, but he wasn’t sure if he had completed his Hepatits A, exactly when he had his measles-mumps-rubella finished (likely in childhood), whether he’d had a tetanus shot recently and he thinks he might have had a meningitis shot once in college. We’d both brought the only immunization records we had, which was from a few years ago, but they were missing information prior to 2006.

There were a lot of questions: “I think I was vaccinated for Hepatitis B? Or was it A? Is TB the four-prong thumbtack one?” Yes, the nurse could have just shot me with another dose of Hep A and I wouldn’t come down with the disease, but it also cost $100 per shot of Hep A and B. Yellow fever was $130. Rabies series cost $740, which the nurse said we should just deal with if we ended up getting bitten by a monkey or dog and perhaps we shouldn’t try to pet any wild animals while over there. In addition, insurance did not cover any of it, except the basic childhood ones. Malarial pills should be covered. Our total was $615, including a consultation so we understood not to eat raw salads, to sleep under mosquito nets treated with DEET and to contact the embassy if we get sick.

For this reason, it’s a good idea to go straighten your medical history, especially if you’re a regular traveler, and make sure you’re covered for all the different vaccinations that may be required in different countries. All you need to do is contact the previous doctors and travel clinics you might have visited and get copies of your records sent to you. Several of these vaccines, once completed, protect you for life. Others may require a re-dosage after 10 years.

You can also opt to have your blood tested for immunity and see which ones have already been covered. This is only ideal if you’re missing information on several and not just one. It costs to have your blood tested and then you may have to pay just as much to be vaccinated for the one that you were searching for. Also, it’s possible to select your vaccinations. The nurse said that Tanzania falls into the “meningitis” belt but that it should be updated because it wasn’t a problem anymore, but Kenya was out of the meningitis belt. We decided to forgo the meningitis vaccination. However, if the nurse strongly recommended it, we probably would have bought into it.

Malaria is a pain because even if you take malarial pills, you’re not completely out of harm’s way. You should still exercise the same caution as if you haven’t been vaccinated against anything. Sure, people live in these countries and seem to handle life fine without any shots or medications, but be aware that they’ve also had a longer time (than your vacation) to develop these immunities. I’ve read about morons who travel over and want to develop the immunity the “natural” and organic way, but were probably sadly disappointed when they came down with malaria fairly quickly. 

Lastly, it’s just good practice to wash your hands frequently, don’t drink the water or eat the ice, don’t eat anything potentially washed in that water, don’t try to feed random animals, don’t do drugs and don’t sleep with strangers. But do have fun!

Some good resources:

CDC
MD Travel Health
World Health Organization

Fortunately, airports are so cool now that killing time in them is so easy. Here are some ways to pass the time.

1. Shop. Seriously, move over, Duty Free whose products haven’t changed since 1981. So many of your mall favorites are right here. Sure, you have to figure out how to cram it into your carry-on (although anything purchased after going through security is allowed as an extra carry-on). I actually, really, purchased a gift at Brookstone in an airport instead of at the mall because I knew I wouldn’t have to bring it through security and have it counted as an extra carry-on. You can also pick up clean shirts and a tie at  Brooks Brothers, shop for a new cell phone, buy movies, toys, anything. Overseas,  sometimes I just wait to get to an airport to do any of my shopping. In developing countries, the products are cleaner and better quality than those sold on the street (though maybe a little pricier, but what else are you going to do with your leftover currency?)

2. Eat. There’s Legal Seafoods in Boston Logan’s airport, Obrycki’s in BWI, Gladstones at LAX, Billy Goat Tavern at O’Hare, etc. etc. BBQ at Dallas Fort-Worth, Rocky Mountain steaks at Denver International, and so on. In addition, the service is speedy fast because they know you have a flight to catch, and sometimes a receipt from the restaurant gives you access to first-class lines at security so you don’t have to spend an hour waiting in the steerage line.

mindwell.ie

3. Massages. Whoever first put a massage chair at an airport was a genius. Sure, it’s one of those chair massages where they pull at your shirt and the world, literally, walks by and sees you being prodded and plied like a piece of dough. But when you’re stressed out, tired, sore from sitting in an airplane seat, so what better way to be relaxed than have someone punch your muscles into pulp? Aaaaaah.

4. Catch up on your sports. Sports fans, there are multiple sports bars in airports allowing you to enjoy the game and a brewsky of your choice. Sometimes you’ll have to contend with the local teams, which you may give two rats’ behinds about, but if you’re like Jon, you don’t care. You’ll watch the cricket championships if it’s all they have. The next thing you know, the agent is paging you to proceed to the gate.

Wine-taste. Yes, there are a number of wine-tasting counters at airports. Who knew? Indulge your palette before your flight. Vino Volo is opening a number of wine-tasting counters throughout the United States, with existing locations at JFK, BWI, Philadelphia, SEATAC, OAK, Newark, Detroit, San Antonio, Dulles and Sacramento. Try wines and bite-sized amuse-bouches before you take off on another journey.

I do this every time I go into Manhattan, even when I lived there. I think, you know what, I’m going to drive there. I’m going to deal with the snarled traffic on the FDR and try this new trick by taking the Willis Avenue bridge, or if I’m coming from New Jersey, I’ll be lucky and there won’t be any traffic going through the tunnels. And then, I’ll find parking within reasonable walking distance to my destination. Of course I’m always, ALWAYS fooling myself.

Tip: don’t try to bring a car into Manhattan. Take public transportation.

When I lived in Manhattan, I compared it to Hotel California – you can check out anytime but you can never leave. And no wonder. If you’ve ever tried to leave Manhattan through the tunnels or the George Washington bridge, it can be so awful that you consider giving up and staying stuck on this island forever.

Getting into Manhattan costs money. How much money? Well, if you’re from New Jersey or south, you get to pay $8 to cross the Hudson. $8!! And about 30 minutes of your life sitting in traffic waiting to go through. And, as my friend Grace recently pointed out, you risk your life each time you go through those tunnels, eeking through those tunnels like toothpaste in a tube. Who knows what could happen down there, under the Hudson River, with nowhere to swim or run? I tried not to think about it as I edged my way into the city this past Memorial Day.

Then there’s the issue of parking. You can circle for hours, literally, especially since you can’t turn on red anywhere in the city and pedestrians take up all your green light time. If you do score a spot, you have to make sure it’s not a street-sweeping day, or a meter that will expire within an hour and there will be a meter maid standing there waiting for your meter to tick to 0. She’ll probably have your ticket written out in advance. Then you are always worrying whether someone has broken into your car and/ or driven it away. Or, you can park your car for $35 for the first few hours in some lot.

Heed my advice. Take the subway/ PATH/ Metro North/ Long Island Railroad/ New Jersey Transit/ Amtrak/ the bus into Manhattan. You can even park & ride. Here are some links to those forms of public transit.

PATH (to/from New Jersey)

Metro North Railroad (to/ from Westchester or as my cousin Sean says, the “Bestchester”, Connecticut and upstate)

Long Island Railroad (to/from Queens and Long Island, or as my friend Steve calls it, “Strong Island”)

New Jersey Transit (to/from NJ, duh)

Boltbus (to/from NY, Boston, Philly, Baltimore and DC)

Amtrak (Eastern Corridor and nationwide)

Photo credit: www.tysto.com.