I was thinking about traveling in general and in particular the habits I've developed (or not) when I travel.
First, if I am traveling for pleasure, solo, I pretty much NEVER READ ABOUT THE PLACE IN ADVANCE to which I am going. Oh, I do buy several of the books on the list that the tour organizer sends, or I search on the internet for articles. I take this material with me. I read it while I am on the trip. And I leave it behind. In many of the places that I travel to, reading material in general and books in specific are hard to come by. The folks in those countries are always happy to have them.
There are several reasons not to do too much reading in advance, but for me the most compelling one is that it puts you in someone else's frame of mind. I'd rather make my own observations. Even history books can be distorted; it's often more instructive to ask the folks who live in the country what really happened.
Secondly, I don't go anywhere without a FULL APOTHECARY. And I mean anywhere...right now I am packing to go to Sacramento for a wine industry 3-day show. Because, when you get sick, it is always on the weekend or the middle of the night, and an emergency room in the USA is the best place I know to go to if you want to get sicker. I won't even talk about emergency rooms in developing countries (although the story of the 7 veiled women doctors in the hospital in Algers is a classic...)
What's in that bag of goodies? I always have my Z-pak (zithromycin), Cipro, 800 mg motrin, allergy medicine, throat lozenges, antihistamines for colds, diarrhea meds, lots of alcohol wipes, bandaids, neosporin, caladryl, A&D ointment, baby powder, steroid cream for really bad itches, and tamiflu. Good tweezers. And my regular meds. I used to travel with lice shampoo, but I've eliminated that and instead travel with a silk scarf to put over airplane seatbacks.
Recently I got an Air Ambulance membership. Just in case. No, I am not a hypochondriac. I am a realist. I should have airlifted myself out of Algers instead of walking through Algeria and Tunisia on a split ACL in my right knee for 3 weeks in 2006, but who knew that the best hospital in the capitol city didn't have any soft tissue/MRI machines? "Walk", the veiled lady doctors said. "No cane allowed. It's not broken". And you wonder why there are so many cripples in other countries?
Lastly, I always take ONE LUXURY ITEM. Something I really don't need, but which, at the end of a rough day makes me feel terrific. The current choice is "Angel" shower gel. (The real choice is a sexy cowboy, but those are difficult to pack.)
Just in case you ever wonder what to get me as a bon-voyage gift...
Aruba - White Sand instead of Snow for Christmas
I hope to pepper my travelogues with nice photos, taken on the spot. For this one, I can't... because I jumped into the ocean with my brand-new camera tucked into the top of my swimsuit, in the excitement of the snorkeling experience. Bad part of that experience. Plus which, I panicked in the chopping ocean...a lot different from snorkeling in the Spice Islands coral reefs. I think that this trip to Aruba might have convinced me to give up snorkeling.
That's the only negative part about this 4 day trip to Aruba. It won't affect my future interest in sitting on a catamaran looking out over beautiful blue ocean and fringes of white sand beaches, and reading books under palm-frond umbrellas...
When my son Martin consented to have me visit him in Boston for Christmas 2011, I was thrilled. But I must say I was even more thrilled when he called and said something to the effect of, "Mom, I don't want to stay in the snow and the ice for the holiday."
Aruba was his idea, and it was a good one. It is a mere 12 miles off the coast of Venezuela, a quick 5 hour nonstop from Boston.
We found reasonably priced tickets on fairly short notice on Jet Blue, and Martin went onto hotels.com to find a condo. We ended at the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort, and the location was good...but, it would have been nice if the air conditioning in our unit worked! Since it was over Christmas, the staff was overwhelmed, and fixes were just not done. The Divi condos, Martin noted, are a real New Jersey kind of place... not exactly upmarket, but fine.
Regardless, we got out on the beach every day. Reading under a palm-frond umbrella was a real treat, with the white sand and gentle ocean breeze wafting across the chaise lounge.
For excursions, we did a half-day snorkle, a full day around-island bus tour, and Martin found plenty of time to swim, run and workout.
We went to a barbeque rib place, Smokey Joe's, in the "high rise" part of the island for Christmas dinner.
The best food we had was at an out-of-the-way fish place, Wacky Wahoo. We invited two Dutch 20-somethings who are interning as sports instructors in the Dutch school there to join us. Fun to talk to them, and they'd been very generous in giving me a ride to a grocery on Christmas Eve (when we arrived in Aruba) to stock up on breakfast items for the next four days. Our best dining experience on the island was at Wacky Wahoo... but if you go, get reservations! We just waited at the bar until a table opened up, but that took a while.
I'd show you more photos... but I've told you about the camera... Everything was fried: battery, memory card, etc, and the lens no longer opens. Sad, as it was a fairly new camera, and glad that I'd downloaded the photos from the Oman trip before I got on the plane to Aruba...
END NOTE: Thanks, Martin, for putting up with your Mom. I had a great time!
That's the only negative part about this 4 day trip to Aruba. It won't affect my future interest in sitting on a catamaran looking out over beautiful blue ocean and fringes of white sand beaches, and reading books under palm-frond umbrellas...
When my son Martin consented to have me visit him in Boston for Christmas 2011, I was thrilled. But I must say I was even more thrilled when he called and said something to the effect of, "Mom, I don't want to stay in the snow and the ice for the holiday."
We found reasonably priced tickets on fairly short notice on Jet Blue, and Martin went onto hotels.com to find a condo. We ended at the Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort, and the location was good...but, it would have been nice if the air conditioning in our unit worked! Since it was over Christmas, the staff was overwhelmed, and fixes were just not done. The Divi condos, Martin noted, are a real New Jersey kind of place... not exactly upmarket, but fine.
For excursions, we did a half-day snorkle, a full day around-island bus tour, and Martin found plenty of time to swim, run and workout.
We went to a barbeque rib place, Smokey Joe's, in the "high rise" part of the island for Christmas dinner.
The best food we had was at an out-of-the-way fish place, Wacky Wahoo. We invited two Dutch 20-somethings who are interning as sports instructors in the Dutch school there to join us. Fun to talk to them, and they'd been very generous in giving me a ride to a grocery on Christmas Eve (when we arrived in Aruba) to stock up on breakfast items for the next four days. Our best dining experience on the island was at Wacky Wahoo... but if you go, get reservations! We just waited at the bar until a table opened up, but that took a while.
I'd show you more photos... but I've told you about the camera... Everything was fried: battery, memory card, etc, and the lens no longer opens. Sad, as it was a fairly new camera, and glad that I'd downloaded the photos from the Oman trip before I got on the plane to Aruba...
END NOTE: Thanks, Martin, for putting up with your Mom. I had a great time!
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