Taking your 'shot' at traveling

It's interesting how sometimes things in your life that don't seem like they have anything to do with each other tend to overlap. I work as a copy editor on a magazine about the retail drug industry ... not really anything that is related to travel. And yet, the other day, I read a story by one of our writers about a Seattle-based regional drug store chain — Bartell Drugs — that has opened up travel clinics. ::Lightbulb:: That would make for a great post on a travel blog ...

Travel vaccinations are an important part of any preparatory international travel routine, especially if you're traveling to areas with high risks for contracting certain diseases (e.g., parts of Africa, India and/or eastern Asia, among others). Before I went to India, I visited a travel clinic in New York to get vaccinated against hepatitis A and B and tetanus, and procured a prescription for malaria pills to take throughout my time in India. True, it's very likely that you may never even come in contact with the diseases, but what if you somehow do? It's definitely much better to be safe than sorry.

But other than preemptive vaccinations, you also should prepare medications to take with you. If you take prescription medications, make sure you have enough with you before leaving to last the duration of your trip. Also see if your doctor can write you an extra prescription just in case you lose your meds or run out on your trip. Whether or not that is possible, make sure you have the generic name of your medication written in a safe place on you at all times (and it's also probably a good bet to leave a list with someone staying at home, just in case). The reason you should make sure you specifically have the generic name is because brands vary by country, and even somewhere as nearby as Canada could have a very different name for a medication.

The same also applies to over-the-counter medications, including such common ones that we take for granted as Tylenol and DayQuil. You should take common medicines with you (pill forms are better, especially if your luggage is carry-on) but also make sure you know the main generic ingredient in the medication, because it's highly unlikely you'll find Tylenol in Egypt, but you'll most likely find another medication with acetaminophen, the main pain-relieving ingredient in our popular branded drug.

When I went to Egypt, I had a mini medicine cabinet with me, thanks to my always-be-prepared mother. I ended up not only having medicine that I needed, but I was the supplier for many on my trip. When our tour leader's head hurt, I had the Excedrin; when other people in our group got sunburned, I had the aloe. Everyone loved me ;-). When I went to India, there was no convincing necessary. I had Tylenol, Immodium, DayQuil, Dramamine and more medications that I can't fully recall now with me. True, this time I didn't use most of them, but I certainly was glad to have them on me.

So before you travel, especially internationally, make sure you see what vaccinations are necessary and get vaccinated; have enough of your prescription medication to last the trip; have a list of your prescriptions by generic names on hand; and take any OTC medications you might need with you in pill form, along with a list of the main ingredients in those medications. Trust me, you'll be much happier and better off for it.

Did I miss anything when it comes to medication-related travel advice?

Fall-ing into travel

Why is it that summer is the most popular travel time? I really don’t understand that phenomenon, because all I want to do in the summer is hop from one air-conditioned enclosure to the next.

Beautiful fall scenery in upstate NY, just outside of Cornell

Now, fall travel is a completely different story. As most of this past week of NYC weather proves (excluding the random tornado that swept through Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon), traveling in the fall is simply delightful. A sunny day that is just breezy enough to require a light jacket is the perfect time to stroll down a foreign street gazing at beautiful architecture or simply enjoying your time sitting in a park people watching. And if it happens to start raining, just pop into the nearest coffee shop or museum or whatever other indoor activity grabs your fancy.

I’ve looked into going to London in the summer a few times (not really because I particularly wanted to shvits in another country, but because several friends across the pond have their birthdays in the summer months). Tickets were TWICE the price I paid to go over Thanksgiving a few years ago ... if not THREE times as expensive. I love my friends, but I’m not dishing out $1,000-plus on a ticket that normally should cost around $500 to sit in the same cramped seat for the same 5.5 hours eating the same fairly crappy airplane grub simply because it’s July rather than November. In this humble traveler’s opinion, that’s simply ludicrous.

A frozen lake on the grounds of a castle in Denmark

And because traveling in the summer seems to be so popular with everyone else, it just means that it’ll take you all that much longer to get through security at the airport; be that much harder to hail a cab outside the airport when you get to your destination; and be significantly more crowded at any attraction you’ll inevitably be waiting all day in line for to get into. NOT my idea of a good vacation.

I tend to like to make travel plans more around the mid-February/early March time of the year. I can plan my time off from work around the President’s Day long weekend and therefore conserve on days. I also plan to go places that most people avoid during the winter months — like Denmark. Granted, it wasn’t my best-laid plan to spend a week in an already chilly country during one its coldest months, but hey, the tickets were cheap, my friends were on break from school and able to take time off work to show me around, and there were no lines ... anywhere. A pair of thermal underwear under my jeans, and I was ready to explore Copenhagen as happily as if it had been 30 degrees warmer.

London's Regents Park in full spring bloom

Spring also is a great time of year to travel. Flowers are in bloom, people are happier, the weather’s usually perfect and tickets are less expensive — again — than they are in the summer (yet the weather’s much more enjoyable). My favorite time came at the end of my semester there in April and May, when I could sit in Hyde Park in jeans and a T-shirt with a sandwich and Coke Light, watching the kids playing and people walking their dogs. Perfect.

However, try and avoid the typical Spring Break locations, unless that's the kind of vacation you're looking for. For me, personally, butting up against college kids as they drink themselves silly in Cancun is not all that appealing — but no judgment here! Those spots also tend to be jacked up in price during that time of year.

So, if you’re like me and don’t really enjoy sweating during your time exploring, and you want to maximize your traveling by saving a buck or two when you can, please avoid European summer travel. And if summer happens to be the only time you CAN appease that travel bug bite, pick a place with an opposite seasonal schedule than ours so that you’re at least going during an off-season for that place.

When’s your favorite time to travel?

Easy fasting and yummy remembering

I wish an easy fast to all of my fellow members of the Tribe out there today.

Strange how fasting gave me the idea to write a post on my favorite meals that I've eaten during my travels. Here goes a mild form of masochism. Hope those of you who can eat today enjoy it, and for those of you who can't, I'm very sorry — though, come to think of it, you're probably not reading this on Saturday anyway, because that's not allowed, so enjoy it over your own yummy meal!



Cava sangria and salmon topped with pineapple with a side of fresh vegetables on our first night in Barcelona made for the best meal ever in my European travels.

 

The next day in Barcelona brought a meal constituted of individual pieces bought from the awesome food market off of La Rambla, including a baguette, cheese, lunch meat and tomatoes, all for a whopping 2 Euro per person. The day ended with an enormous seafood paella split between the four of us.

                              

Edam cheese is super duper yummy, especially when you get it from a shop in Edam.

I could have eaten my way through Italy, and practically did ;-). Our trip started in Venice, where I had the best slice of pizza of my life at a hole-in-the-wall little shop in Ghetto Vecchio (the Old Ghetto). Gelato was EVERYWHERE ... this shot was taken in Rome.

                                          

In Dublin there was a lot of liquid nourishment, but this traditional Irish breakfast helped soak up some of that alcohol.

 I loved being in Prague. The effortless beauty of the city and its architecture was a pleasure to explore. As was the food, which reminded me so much of the food I have grown up with. This meat plate was enough to fill up two of us.

French food is renowned for its flavor and yumminess. Even this Parisian deli hot dog, smothered in cheese, and accompanied by delicious pastries held up its reputation.

I think the best meals are ones you create for yourself ... especially when they're made with the freshest produce. This simple but absolutely delicious meal of pasta with pesto chicken and tomatoes and some white wine was the result of a day of shopping at London's Borough Market. I bought the tomatoes, my friend bought the pesto, and we topped it off with some Waitrose pasta and chicken. It was yummy!

During my trip to Egypt, our group took a detour, on camels, to a small Nubian village where we had one of the best meals I have ever had. The delicious meat, potatoes and vegetables were prepared in a traditional Nubian fashion, slowly baked in clay pots in the oven. Seriously, YUMMY!

Eating Indian food feels like an explosion on your tongue. The spices and exotic flavors create a party for your pallet. And it tastes even better when it's the product of your own hard work. Below is a fruit pizza (not something you'd think would taste good, but totally is) from a small restaurant and the fantastical result of a cooking class, both in the little town of Orcha in India.

In Nepal, my tour guide doused his meals in hot sauce because he claimed they were too bland. For me, they were just right. Below is a Nepalese samosa, which was more like a burrito, covered in cheese (which is always OK with me).

Chicago's known for its deep-dish pizza. And rightfully so. The stuff is delicious. Now, I know that as a native New Yorker, uttering that phrase is probably blasphemous, but I'm not saying it's BETTER than my beloved NYC pizza. In my opinion, it's too different to compare. Below is a yummy steak and broccoli stuffed pie from Giordano's.

On my most recent trip to Grand Cayman, my boyfriend cooked a lot in our hotel suite. It was cheaper, and frankly, a lot more delicious than the on-site restaurant's cuisine. However, as food lovers, we absolutely had to try the local delicacy of turtle. And it was delicious. Below is my boyfriend's yummy concoction of chicken in hickory-barbecue sauce combined with peach preserves and broccoli, a meal of turtle steak from what we were told was one of the best restaurants on the island, and a coconut that we devoured at a coconut tasting at our resort.

             

For me, food is such an important part of travel. Experiencing local cuisine is a great way to partake in local culture — and it's yummy to boot!

What are some of your favorite travel meals?

A lazy vacation for an active traveler

I’m a huge proponent of active vacations. By that I mean vacations in which I have every day jam packed with activities and sightseeing adventures. Lying around on the beach, sipping mudslides and lazing the days away is not an appealing use of vacation time for me.

However, with the right company, at the right point in the year, at a time when one ::ahem, I, ahem:: is feeling quite burned out from life, a vacation spent doing relatively nothing can be just what one needs.

The view from our room's balcony

Eating fresh-cut coconut jelly

My boyfriend and I just got back from a lazy week in Grand Cayman, where I mostly slept for practically 12 hours every night, drank pure coconut water, lounged around the pool and played Scrabble. True, part of me thought, what’s the point of spending the money on a flight (the hotel stay was a gift from my Dad) to do basically what I can do at home? But it’s not the same. Vacations bring on a different mindset, proved even truer by the fact that as soon as I landed in NYC, I immediately fell back into my pattern of worrying about everything. Yes, most of the things I did during my week away were things I could have done from my own living room, but at least my mind had a weeklong break that obviously was very necessary.

Stingrays flocked to the ship, knowing there was chow

Don’t worry; we did do things that we only could do in our destination. On the fifth day of our trip we partook in a Stingray City and snorkeling adventure organized by the concierge of our resort. My boyfriend very bravely conquered his fear of the ocean and we stood in the Caribbean together as stingrays gracefully floated around us, brushing their silky underbellies against our legs as they scented the squid being held out for them by the other people surrounding us.

I also overcame my discomfort with snorkeling after a terrifying incident my first time in Jamaica where I got stuck on the reef and scraped up my knees before finally wriggling out into open waters. This experience was much better and I saw some cool fish at the edge of the reef (though I was still a bit too panicky to go in much further).

Gazebo in the Gardens

A sign at Rum Point

On the last day before leaving we rented a car and, driving on the wrong side of the road, explored the entire island — in five hours. As you can imagine, on an island that it takes pretty much 2 hours to circle (we made a couple of stops on our exploration), there isn’t all that much to do EXCEPT lay around and soak up the sun. We did trek through the stunning Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Gardens and spotted the native blue iguana. We also ate turtle and conch steak, both of which were quite yummy. But other than that, it was a much-needed, fully relaxing vacation.

Overall, I concluded that unless you’re someone who enjoys a weeklong beach vacation (which I usually don’t) or are an avid diver, I would say that Grand Cayman is much better as a cruise destination where you get dropped off for a day, explore the town (which mostly is duty-free shopping outlets), maybe do a Stingray City excursion for a couple of hours and then return to your sailing resort and continue on to the next spot.

To see all of my Grand Cayman photos, click here.

Weekend getaways: Chicago

Even though I certainly do love my long vacations, there’s a lot to be said about weekend getaways. After all, that’s how I saw most of Europe during my semester abroad in London. Jetting off for a three-day weekend to Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin and Brussels was easy when each was less than a two-hour plane ride away.

Yummy stuffed pizza at Giordano's

Though our country is much bigger than all of Europe, anything within a three-hour plane ride is pretty manageable for a long weekend. And there’s plenty of the states that I’ve never stepped foot in. So I’m starting a mini-series on the blog of all of my weekend getaways — starting from the more recent ones close to home, then going back to my European ones and topped off with exciting new ones as they happen.

First up: my April trip to Chicago — my first time there. The boy and I left New York after work on Thursday evening, arriving in Chicago in time to grab a dinner of delicious deep-dish, followed by an early night to prepare for the next day.

Cloud Gate (a.k.a., the Bean)

On Friday we were up nice and early and set off on our separate adventures for the day — him to C2E2 (Comic Con) and me to explore the city center. Lucky for me the day was a gorgeous one and I had my fill of walking around and snapping photos of Chicago’s landmarks. In the evening we had a lovely dinner on Navy Pier at a swanky restaurant and then went to an 11 p.m. show at Second City.

Wrigley Field

The next day we slept in a bit (we were on vacation, after all) and headed out to Wrigley for a Cubs game. Following that we walked around Wicker Park and Lakeview and finished the night by strolling through the Loop checking out Chicago by night.

Museum of Science and Industry

On Sunday we had a flight in the early evening, so we checked out, left our bags at the hotel and headed down to the Museum of Science and Industry. After several hours there, we picked up our bags and headed on over to O’Hare and went on our merry way home. I feel like a got a good sense of Chicago (at least a touristy sense), and felt much more rested than if I had just hung around home for the weekend. And I only cashed in one vacation day.

A nice, brief weekend getaway is a great way to mildly quell the itch from that pesky travel bug bite ... at least for a little bit.

Taking it to the papers ...

I got published in amNewYork today! The piece isn't exactly a travel piece, but it's got a travel angle to it while still being pertinent to a NYC-centric publication ... proving that travel writing can take on many forms :-) Check it out below!