Travel
Wacky travel-light ideas
Special packing list
Before you go
Before you return
Mosquitoes
Jet lag
Motion sickness
Economy-class syndrome
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Wacky travel-light ideas
- Use lightweight and waterproof bags. Pack lightweight clothes and underwear (e.g. nylon) whenever possible. They dry faster too!
- Squeeze hair gel into small ziplock bags or onto a sheet of aluminium foil and fold it up. Forget about bringing the whole tube.
- If you cannot live without your favourite perfume that does not come in any miniature form, just spray onto the clothes, towels, stockings, socks or any other thing that will be used during the trip and leave the perfume bottle at home.
- If you wish to handwash and soak some of the clothes during the trip but
1. do not trust the hotel's bathroom basin or bathtub
2. refuse to spend money on laundry service
3. find it ridiculous to bring a pail
Then try this : use a clean, hole-proof and strong plastic bag as a pail substitute. To stop it from wobbling, find ways to secure the ends to poles or faucets or use clothes pegs or strings, when needed.
- Wear slip-ons since they can double up as slippers.
Special packing list
- Take vitamin C to boost the body's immune system. The dry air in the aircraft dries out the mucus membranes in the nose, throat and even lungs creating cracks which allows germs to gain access into the body.
- All-In-One single fused adaptor that is usable in any country whether 2 or 3 pin or square or round ends.
- Anti-snoring pills or oral spray if you are sharing a room with a friend.
- A torchlight. You would never know when you will need it.
- Get ready little gifts or souvenirs such as bookmarks, postage stamp booklets, keychains, postcards or collar pins. They make good giveaways to new friends, tour directors, coach drivers, hotel staff or helpful people you meet along the way.
- Prepare a mini first aid kit well stocked with :
- smelling salts
- antiseptic cream
- aloe vera gel (for sunburn, cuts, etc.)
- plasters
- bandages
- a pair of scissors
- Paracetamol tablets (fever and pain)
- any other medication required.
- Make photocopies of your passport, visa, air ticket, insurance, credit cards and place copies in a plastic ziplock bag to bring them with you on your trip. Leave some copies at home too.
- Extra rolls of film and camera batteries.
Before you go
- Buy a travel insurance!
- Clear perishables in the fridge.
- Flush all toilets in the house.
- Remove unused plugs from the electrical sockets.
- If there is no one to water the house plants while you are away, set up a simple automatic watering system - you will need empty plastic bottles (at least 500ml) and knitting threads. For each potted plant, fill up a plastic bottle with water, use 60-80 cm long of knitting thread and insert one end of the thread (you may want to tie several strands together to make it thicker) into the bottom of bottle while the other end rests on the soil of the potted plant. Keep the distance between the bottle and the plant as far as possible. Water will eventually travel from the bottle along the thread to wet the soil.
Before you return
- Confirm your seat on your flight back with the airline at least 3 days before the flight. Be surprised that some airlines still require ticket confirmation!
- Set aside some local currency for the airport tax.
- Always allow plenty of time to get to the airport or risk missing your flight.
Mosquitoes
- Apply repellent for protection. Apply on all exposed areas but avoid the eyes, mouth, wounds, inflamed skin and cuts.
- Mosquitoe are attracted to dark colors so wear light-colored clothings.
- Apply a layer of body powder/non-greasy body lotion on all exposed areas before you go to bed.
Jet lag
- Tiredness, broken sleep, dehydration, leg-aches are signs of jet lag. Get enough rest the night before your flight.
- Drink water to prevent dehydration.
- Stretch yourself from your seat. Rotate your head, wrists and ankles once in a while to improve blood circulation. Move about in the cabin and along the aisles. Do these simple stretching exercises or risk getting Economy-class syndrome.
- Refrain from alcohol. It dries you up.
- Earplugs, neckrests, blindfolds and pillows can help you sleep better.
- Once you arrive at the destination, adapt to the local meal and sleeping times.
- The herb arnica (mountain daisy) or natural hormone melatonin can help control sleep patterns during the initial days of adjustment.
- Soak yourself in a warm bath and add a few drops of lavender upon arrival.
- Chamomile tea may also help to induce sleep.
- To help travellers deal with jet lag, researchers at the Biological Rhythms Research Lab at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Il, USA, have come up with a simple 3-step treatment that can be done at home before travelling, by resetting the circadian body clock before crossing several time zones :
Step 1. Get intermittent bright light in the morning.
Step 2. Take half a milligram of melatonin in the afternoon.
Step 3. Move your bedtime up one hour every night.
Each step helps "phase advance" the circadian clock, that is reset your circadian clock earlier in time so that all the circadian rhythms of the body occur earlier than they normally would. The combination of the bright light and melatonin bring about a larger phase advance than bright light alone.
The researchers studied 44 healthy adults - 24 men and 19 women, between the ages of 19 and 45.
Participants were randomly divided into three groups and assigned one of three treatments: a placebo, 0.5 mg of melatonin or 3.0 mg of melatonin.
Every participant had to follow a strict eight-hour sleep schedule that was similar to their typical sleep schedule. In addition, they had to remain in bed, in the dark, trying to sleep throughout the eight hour scheduled sleep/dark period. On the seventh day, each person was given a baseline phase assessment, starting seven hours before and ending three hours after their beginning bedtime. They then slept in the lab and were awakened at a scheduled time. The participants continued on this sleep schedule through day 10 of the study.
Days 11 through 13 marked the treatment period of the study, during which the participants slept in the lab in individual, dark, temperature-controlled bedrooms. Each afternoon, each person received either 0.5 or 3.0 mg of melatonin or matching placebo. The study ended with a final phase assessment on day 14.
The researchers found that those who were given melatonin experienced significantly larger phase advances--the 0.5 mg group at 2.5 hours and the 3.0 mg group at 2.6 hours versus the placebo group at 1.7 hours. Moreover, the participants did not experience jet lag-type symptoms.
This treatment can also be used by people working the night shift.
Reference : "Travelers Can Avoid Jet Lag By Resetting Their Body Clocks" The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (Press Release - Nov 2005)
Motion sickness
- Bring along ginger sweets, tea or supplements to help tide you over.
Economy-class syndrome
- Also known as Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) where a blood clot is formed in the vein deep beneath the skin and prevents blood from flowing to the heart. Symptoms include breathing difficulty, swelling or pain in the leg, feeling faint and chest pains.
- DVT occurs during long-distance travel in a plane, train or car where movements are confined or when there is a long period of inactivity. See Jet lag for some exercise tips.
- People with cancer or had undergone major surgery or are injured are at a higher risk of developing DVT.
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