BootsnAll Travel Network
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What's this all about?

We took off for a year (which turned into 15 months) to travel the world. This blog was started as a place to keep family and friends updated on our plans and where we were. Now, we are moving to Europe, so the blog will be about our new experiences, travels, and life as expats for the first time!

Days of Wine and… Soup

June 20th, 2010

When we moved back into the house after our travels, the one thing that wasn’t in working condition was the wine fridge.  Apparently the renter had turned it off and let it sit for a year. It didn’t come back to life when we fired it up.  After some tinkering and a new part ordered from the internet, Eric got it back in order and chilling to a perfect 58 degrees. 

We found a new wine shop that opened while we were gone and made a few purchases, but we tend to drink them as fast as we buy them.  The racks in the fridge still sat mostly empty.  On a side note, it has been pretty fun to visit wine stores and search through the shelves for some of the ones we tasted while traveling.  So far we haven’t found many, but it’s nice opportunity to reminisce about the places we went on the trip.

After being home for a few months now, we’re been a little restless to travel again.  We satisfied our need with a weekend away in the wine country just north of Santa Barbara. After a final pitstop at Andersen’s, we returned  refreshed with a fully stocked wine fridge.

 Here’s the iconic sign at Pea Soup Andersen’s.  If you’re planning a trip on the California coast, you must stop here.  You may not think much of split pea soup, but once you’ve tasted theirs you’ll be back for more.

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Gesundheit

June 2nd, 2010

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I have a few more topics in mind when it comes to healthcare on the road.  My first piece of advice is plan ahead.  There seem to be a lot of discussion forums and advice columns about what medications and immunizations you might need, but my most important tip is just to get whatever you need before you quit your job (and lose your health insurance).  All the shots we needed were covered at no cost, however it did require some persistence to get through the system so start early.

Another thing I didn’t mention in the last post was about prescriptions. I had a few medications that I take regularly which you generally can’t get without a prescription and are pretty expensive without insurance.  I was very concerned about trying to buy a year’s worth before we left.  In most cases it’s not possible, but my insurance company allowed an extra 3 month “travel allowance“ before we left.  For the rest of the supply, I stockpiled a few extra months ahead of time by getting my RXs filled as soon as they are eligible, which is often a  few weeks early.  It adds up over 6 months or so.  In the end, we also made a pitstop back in the US in the middle of the trip and re-stocked everything then.  There are some countries where you absolutely must have a prescription and it must be from a Dr. in that county.  There are other countries where you just turn up at the pharmacy and tell them what you want.  Once again… plan ahead.

Finally, I wanted to talk a little about health insurance while you are traveling.  This decision is very personal and will have to be based on your situation in life.  Are you generally healthy?  Do you have enough money to cover any emergencies?  What is covered by your existing domestic insurance?  What are the worst case situations if do or don’t get it?  What countries will you be visiting and what is the healthcare like there?  

We had to consider that we are pretty healthy, but at age 40 there is a higher probability that something could go wrong than at 20.  We also found that the insurance we had while working didn’t cover much outside the US.  We had enough money saved to cover any basics while traveling, but if something major (think car accident or heart attack) happened, we would need some insurance and potentially evacuation coverage.  After researching lot of different companies and policies, we ended up going with one offered by this company (they also offer kidnap and ransom insurance, but I hope no one reading this ever has need for that!):  http://www.piu.org/medical/worldwide-major-medical-plan

High deductible/catastrophic coverage plans turn out to be fairly reasonable in price,  However keep in mind that most only cover you when you are outside of the US.  Finally, you might hear that there is reciprocal coverage in the EU.  This might be true depending on where you are from.  However, if you are from the US, it’s not the case and you will need some form of insurance or will have to pay the bills yourself.  I wish everyone healthy travels! 

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Holiday Weekend

May 31st, 2010

I haven’t written in a while and my only excuse is that I’m back to work and haven’t had as much free time.  However, we had a long weekend here in the US for Memorial Day (and it’s bank holiday in the UK), so I thought I just take a minute to say hello again to everyone and hope they had a nice day off.  I suddenly appreciate these holidays a lot more now than when I was traveling (and not working).

I’ll be back later this week with the follow-on to my last blog, but in then mean time here’s how we spent our weekend.  We enjoyed  America’s pastime and were treated to a walk-off home run by the Angels against the Mariners. (Sorry to our friends and family in Seattle.)

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Left the Snake Bite Kit at Home

May 2nd, 2010

I was looking for my next topic to blog about when I came across an article about travel & medications.  It’s a topic that gets a lot of attention on travel forums.  It’s one that I thought about a lot before we left, and not much while we were actually travelling.  I don’t think I can cover everything in one post, so I’ll probably break this up into a few blogs.

 

I’ve read a lot of posts and articles with lists of what should be in your first aid kit.  The kit, just like everything else you pack is a series of tradeoffs.  What will fit?  What do I think I’ll need? What will I be able to buy while traveling?  Based on my experiences, here’s a list of what I took along, and my recommendations.  I’ll start out by saying that I think I was a little paranoid about my health before we left, so I tended to over-pack in this area.

 

Melatonin tablets – This is a chemical that your body produces naturally to help you sleep.  It’s not addictive and I found it helped with jetlag to take one at bedtime for a few days in a new timezone.  It doesn’t keep me from waking up in the middle of the night, but it seems to make it easier to fall back to sleep.  You can’t find this in many countries, but it’s OTC in the US, so I brought some with me.  There seem to be many people who get and Rx for Ambien, but that’s more than I need.

 

Aspirin and Ibuprofen – We used them quite a bit for all sorts of headaches and muscle aches.  You can replenish them just about anywhere, so don’t take too much to start.

 

Immodium – Thankfully we never had to use it.  That’s not to say that we didn’t get sick, but we stayed in one place long enough to get through it with out this.  I will only use it if I have to get on a plane/train/bus while I have, uh, symptoms.

 

Cipro – I had to use it once for Delhi Belly and Eric needed the Big C in Turkey.  Don’t leave home without it.  If you really need it, you probably won’t be in a condition to go out searching for a Dr. or pharmacy to get it.

 

Bandaids/Plasters – Blisters, scrapes, etc. are unavoidable if you are an active traveler. I always carry a few in my purse or daypack too.  It’s weird, but I’ve met a few nice people on hiking trails because I had one to share when they needed it.

 

Benadryl (antihistimine) and Sudafed (decongestant) – I have terrible allergies so I went through my initial supply quickly.  In most places, the pharmacist could recommend a good replacement if they didn’t have these specific ones.  If you are in a place where little English is spoken, bring the empty pack to the pharmacy so that they can see the ingredients.  It’s much easier than trying to “mime” a stuffy nose and sneezing. Benadryl is also good for some skin rashes.

 

Mefloquine (for malaria) – We started taking it, but gave up and just went with the next item…

 

50% DEET bug spray  (the Boots brand in the gray bottle is the best we found)- I covered myself in this stuff while I was in malaria zones.  It’s horrible,  (it actually dissolved the printing ink on one of my bags – what does it do to your skin?) but I didn’t get a single bite, which means no malaria, no dengue fever, or any other nasty disease. 

 

Meclazine (Dramamine) – I have occasional bouts of vertigo, so I brought this along, but maybe used it once.

 

Antiboitic cream – I think I only used it once for some scrapes I got hiking that didn’t heal.  I would probably still bring this along since it doesn’t take up too much room.

 

Hand Sanitizer – We carried it with us most of the time.  Since the “swine flu” was getting a lot of press last year, you could find this everywhere.  I also used it as an antiseptic to clean out some cuts while hiking (If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little klutzy on the trails).

 

Contact lens solution – I found this in most places, but it can be really expensive.  A year’s worth of disposable contacts takes up a lot of room too.  I ended up wearing glasses most of the time anyway.

 

Anthisan – I don’t think this cream is available in the US, but you get it in many other countries.  It’s for bug bites, bee stings, and rashes. The sand flies in NZ are unavoidable, so this was my only relief.  I also got stung by bees twice during our travels and it worked great.

 

That’s it for the first aid kit. Next up is that hot topic of health insurance.

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It’s my bag, baby

April 17th, 2010

Last weekend we took our first post-trip trip to do some spring skiing for the weekend with friends at Mammoth. It was fun, and it was also great to have all our gear – proper hats, gloves, socks, pants, jackets, goggles, and every other accessory specifically designed for skiing. Since we had no “one bag” restriction like on the RTW trip, I was pretty excited to be able to throw in an extra sweater (or two or three).

With packing on my mind, I think it’s time to tackle the blog that I’ve been putting off for a while. I’ve wanted to write a review of our bags, but it was hard to decide my opinion about them. Before the trip started, I read a lot of articles and forums about whether to use a backpack or a more traditional suitcase. I didn’t intend to do much actual backpacking on the trip, but jumping on/off trains with a big case is no fun. We compromised and bought bags with handles and wheels that also have backpack straps. In the end we only used them as backpacks once – they are really too big and heavy to make them practical for that purpose. However, the wheels are totally key and I wouldn’t suggest traveling without them.

I went with the Osprey Meridian 28 inch “wheeled convertible pack” and Eric got the Victorinix 26 inch Trek Pack Plus. They both have an external detachable daypack, which were OK for grocery shopping or toting around laundry, but too small to be really useful for day hiking (for that we used our regular daypacks/carry-ons). The main bag size is just about right for long term travel. When we left I though they were incredibly small, but after a year, I probably could have gotten by with an even smaller one. When fully stuffed, with clothes and books, they were just around 15 kg, which is often the weight limit for “free” checked-in bags on many international airlines.

The wheels on both bags were pretty rugged and we put them to the test, rolling and bumping them over everything from cobblestones to escalators. I only had one minor issue. There is a plastic piece on the bottom that helps the bag “stand” upright on the wheels. It is held in place with a few rivets, but tends to get caught on curbs and steps if you don’t lift the bag enough. Eventually one of the fasteners broke and I had to replace it with a nut/bolt combo we bought along the way (but it did give me an excuse to learn the Spanish word “tornillo”). The fabric of the bag generally held up to airline baggage handling, except for a small puncture on the back, which I fixed with an iron-on patch and it never got any bigger.

Eric’s bag came through about the same, except for a torn seam along one of the zippers that I think was just from over-stuffing. We got it fixed at a tailor in Turkey for roughly $2, so it wasn’t a big deal. Both of our bags were dark red/maroon which made them easy to spot on the airport baggage carousels, but really shows the dirt. After a few months they both looked pretty grungy and stayed that way for the rest of the trip.

My final opinion on the bags is that for our type of travel they were the right choice. We had a car for a lot of our trip, so weight wasn’t the most important thing. However, if I were going to do a more “mobile” trip with more trains, buses, or visiting more countries, I would probably use a smaller bag, possibly a true backpack. However, that would mean making a lot more tradeoffs on what gear to bring and that’s a topic for another blog.

Here I am in Istanbul with the beast on my back.  Note the fine example of Turkish parking in the background:

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