Retch-22 Laos in the time of cholera

Don Khong Island

Ray, a bearded New Yorker who had recently dropped out of college to travel the world, was convinced that southern Laos was turning into a horrific cesspool of death and disease.

“I’m telling you,” he said to me as we stood outside the small ice-cream stand near the Phonsavanh Hotel in Pakse. “Cholera is completely out of control down here. A … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (1)  | November 22, 2014
Category: Asia, Destinations, Travel Health

5 Ways to eat healthy while traveling

Hannah eating-Chiang Rai

Eating healthy is important to us.

I’m a relentless “do it myself” sort of girl. I was raised freezing and canning a lot of our own food. I make most things from scratch. It’s really important to me to feed my family healthy things so that the children grow properly and so that healthy eating patterns are established for life.

Lots of people … Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on 5 Ways to eat healthy while traveling  | September 23, 2014
Category: Food and Drink, On The Road, Travel Health, Vagabonding Life

Slumming the golden arches

Golden Arches, Barstow Station

Image credit

This month marks the beginning of student-travel season in Europe, which means that — at any given moment — continental McDonald’s restaurants will be filled with scores of American undergraduates. Quiz these young travelers, and they’ll give you a wide range of reasons for seeking out McDonald’s — … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (2)  | June 7, 2014
Category: Backpacking, Europe, Food and Drink, Travel Health, Vagabonding Advice

Does travel ever scare you? 5 thoughts on finding security as a nomad.

About a week and a half ago my train pulled up to the platform in Tundla, India where a sea of Indian military men were waiting for it. There was a rush of commotion as we all pushed towards the doors- a commotion which only grew when we discovered all the doors were locked. The train sat there with its locked doors for 5 minutes while the military men grew angrier and angrier, beginning to … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (4)  | May 8, 2014
Category: Adventure Travel, Travel Health, Travel Safety

An introduction to the Budapest bath experience at Széchenyi

Finding yourself tired and achy after a long day’s sightseeing in Budapest? That can be easily fixed by indulging in one of the city’s great experiences—a long soak in the healing waters that residents and visitors have been availing themselves of since Ottoman times. Blessed by its location—it sits above numerous natural springs spouting warm water fortified with minerals—the Hungarian capital offers visitors some of the world’s great public bath experiences.

With over fifty baths, … Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on An introduction to the Budapest bath experience at Széchenyi  | April 13, 2014
Category: Destinations, Europe, Images from the road, On The Road, Travel Health

What to do when you get sick on the road

Getting stuck in a hospital in Argentina with pneumonia wasn't where I wanted to be, but I wouldn't have wanted to be a hospital in the USA either.

Getting sick while traveling is probably one of the most common fears travelers have – and for good reason.  Not only does getting sick disrupt your daily itinerary, but finding a doctor … Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on What to do when you get sick on the road  | June 10, 2013
Category: Travel Health

What’s in your health kit?

 

The question has been asked lots of times: What do you have in your health kit?

First, let me say that we have a three pronged approach to healthcare, at home and abroad: staying well, and treating illness & emergency care. I’ll share what we carry with us for all three.

Staying Well

This includes eating healthy foods, getting plenty of sleep and decent hygiene.

To that end we carry with us:

Kefir grains … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (3)  | February 26, 2013
Category: Family Travel, Travel Health, Vagabonding Life, Vagabonding Styles

Suffer from food allergies, there’s an app for that

Engineers at UCLA are working on converting an iPhone into a small laboratory. Weighting less than 2 ounces, the iTube attaches to your phone and analyzes a food sample in about 20 minutes using a colorimetric assay test. The user grinds up a small sample of food with hot water and places it in the tube along with an extraction solvent. After several other testing liquids are added; the phone then captures an … Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on Suffer from food allergies, there’s an app for that  | December 27, 2012
Category: Food and Drink, General, On The Road, Travel Gear, Travel Health, Travel Tech

Open relationships and long term travel

“But you’re just going to leave!”

Although I hated to admit it, who said that was right. At the time I’d been seasonally migrating as a guide for four years. And had no intention to confine my adventurous spirit in domestic American life, then—if ever. The catch though was he was not American; Swedish born to immigrated Polish parents. And unless we got married, physically being together was a matter of juggling countless visas. I … Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on Open relationships and long term travel  | November 29, 2012
Category: Female Travelers, General, Languages and Culture, Notes from the collective travel mind, On The Road, Sex and Travel, Simplicity, Travel Health, Vagabonding Advice, Vagabonding Life