Top five antibiotics to keep in your travel first aid kit

by Laurel Miller on

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But I do make my living off of eating while traveling which, if I have my way, usually entails sampling a lot of street food. That said, I do take precautions, but sometimes the inevitable happens anyway.

Back alley eateries aside, experienced adventurers know that it pays to visit a travel medicine clinic or their primary physician (an internist is best) before heading off the beaten path. I’ve learned through painful, sometimes embarrassing, experience to take a portable pharmacy with me when I travel, so I’m prepared when disaster strikes. Checking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site is a must when planning a trip to developing nations, so you can get the appropriate immunizations; plan far ahead, as some of these require months to take effect.

Please note that I’m not endorsing self-diagnosis, the purchase of dubious or over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, or the casual use of antibiotics. You can buy OTC meds in many countries, and I’ve had to do so more than once. But I wouldn’t recommend it unless it’s an emergency, you can’t get to a doctor, or the only medical assistance available is more high-risk than trying to diagnose and treat yourself.

Get legal prescriptions from your own doctor, one who hopefully understands tropical and/or travel medicine. Carry paper copies of your prescriptions with you, in case you find yourself subject to a random bag search (because life in a Thai prison isn’t fun, no matter what anyone tells you). For this reason, I don’t carry sterile syringes or hypodermic needles in my first-aid kit. If you’re diabetic or have a medical condition that requires injections, be sure to wear a medical alert bracelet and carry the appropriate paperwork on your person at all times.

I carry a small, nylon, wilderness first aid kit in my backpack. Besides the usual OTC stuff-hydrocortisone cream, antibiotic ointment, Airborne, ibuprofen, antihistamines, Imodium, and Pepto-Bismol tablets, my top five must-haves are listed below. Obviously, your list and doseages will vary based on your individual needs (I’m allergic to Penicillin), and you need to be extremely cautious about potential drug interactions, which is why you need a doctor to prescribe this stuff. All of these drugs are available in less-expensive generic forms.

1. Cipro: The big gun for serious bacterial infections
2. Doxycycline: a less expensive, less hardcore drug for bacterial infections, or for use in combination with other drugs for amoebic infections
3. Erythromycin: used for respiratory and streptococcal infections
4. Flagyl (metronidazole) for anaerobic bacterial, and certain parasitic infections
5. Gentomycin: an antibiotic eye ointment for stys, conjunctivitis, or other infections
6. Bonus round for women: Bactrim (for UTI’s, but also useful for GI infections), and Diflucan or Terazol (for yeast infections). If you’re traveling in the tropics or are withholding water consumption due to logistics (say, a 15-hour trip on a bus that has no toilet), you’ll be glad you have these on you. Trust me.

[Photo credit: Flickr user DawnVGilmorePhotography]

Meet locals (and save money) hiking through Europe – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Most travelers are keen to mingle with locals while taking in the sights. Do both and save money by hiking along the fjords and fjells of Scandinavia and/or the soaring majesty of the Alps.

Don’t like the idea of lugging your gear over the mountains? No worries. Join one of the following hiking clubs that maintain hut-to-hut hiking trails and get discounts on accommodations. This lets you can pack light and spend each night in the company of local hiking enthusiasts:

Happy trails!

[Photo: Flickr | Geir Halvorsen]

Top ten traits of an excellent hostel

by Catherine Bodry on

I’ve spent nights in hostels that were probably just fronts for drug operations, and hostels that I wish I could live in. What makes a hostel good is fairly basic: cleanliness is the biggest issue, followed by orderliness and friendliness.

But a few traits separate the good from the excellent when it comes to hostels. Here’s what I’ve determined are the factors:

1. Good ventilation: It is so gross to open the door into a dorm and be hit with a wall of humid halitosis. It doesn’t matter how clean the room is; you just can’t cleanse the air of a dozen people sweating and breathing. A window (with a screen to keep the bugs out) and a fan work wonders.

2. Towels: Even threadbare ones are a nice break from the damp, mildewey clumps that backpackers are loathe to pull out of their packs and “dry off” with.

3. Separate male and female dorms: Boys are smelly. Girls can’t hang out in their underpants with boys around. And I appreciate being able to change in my room, rather than carry all my clothes down the hall to the bathroom, try to change without getting my feet or the bottoms of my pants wet, and then carry my jammies back (waking everyone else up in the process as I go in and out of the door).

4. Drinking rules: Don’t get me wrong – I like to party as much as the next 19- (or 33-) year-old. However, lax rules tend to lead to noisy late-night sessions, with giggly guests lounging around the common areas. At the least, drinking rules encourage folks to get out of the hostel and experience wherever they’re at. Even if it’s just the local pub.5. A big kitchen and a staff that cleans it daily: Unfortunately, you just can’t count on every guest to do their own dishes. And you definitely can’t count on them to wipe the counters and sweep the floors. A kitchen that gets a scrub down once or twice a day is a wonderful thing to behold.

6 Non-metal, non-creaky beds: Not everyone has the bladder capacity of a camel. Which means that not everyone is going to sleep through the night without creeping down the ladder to relieve themselves. And you’re gonna have folks who had a late night, or people who have an early flight to catch. It helps when the beds are a nice, quiet natural wood. And they don’t have plastic sheets on them, either.

7. Local knowledge and the ability to book tours: Three words: One-stop shopping.

8. Nightly activities: Canadiana Backpacker’s Inn in Toronto has at least one weekly activity a night, whether it’s karaoke Monday at a local bar, game night, or a Friday tour of a brewery. Some of the activities, like karaoke, are free, which encourages everyone to participate. It’s a great way to get out of the hostel and meet some other travelers.

9. A nightly/weekly limit: It’s been my experience that hostels without a stay limit attract folks who aren’t necessarily travelers, but rather are people in transition, trying to relocate to the city. That’s not exactly a bad thing, but it’s a different vibe than the regular traveler scene. And in one unnamed Alaska hostel, it meant a bunch of 50-year-old unemployed criminals men, selling cocaine and stealing cash from guests. True story.

10. A decent breakfast: It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but I’ll take a bagel and cream cheese over Wonderbread toast and jam any day. Decent coffee, brewed slightly strong, is a thousand times better than instant coffee. Put out a donation jar; I’ll gladly throw in a buck or two to feel full and awake for a couple of hours. HI Austin receives day-olds from a local bakery, which means that hostel guests can help themselves to almost-fresh doughnuts, french breads, and whatever else the baker made that day.

[Photo credit: Flickr user Barnacles Hostels]

Swap shelves in airport bookstores – Airplane tip

by Gadling Staff on

I’ve been noticing swap shelves in airport bookstores lately. Store owners are starting to encourage frequent fliers to leave a book and take a book. This helps you get fresh reading material for free (or cheap) and lightens your load of a book you’re done with.

A few airports, like Portland International, have used bookstores where someone has undoubtedly just sold back that bestseller you wanted, and you can pick it up for less than full price.

Alternatively, check out The Paradies Shops: they let you return a book you bought within 6 months and receive half your money back.

[Photo: Flickr | jrodmanjr]

Avoid settling for the “Block Rate” – Hotel tip

by Gadling Staff on

For seven years I worked in every facet of the hotel industry, including serving as an Assistant Manager. The best advice I can give to anyone reserving a room for a wedding or other special event, is to not book it under the “block” of rooms reserved by the bride and groom or the person responsible for planning the special event.

Typically, the corporate rate is what is given to wedding parties and special events, and this rate is higher than other discounted rates. You would be better served to reserve with your AAA membership, AARP membership, or hotel rewards membership.

[Photo Flickr | the_toe_stubber]