Grapefruit seed extract may keep your stomach strong – Packing tip

by Gadling Staff on

Nothing can ruin your vacation faster than going dally-belly by eating something not cooked properly — or from bad water. The medicines doctors prescribe are sometimes too harsh for your body to take, leaving you exhausted. However, some people believe grapefruit seed extract drops are a powerhouse of natural killers to bacteria and parasites.

Use 5-10 drops of GSE to clean you toothbrush, thirty drops in a sink full of water to wash your fruits, veggies and meats, and 15-30 drops in the sink to wash your dishes and utensils. Also consider putting 3-6 drops in every five-ounce-serving of juice or water three times a day to keep your stomach and intestines clean.

[Photo: Flickr | Dan Zen]

Look where cab drivers eat – Dining out tip

by Gadling Staff on

Look where cab drivers eat.

There are times in a foreign country when you want to test the culinary prowess of a culture that has a thousand years of history behind it. And there are times when you just want to “tie on the feed bag.”

If you want authentic, down-home grub and you don’t want to be over-charged, follow the cab drivers. If you you see five or so cabs parked in front of a restaurant, you’ve found a cheap, filling, honest meal, sans garnish, with refills on the crank du-jour and plenty of local color.

[Photo: Flickr | Bryson Gilbert]

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]

Don’t take sleep aids until you’re in the air – Airplane tip

by Gadling Staff on

Though it may seem appealing to sleep through those long waits on the tarmac, avoid the temptation to take a sleep aid until you’re up in the air.

You may miss important announcements, or, worse yet, you may be asked to disembark and wait for a later plane.

If you plan to take a sleep aid, be sure to take a seat where you are less likely to block in other passengers, like a window seat or a middle seat. Your fellow passengers don’t want to climb over your dead weight in the middle of the night.

[Photo: Flickr | mirjoran]

Carry a door stop – Hotel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Ever worry that you might have an unwelcome visitor during the night in your hotel room? While most hotels have a deadbolt or a chain lock which can be engaged only from the interior of a hotel room, many cheap accommodations — especially some found overseas — offer less protection for their guests.

To deal with this, I carry a small rubber wedge that is normally used to hold doors open with me. Before I go to bed, I wedge it between the door and the floor. It’s inexpensive, easy to pack, and gives me a little peace of mind when patronizing less-than-glamorous lodgings.

[Photo: Flickr | General Wesc]