Combine caffeine and naps for jet lag help

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s what I do to deal with jet lag. I don’t go to sleep much before I travel. I think I was a hamster in my past life. I’m the type who wants to get every last project done, every last dish washed, every last chore behind me before I head out the door. I ruminate. I become more compulsive than usual.

Sometimes, I stay up so late that going to bed may not make sense. That’s what happened before the good-deed travel Mexico trip. It got to be 4:00 a.m. and I thought, I’m getting up in two hours anyway, so why bother? I slept on the plane on and off, and went to bed early the following night. When I travel across time zones, this staying up late makes me tired enough that the jet lag is not as noticeable. I’m thrown off already, what’s a bit more?

When I was living in Singapore, one of my closest friend’s parents visited from the U.S. They are the hearty, cross-country skiing type who stay on a scheduled routine. Their answer to jet lag was to go on a long hike through the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve almost as soon as they arrived at our apartment. Our complex edged the preserve which made hiking there pretty darned convenient. They went to bed when they normally do, and seemed not to suffer much. Getting out in the air and sunshine is one way diminish that groggy, disheveled feeling.

There was an article recently in the New York Times that explains how a combination of coffee and naps can help thwart jet lag. I suppose this is what I do, but less scientifically. I always order coffee and a club soda when I fly. Coffee for the boost, and soda water for the hydration. It feels fancier than regular water. Anything one can do to spruce up travel in my opinion.

The photo is of my 2nd cup of coffee on the Southwest flight. It’s slightly out of focus, but then, so was I.

Eating mallorcas in Old San Juan

by Jeremy Kressmann on

This past weekend I had an opportunity to experience the many pleasures of Puerto Rico’s Old San Juan neighborhood. Ringed by massive stone walls and the imposing El Morro fortress, the historic heart of this former Spanish colonial capital provides a virtual feast for the senses. As I meandered the area’s narrow cobblestone streets, I passed by block after block of majestic, pastel-colored colonial facades. My ears picked up strains of salsa music cascading from upper story windows, while groups of old men sat chatting, playing dominoes in the area’s tiny local parks.

But perhaps the most overpowering sense was the delicious smell of baking bread that came when I opened the door to La Bombonera, arguably Old San Juan’s most famous bakery and cafe. This old gem has been churning out homemade pastries and bottomless cups of coffee for tourists and San Juan regulars since it opened in 1902. The menu is just the basics – coffee, pastries, simple entrées, and what is arguably the house specialty, the mallorcas. Mallorcas are a sweet pastry which is typically grilled and buttered, then topped with a generous heap of powdered sugar. If you’re feeling particularly ravenous, grab one with ham and cheese in the middle. The sweet of the powdered sugar and dough combined with the savory taste of the ham and the cheese is heavenly. I ended up ordering two. I’m told the house coffee is also superb – they brew using a monstrous contraption brought from Havana in 1898. Take that, Starbucks.

So if you find yourself in Old San Juan some ungodly bright Saturday morning, hungry and hungover from one too many piña coladas the night before, make sure to stop by La Bombonera. But get there early – the line is probably already out the door.

Expensive caffeine: Coffee made from animal dung goes for £50 a cup

by Anna Brones on

At Gadling we are pretty crazy about odd and bizarre foods. We’ve already written about Indonesian turd coffee, a byproduct of wild civets, but today the good news is that you don’t have to travel all the way to Southeast Asia to get it. To get your morning cup of turd coffee, make your way to London instead.

Peter Jones, a department store in Sloane Square, is selling a gourmet coffee blend made from animal dung and selling it at £50 a cup; that’s almost $100! Caffe Raro, which is thought to be the most expensive coffee in the world, is a made from a blend of Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kopi Luwak beans. The Kopi Luwak beans are eaten by the Asian palm civet, and once passed through their system, collected and sold for a little under $650 per kilogram. Don’t worry — they’re washed before they are roasted.

$100 may seem like a lot to spend on a good cup of java — especially when it’s made from animal dung — but then again, if you live in Europe, it’s cheaper than a ticket to track down the specialty in Indonesia.

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Pay what you want (or not!) cafe in Washington

by Abha Malpani on

What would you do if you went to a cafe and didn’t have to pay unless you wanted to? Would you pay? Or take advantage of free food and coffee?

Terra Bite Lounge in Washington is one such place. This “upscale voluntary cafe” has no price-list and no cash register. You can eat and drink whatever you like, and pay if you want and when you want, by putting the money in a slot by the counter.

The cafe has been running for two years now, with surprising success. You’d think they’d have gone bankrupt by now, but they are actually breaking even.

Some people pay less than they should, some pay more, but most people do land up paying. According to the owners, its success boils down to peoples honesty, and the fact that this policy makes most customers feel trusted and valued. Also, the freedom of paying when they want (for example) just once a week has been a big contributor to its prosperity.

Their site screams that they are not a charity, they are not saints, and not activists. By maintaining an upscale decor and flexible payment system, they attract a decent and loyal crowd.

If I went to such a cafe, I would pay what I’d pay for a coffee anywhere else or I’d feel like a cheapskate. However, if the coffee was bad I’d have to force a penny out, and I’d never go back. What would you do?

Woman crashes her car, saves her morning coffee

by Iva Skoch on

I just want to assure all of you that this is not a story about me. I am not saying “this would never, ever happen to me” but since I don’t have a car here in the US, I don’t have to make those hard choices: a latte or the front windshield? Hmm, tough.

A 22-year old woman from Oakland, California may have landed in the waters of the Oakland Estuary after losing control of her car on Thursday, but she never lost her grip on her morning coffee, APP writes. She was apparently reaching for her cell phone around 6 a.m. when the car sped out of control and became lodged under a home on stilts on the water.

She got out of the car uninjured and holding her coffee cup. This woman should be the next Bond girl!

[via APP]

Photo: foebrian, Flickr

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