Fit For Trips Gets You Ready For Adventure

by Kraig Becker on

Some people like to go on vacation to relax, sit on a beach and enjoy fine foods and sip fruity drinks. Others take a break from their regular life to go on an adventure. They climb mountains, they trek through the Himalaya, and they cycle through the south of France. Adventure travelers need to be in great shape before they leave on their vacations, and that’s where Fit For Trips comes in.

Fit For Trips offers 4, 8, and 12 week programs designed to get you ready for your adventure vacation. Each of them is easily adaptable to the activities that you will be participating in while traveling, and can be custom made to match your itinerary, and best of all, they can help someone who is just starting to get in shape or is already working out regularly.
There are programs designed for biking, both on and off road, trekking, paddling, walking, and multisports. Rates vary depending on the length of the program and the levels of customization. Typically a four week program starts at $169 while a twelve week program tops out around $339. For your money, you get video clips of exercise routines specific to your activities, reference charts and photos demonstrating your exercises, unlimited access to the Fit For Trips forums, and unlimited e-mail consultation from the FFT trainers. You’ll also have online tracking of your progress and the whole thing comes with a money back guarantee.

The idea is that you’ll enjoy your adventure travel more if you are in better condition and won’t suffer physically while taking part in all those activities. As a happy traveler your get more from your vacation and have more of an opportunity to soak up the culture and the adventure. To check out sample work out routines, click here, and to take a tour of what Fit For Trips has to offer, click here. Then start preparing for your next trip with the right routine as soon as possible.

Europe struggles to stub out smoking

by Jeremy Kressmann on

All across Europe, increasingly health-conscious governments have been banning smoking in public places like hospitals, train stations, bars and restaurants. Austria, one of the few remaining countries in Western Europe to not yet institute a ban, will be tightening their anti-smoking rules beginning in 2009.

The halcyon days of carefree European smoking look to be a thing of the past, right? Apparently not. As the Wall Street Journal reports today, European businesses and citizens are fighting back against the bans, lobbying desperately to hold on to their precious fire sticks.

Instead of creating across-the-board smoking bans as originally hoped, countries like France, Italy and Germany have allowed a variety of exceptions to the new rules. Federal lawsuits in Germany have allowed many restaurants to stay cig-friendly, while in Italy the Health Ministry reports there are nearly as many smokers now as when the country-wide bans went into place in 2005. It’s hard to blame them when the Italian model of sanctity himself, Pope Benedict XVI, has been known to light up on occasion.

So what’s really going on here? Is it that smoking is truly an inextricable component of European identity, as iconic as that Parisian cafe and a cup of coffee? Or is this something more political, a fight for personal rights in the face of governments that want to penalize us for our indulgences? Whatever the outcome, expect European rules surrounding public smoking to be clouded in a choking haze of indecision for the foreseeable future.

The adoption travel experience

by Brenda Yun on

Several of my close friends and family members were adopted, adopted a child, or are in the process of adopting a child from Asia. In fact, my sister is months away from traveling to China to pick up her daughter, and our very own Gadling writer, Jamie Rhein has a daughter adopted from Vietnam. While China, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and India are just a few of the popular adoption locales these days, there are several others popping up all over the globe.

The adoption travel trip is like no other you will ever experience in your life. It’s is the first step in documenting your adoptive child’s journey with you. It’s something s/he will not likely remember, so taking photos, and recording the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of his/her birthplace is a most important step in the process.
Certainly, a lot of preparation has to take place before you even step foot on foreign soil. (Sometimes the adoption application process can take up to two years!). However, so much goes on during and after the trip, that it’s important to consider your adoption travel experience in three distinctive parts:

BEFORE

  • Consider your health: Just as you would prepare for an ordinary trip abroad, you will need to understand the health risks involved in traveling abroad. Odds are you are traveling to a third world country where diseases like malaria and dengue fever can be contracted. Be sure to take the necessary precautions (i.e. take those preventative shots) and stock up on the necessary medications.
  • Get travel insurance: This is an important trip, and you don’t want it to be bogged down by lost baggage or flight cancellations. Nowadays, travel insurance can cost as little as $100 a month, so it’s worth the peace of mind.
  • Pack light: Don’t burden yourself with excess baggage. Necessities like diapers and clothes are attainable and often cheaper upon arrival in your destination.

DURING

  • Document and record every moment: Take photos, keep a journal, and pay attention to even the smallest details of your experience. This is really the symbolic birthplace of your new child, so capturing as many memories as you can is crucial.
  • Allow time for adaptation: You will not be jetting over to this country just to jet back. It’s important to take the time that is necessary to allow your new child to adapt to his/her parents and surroundings. Sightseeing is a great experience for both you and the child, as well as simple human interaction.

AFTER

  • Take your time: Patience is a virtue most necessary for adoptive parents. Your new child will need even more time to get used to his/her new national soil and the different faces that make up his/her new family. Go slow in immersing him/her into the new pace and style of life.
  • Visit the pediatrician: This is a necessary step in identifying just how healthy your new child is. Measures may need to be taken to ensure his/her stability and health upon arrival home, so make sure this initial trip to the doctor is thorough and extensive, yet comfortable and informative.
  • Return to the birth country when the time is right: At some point, your fully adapted child will need to understand where s/he came from. If possible, make the trip with your child when s/he is able to document the experience for him/herself.

Adoption regulations change depending upon diplomatic relationships between countries. Be sure to find out the newest regulations before you embark on this journey, and be prepared that things might change. Sometimes adoptions are halted between the U.S. and another country.

Also, be advised that some countries suggest or require multiple trips before the real adoption takes place. If this is the case, the initial trip is a unique opportunity to explore the country, document, and record before you become a parent. Enjoy this special journey!

The following are some helpful sites with useful adoption travel tips and stories:

Catching the Travel Bug: Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

by Josh Lew on

Welcome to Catching the Travel Bug, Gadling’s mini-series on getting sick on the road, prevailing and loving travel throughout. Five of our bloggers will be telling their stories from around the globe for the next five weeks. Submit your best story about catching the travel bug in the comments and we’ll publish our favorite few at the end of the series.

SARS. The subject was worked into every conversation amongst the expats and long-term tourists in Vietnam. The government claimed that the virus had been contained in several northern provinces, far away from Sai Gon (Ho Chi Minh City to Communist Party officials and fresh-off-the-plane tourists). Still. There were rumors about people’s neighbors being taken away in the middle of the night to be quarantined because of a persistent cough. Mostly, that was just speculation, fueled by one too many beers or one too many years in country.

Nonetheless, when I came down with a cough and fever, I had thoughts of gasping for breath in a hidden away hospital ward guarded by CP officials who didn’t want their SARS secret to get out. I wrote my illness off as a regular flu bug I’d picked up from being in a classroom teaching eight-year-old Vietnamese kids how to speak English. When my chest started to tighten and my cough to turn into a wheeze, I started to worry a bit more.

I confided in my girlfriend who took me to a doctor who had an after-hours private practice in his home. I was assured that he spoke English. He spoke great Russian because he’d been schooled in Moscow, but only a bit of English (like “Injection” and “Infection”). Between my modest Vietnamese skills and miming and his pidgin of Russian, English, and charades, I was able to get started on an IV of antibiotics. But he wanted an x-ray to rule out the unspoken disease. He kept asking me if I had been up north, to the areas that were hit by SARS. I said no, but he casually slipped a surgical mask on before starting me on the IV.
I got into the x-ray at a hospital the next day. It took two hours in the waiting room, which was not the best experience. Radiology was located by a nurses’ station and there were several people on hospital beds just parked in the hallway. I found out from a smiling but nervous lady in a neighboring seat that they were on a death watch. The nurses could keep an eye on them until the end.

The x-ray technician was unfamiliar with practicing his trade on someone of my height. It took 5 tries to get it right. I paid him 150,000 dong ($10 US) to hand the pictures directly to me instead of putting them up with the others.

My next antibiotic session consisted of me and about 4 others, sitting in plastic lawn chairs in the doctor’s back room with drips hanging from hooks in the wall. One guy smoked the entire time, but no one said anything.

A few days later, I went through the x-ray ordeal again. This time a smiling technician got it right on the second try. Through my girlfriend the doctor said that he chalked it up to a chest infection.

“No SARS?” I asked.

“No SARS.” He chuckled, said something in Russian, and patted me on the shoulder.

Check out the past travel-bug features here.

Don’t get burned on your next trip

by Erik McLaughlin on

You are finally there…the perfect beach, the perfect companion and the perfect drink in your hand. This is what you’ve been working and waiting for. You’ve left the mobile phone off and are dedicated to not letting anything ruin your trip. Besides the calls from work though, sunburn can ruin a holiday pretty quick.

Basics: Your Skin and the Sun’s Rays

You may remember from hazy days in high school biology that the skin has two main layers: epidermis (thin, outer layer) and the dermis (thicker, inner layer). The skin has many functions and one of them is protection from the sun. The amount of melanin in the skin can effect the skin’s ability to protect against sunburn and damage from ultraviolet light, as most light skinned people can tell you. Being very light skinned, I get a “light pink” just going outside to get my mail.

This sun’s ultraviolet light has three main types, UVA, UVB and UVC. People are exposed to much, much more UVA light than UVB, but it is actually UVB that is responsible for most sunlight induced erythema (sunburns). The UVC light is largely absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. An interesting article that discusses the interplay of UVA and UVB and UVA’s possible role in skin damage can be found here

Prevention

The best way to avoid getting a sunburn is to protect yourself and there are several ways to do this. Sunscreens, clothing, sunglasses and avoidance of peak sun hours (10 am to 3 pm) are all common tools in the war on sunburn. Glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses protect the eye from most UVB rays. For those of you that are “into shades” you can read a bit more about things like light transmission and distortion.

Sun protection clothing is a very useful item and quality counts — specifically the tightness of the weave in the garment. Material, proper, does not seem to be as important as this “weave tightness”, as evidenced by Lycra. When stretched, Lycra blocks only 2% of UVR compared to 100% when lax. The term to know is UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) and is similar to SPF for sunscreen. This is the amount of UV rays that are able to pass through the clothing. A UPF rating of 50 means only 1/50 of the sun’s UV rays pass through, offering substantial protection because only 2% of the suns rays get to your skin.

Sun Protection Factors (SPF)

The famous SPF rating of sunscreens is a commonly misunderstood factor that compares protection times of different strengths of sunscreen. This number is actually a ratio that uses the amount of time it takes to get a sunburn in a person wearing sunscreen versus one without protection.

For example, a person gets a sunburn in 10 minutes of sun exposure, without sunscreen. Wearing SPF 2 will protect their skin from sunburn for 20 minutes, or double their “unprotected” time it takes to burn. Wearing SPF 15 will give 150 minutes of protection or about 2 1/2 hours and SPF 50 offers 500 minutes of protection, or 8.3 hours. SPF merely gives an amount of time one is supposed to be protected from a sunburn. Interestingly, higher SPF values are associated with protection from UVB absorption. SPF 2 only blocks about 50% of UVB, while SPF 15 blocks 93% of UVB and SPF 50 blocks 98% of UVB rays.

Sunscreen

The method by which the sunscreen is applied is very important. Creams and lotions generally spread well and allow good skin penetration. Gels tend to wash or sweat off easily, and some contain alcohol which can sting the skin. Sticks make it hard to cover a large area of skin. Oils traditionally spread thin and some can cause acne. Ointments/waxes are generally left to extreme environments and help resist skin chap and frostbite. Aerosolized and sprays make an even coating difficult, allowing for unprotected patches.

The biggest problem with sunscreen is that it is not properly used. This means adequate application in the beginning and re-application — frequently. Apply the sunscreen, liberally, to all exposed skin areas. Remember to get the neck, ears and backs of hands, too! Re-apply after swimming or water contact. Sunscreen goes on the skin first, then bug spray goes on top. Remember that use of DEET and sunscreen together decreases the sunscreen’s protection by 34%. Try not to let the sunscreen run into your eyes, as this will cause some irritation, trust me.

Sunscreens are a major cause of skin irritation, also. Oxybenzone is a common link in these products and is commonly know as PABA (p-aminobenzoic acid). Up to 4% of the population are adversely affected by this compound. If you have a sensitivity to PABA, make sure to select a PABA-free lotion.

Sunburn Treatment

OK, it happens. Forgot the sunscreen, didn’t re-apply, didn’t use enough the first time, whatever. You now have a burn and it hurts. For immediate relief, cool water soaks or compresses help with pain. Topical anesthetics do work and the preferred ones include menthol or camphor. Aspirin and ibuprofen are very good at reducing pain and swelling/inflammation. Sun avoidance for 48 hours may also help speed healing time. Lastly, ensure adequate hydration. My personal “sunburn remedy” is a lot of water.

More severe sunburns can be associated with blistering of the skin, fevers/chills, and even vomiting. If your skin blisters, try not to beak them. If they do break, wash the area with soap and water and consider applying a thin layer of antibiotic cream.

Hopefully, most everybody associates sun exposure and burns with skin damage and even cancers, later in life. Even if this is not as catchy as the “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen” essay, hopefully this will help you remember to wear your sunscreen and avoid a few days of discomfort on your “perfect beach holiday”.

For more information check out:

CDC Travel Health: Sunburn