Tips Archives - OCD travel

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19 Jun 2014

Packing Tip — Use a laptop sleeve for wrinkle-free clothes.

If you’re traveling for just a few days, consider using a laptop bag as your luggage.

The sleeve area keeps clothes secure and wrinkle-free.

I tried this on a recent two-nighter, for which I needed nice slacks. They arrived perfect and I didn’t even need to iron.

In some cases you might end up with creases where the folds are, but in this case it was fine.

I always love to find new packing hacks. Do you have any? Please share!
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13 May 2014

Baggage Fees Are Out of Control – so pack light!
Yet another reason to travel as light as possible. See this article from last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times travel section (click the link above).

I haven’t personally experienced the checked bag fees, since I usually go carry-on-only. BUT… according to the reporter, Tom Parsons, even carry-on travelers might have to make some changes:

“Airlines may start counting a purse and a laptop bag as two items and ban one of those, so consider when you’re packing whether you can combine the two into one bag.”

Here are some tips for traveling light:
- Wear your heaviest shoes on the plane.
- Resist the temptation to pack just-in-case items. You can always buy it if you need it, but you probably won’t even need it.
- Don’t keep adding items to your bag just because there’s still space. Many of the fees are based on bag weight.
- Leave bulky sweaters at home and pack layers (unless you’re going to the snow).
- Leave as many grooming products at home as you can. Your face/hair/whatever will survive.
- Take items that serve double-duty — a sarong that can function as a light wrap, picnic blanket or makeshift towel as needed.
- Consider doing laundry on the road, so you can bring fewer pieces of clothing.
Doing laundry in El Salvador.

There are about a hundred other tips and tricks. I can’t tell anymore if these are obvious to everyone or only obvious to nerdy travelers like me who like to spend time thinking about this stuff. 🙂

In either case, enjoy! And please share your own tips here in the comments.
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3 Apr 2014

5 Exercises to Get Your Body Ready for Travel

Anytime you break out of your routine, your system will be a little shocked.

Everyone knows travel can beat up your body – there’s jet lag (zzzzz), intestinal distress (!!!!!), and walking walking walking that makes you tired tired tired.

But here are some less-obvious punches you might not be ready for.

[Obligatory caveat – I’m no fitness expert. Consult your doctor before doing anything strenuous. Also, if you know more about exercise than I do, please share your fitness ideas in the comments. Thanks!]

Squatting

Let’s face it: our backsides are pampered here in the States. While traveling you could be faced with any number of toilet scenarios that will shock your delicate sensibilities: creatures swimming (true story), seat covered with ?????, no seat at all, or simply a hole in the ground.

Get those legs ready with some squats.

Bracing

At some point you’ll end up on a bus that is careening around cliff-side roads that curve left, curve right, curve left again … you get the idea. There’s nothing holding you in place, so your core muscles start to brace to keep you from leaning into the stranger next to you.

Focus on your core with planks. (Unless you want to get close to the stranger next to you. I’m not judging.)

Steady-ing

This is for those times when there’s no seat available on the bus mentioned above. So you’re standing. Around the curves. Maybe there’s something to hold onto. Maybe not. Hope your legs are up to the task.

Practice your balance with these tips.

Lifting

Unless you’re on a tour that includes people carrying your bags for you, you’ll be employing arm muscles that have never seen active duty. You’ll lift your carry-on to the overhead bin. You might lift your full bag to the luggage-organizer-guy on the roof of the aforementioned bus.

Get your arms ready to lift things above your head by, um, lifting things above your head. Or with these arm exercises.

Climbing

At some point you’ll probably have to climb several flights of stairs with your bag in hand or on your back. Or, if you like quaint hillside colonial towns (like I do), you’ll end up climbing those quaint hillsides on foot – because, to keep the town quaint for us touristy types, the town keeps all ancient narrow meandering roads (or footpaths) as-is. Your legs and lungs don’t always appreciate this as much as the rest of you does.

Get your climbing muscles ready with a treadmill set to an incline.

Have I missed any? And how would you fitness experts prepare for these movements? (Short of simply traveling more, which is always highly recommended.)

And remember this one thing – it’s all worth it! A little soreness is a small price to pay for experiencing the world beyond your city limits.
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22 Feb 2013

Introducing a new series — Travel Opposites
Have you ever traveled with an opposite?

What if you’re an early riser and you’re sharing a room with a night owl?

Maybe you want to spend the day reading in the colonial town’s public square, while your travel companion wants to explore every museum mentioned in the guidebook.

Or perhaps you’re short on funds, but your friend’s idea of budget travel is business class instead of first class.

Traveling with opposites can be challenging but also rewarding. So I’m kicking off a series of posts that will look at each of these types of opposites:
- Introvert vs extrovert
- Night owl vs early riser
- Do’er vs Be’er (sightseeing versus just wandering around town)
- Luxury vs budget
- Planner vs seat-of-the-pants
- Shy/private vs outgoing/gregarious (this is different than introvert/extrovert)
Are there any pairings I’ve missed? Tell me, and I’ll consider adding them to the list. And also share your tips on how to make traveling with opposites work.

This will be fun!
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25 Jan 2013

Prepping for International Travel: Last-Minute Checklist
I leave for Nicaragua in a few days, so this is a good time to share my own list of last-minute preparations – especially related to international travel.

The list is somewhat random (reflecting the random nature of thoughts during the last-minute phase of travel planning). They may not all apply to you, but take what you want and trash the rest.
- Call your credit card companies and tell them where and when you’ll be traveling, so they don’t think it’s fraud when you start charging things halfway around the world. Also tell your bank.
- Figure out your money. How much cash should you take? How will you spend money when you’re there? To get local currency, I use a local ATM. In addition, I take enough cash to get by in case there’s no other way to get money. This happened to me before – in Nicaragua, in fact – the one ATM in town was not working, the bank wouldn’t take any of my cards, and the Western Union was down.
- Set up PIN numbers for your credit cards, so you can use them to access cash from ATMs. I prefer to use credit card rather than my bank’s ATM/debit card, because I don’t like the idea of another entity gaining access – however remotely – to my checking account. I do carry it as a backup, but I don’t use it if I don’t have to. This might be overly cautious, but hey – OCD is right there in the title of the website, so what did you expect?
- Color your hair. Ok, this one’s just for me. I’m 43 and totally gray and that’s just not acceptable. So I usually color my hair before I travel. For longer trips, I can’t avoid root creep, but at least I start out fresh as Medium Reddish Brown.
- Find out what your wireless carrier offers for international service, and make sure you’re aware of all potential fees before you start unwittingly racking up hundreds of dollars of international calling, texting or data fees.
- Check the weather on weather.com – don’t just rely on your guidebook’s general description of what the weather is usually like this time of year. Sure, Lonely Planet is great. But I don’t know about where you live, but here in LA the weather has not followed typical patterns this past year. It’s probably true of other places, as well.
- Make sure you have medical insurance that will cover you if you need to be transported back home or to better medical facilities someplace else. This is not just for life-threatening emergencies. A friend of mine injured her hip in Malawi, where medical resources are not what we’re used to. She had to be moved to South Africa via helicopter – a ride that likely would have cost her $60,000 (and that’s being conservative) if she didn’t have insurance to cover it. Check your policy. I always purchase travel insurance that covers those contingencies – the policy usually costs me about $50. World Nomads and Allianz are good sources. (More on the creepy language of travel insurance in a future post.)
- Set up out-of-office responders for all email accounts.
- Pay any bills that will come due while you’re out. If a bill hasn’t arrived yet, call the company and get your balance to date and make a payment early, or make arrangements for someone to receive your mail and pay your bills while you’re out. With online bill pay, this part of travel has gotten much easier in recent years. I’m sure there are plenty of ways to make financial arrangements that I don’t know of. Here’s a great resource: http://www.theprofessionalhobo.com. She knows all things travel and finance.
- Make photocopies of your passport. Give a copy to someone who’s staying home, and bring a copy with you in a ziplock bag.
- Other obvious things – stop your mail (or have someone pick it up), stop your paper, make sure you don’t have any packages scheduled to arrive while you’re gone (like that online back-order purchase that you’d forgotten about).
- Clean your dishes and dump your trash! (If you forget this step, it’s the first thing you’ll notice when you return home.)
That’s all I can think of at the moment. Did I forget anything?
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30 Jun 2012

“Vagabonding” – best lifestyle book ever
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30 Jun 2012

Greet the world!

And carry hand-sanitizer.
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