When to Throw a "Hail Mary Pass"

No football fan (leave that to Pop!), I'm hardly conversant with the lingo.  The only familiar term is the "Hail Mary Pass,"  that last-ditch move made in desperation.  In the travel context, I sometimes think I must have invented the term.

Just a sprinkling of "Hail Mary Passes" over solo-traveling days:

* Moved home, company, and cats from Singapore to Hong Kong on USD125.  Landed home in Singapore late one night, heard "Sorry-lah, cannot" for the gazillionth time, and decided that was more than enough.  Landed in Hong Kong a week later, and flew courier to do it.  The trio of kitty-babies did just fine.  As for me, I love the place.

* How did I ever land in Asia to begin with?  Sorta-boyfriend rang at 3:25 a.m. California time, said, "I might have found you a job, get your passport."  Thought I was going to Bali, and wound up in the jungles of Borneo.  Turned out all right in the end, and even glad to get rid of the bf, ultimately.

* En route to a conference in Montreal, realized there was nowhere near enough money for hotels and all.  Made a left turn on the interstate, and wound up in Buffalo.  Great summer!

So, with varying degrees of ultimate success, every Hail Mary Pass has worked out in the end.  Maybe a little anxiety involved, but the worst part has always been just letting it fly.

Once more, a Hail Mary Pass launches Saturday.  I'll let you know how it goes.

When do you throw a Hail Mary Pass?  Whenever you're at your wits end.  When all other options seem to have evaporated.  When you're well and truly stuck.  Whenever you want to.  Put it out into the ethers that "this has to work!"  Ask your angels to protect you.  Grab your things and go!

Just guessing, but successfully completed Hail Mary Passes just might have a better average on the road than on the football field.  At least, that's how it has worked so far.  So, just let it fly, trust your luck and your angels, dash like mad to the end of the field, and catch your own football.

Let me know how your Hail Mary Passes go!

May your road rise to meet you - and your Hail Mary Passes get you to your end zone.
Ann

One Wild and Crazy Foodie-Guy

I like to eat.  Love to cook, and dabble in a multitude of cuisines.  Some experiments don't turn out all that great.  On the whole, however, people like what I cook and love what I bake.

Some tastes don't turn out all that great, either.  Jackfruit really is a "heaty" fruit, as Indonesians call it.  Swallow a bit (tastes fine) and feel your face redden to flames.  Whoa!  Singapore Fish Head Curry is pretty good, once you get past those eyes staring at you and that gaping maw (turn the bowl so you don't see it, and pick out the fishmeat).

Finally managed to close my eyes and taste Indonesia's great delicacy - ikan bilis.  Bleeagh! on that one!  Itty-bitty dried fish, eyes or no, are yucky.  But in only one place (so far) could I find nothing I was willing and able to eat:  Pitsanuloke, Thailand.  Just too ferociously fiery.  Besides, some of that stuff was really globby-looking.

Benuaq Dayaks, while at their longhouse up the Mahakam River in Kalimantan (Borneo), served sticky rice cakes wrapped in pandanus leaves with a scary-looking brown sauce.  Turned out to be fresh coconut with spices, like cinnamon.  Totally delicious!  And so most food most places turns out to range from pretty good to superb.  At the very least, strange results are edible-without-gagging.

Finally got around to reading A Cook's Tour, one of professional chef Anthony Bourdain's oldie-but-goodies, while recuperating.  Travel Channel's host presents lots of good times, good food and good fun with interesting people.  Great travel story.  But will I sample some of the things he has eaten?

Bourdain just plain has to be crazy.  I draw lots of lines he never will.  One of those has to be drinking cobra bile and eating cobra.  No thanks, terima kasih, nyet!  Some of these things are hard to bear reading about.  Taste?  Never!

Yes, Bourdain is such a wild and crazy guy he must be a bit deranged.  But that's what makes him a jolly good read.

May your road rise to meet you - with scrumptious food (and a good book)!
Ann

More Uses for Zip-close Plastic Bags - Gallon-size

Most people aren't too surprised by all the uses for zip-close plastic bags.  The array of uses are bound to include something someone hadn't thought of.  But gallon-size baggies?  Yes!  These are definitely worth taking along, especially for the Road Warrioress on business. 

1.   Collecting “bumpf” at a trade show?  Assembling material for a project or report?  Are you a writer who needs to sort materials by magazine article?  Headed for multiple cities, states, countries?  Put each set in a separate gallon-size bag and label it!  Bags weigh less than stacks of file folders.  Zipping prevents loss of business cards, notes, or paper scraps, as often happens with file folders.

2.   Taking a sweater, shawl, pashmina, or something special you want to keep clean, snag-free, and separate?  Bag it, squeeze it, pack it.

3.   Swimsuit or undies still damp when it’s time to depart?  Bag, squeeze, zip.  Take it out to complete drying upon arrival.

 

4.  Substitute these for the smaller sizes of travel space bags.  Saves a lot of money.  They're probably right in the kitchen drawer - no special trip to the store.  They're reusable, recyclable, disposable.  Partially zip, roll, squeeze, and seal up.  No, they don't squeeze out as much air as the "real thing."  But they're quick, handy, cheap, and work.  Nice for silk or other dress shirts and blouses - roll them up in the bag and pack rolls.

5.  Maps in the car!  There's never enough space in glove compartment or map pocket.  Organize a series of maps, say New York to Florida, state by state southward, and put the used one at the back of the stack as you head southward.  Organize by region, divide east and west of the Mississippi, whatever system works best for you.  Those AAA maps fit perfectly in a gallon-size bag, stack about eight or so per bag, fold over and zip.

Take spares for each size of your zip-bags!  Take them out of the box, roll them up, and tuck into your suitcase along the side or rear.  I keep finding more and more uses for them as I go.  You probably will, too.  And don't forget to share your findings with everyone here!

May your road rise to meet you!

Ann

Uses for Sandwich/Quart-size Zip-close Plastic Bags

Zip-close bags - those inexpensive kitchen necessities - are incredibly useful for the Road Warrioress!  To continue our previous post, let's move on to the sandwich/quart size. These two are so very close in size, either one generally does the trick.  No real need to buy both. 

Note that TSA “officially” requires quart-size bag for carry-on toiletries.

1.   Carry-on toiletries: travel sizes of deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, mouthwash, facial cleanser, shower gel, hand sanitizer, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer.

2.   Still-wet pouf, hose, bikini, etc, need to go in the suitcase?  Bag it!  Press out the air, tuck it in, and on arrival, set it back out to finish drying.

3.   Keep about 3-4 pairs of hose sorted by color/shade, up to ten pairs of nylon knee-highs, per bag.  Squeeze the bag as you finish sealing to reduce bulk, then tuck away.  If you pack a purse or spare handbag, or your "good" bag, your purse will hold its shape better if you stuff it with these bags full of hosiery.

4.   Stuffing toes of your shoes?  Good idea to put each pair of hose in a bag, squeeze-seal, tuck into toes.  No hosiery snagging, no mismatches.

5.   Ditch those boxes!  Nose strips, make-up remover pads, nail polish remover pads, Q-tips, quilted squares, make-up sponges, and more usually pack more flexibly if you repack them in bags. 

6.   Make-up kit: if you only need one set of make-up, or for a day-pack to refresh, snack-size bags do the trick.  For a more extensive array, sandwich/quart-size will hold it.  By the way, bagging these helps prevent spills or leakage, too.

I find it so much easier to keep track of things, especially small things, when I bag them.  Bet you will, too.  And be sure to share your tips and tricks with the rest of us!  Looking forward to hearing from you. . .

May your road rise to meet you!
Ann

Uses for Zip-close Plastic Bags - Snack-size

Plastic zip-close bags have seemingly endless uses for the Road Warrioress.  They’re reusable, recyclable, disposable.  Space-consumption and weight are next to nothing.  Here are some of my favorite uses for the little snack-size bags.

1.    Instant mini-cosmetic bag!  Stop digging through your handbag for your lipstick.  These are just right to keep a set of make-up wands and tubes: mascara wand, brow wand or pencil, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip stick and gloss or Chap-Stik, small vial of cologne/perfume.  You can even get your gear into an evening bag this way.

2.   Mini-manicure set.  Most manicure cases are a bit bulkier than need be.  Emory board, nail clippers, orange stick, cuticle trimmer, nail polish remover pad, even a small bottle of nail polish tuck together neatly in these shallow snack bags.  I include tweezers with the manicure set to make it a “tool bag.”

3.   Office “diddlies:” paperclips, paper clamps, strip of staples (or mini-stapler and box of staples), a handful of pens and markers.  Keep those assorted odd bits organized.

4.   Jewelry: use a piece of plastic straw (see our earlier post!) to keep chains, necklaces, bracelets from tangling.  Then place them in a snack-size bag.  If you only have/need a few pieces, this is far less bulk or weight than a jewelry bag or roll.

5.   Have a fragile piece of jewelry, such as a strand of pearls?  Placing it in a little baggie helps protect it from scratches.  Even if you also use a jewelry roll, bag it, then place it in the jewelry roll.

6.   Phone charger.  Protect it, and especially keep that fragile cord from tangling.

7.   Ear buds.  Again, keep your cords from tangling.  Prevent loss of those tiny earpieces.

8.   Slip in business cards as you receive them at meetings, conferences, events.  Label bag by event, or transfer them to your business card storage system after the meeting.

9.   Batteries!  Take batteries out of the awkward bubble pack and zip them into bags.  A snack-bag will hold a large (16-24) bubble-card full of AA or AAA batteries.  Great for spare small specialty batteries (watches, hearing aids, etc), too.

More to come!

May your road rise to meet you!
Ann

A Weird Traveler's Weirder Tales

With titles like The Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned with Savages, how can a traveler not be intrigued by J. Maarten Troost's books?  The weirdly-wandering Dutchman's latest offering is Headhunters on My Doorstep.  Bizarre adventures told with wry humor!

This time Troost, instead of following his wife's jobs to Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) and Vanuatu, is off on his solo adventure following parts of Robert Louis Stevenson's travels through the South Pacific.  The remote Marquesas and Tuamotos, Tahiti, Kiribati Redux, and Samoa are his haunts on this venture while wife and sons are left behind in Washington, D.C.

Troost somehow manages to enmesh - and extricate - himself from Terrible Troubles, like the stomping of a giant centipede (back in Vanuatu days).  When you read his tales, the tribulations of travel become laugh-out-loud hysteria.

Love this guy!  Can't quite match him with tales of my own, and doubt I'll ever keep up with him, except vicariously through his matchless tales.

Have a great big belly laugh.  And be glad he's not along for your ride.  However does he manage to get himself into such scrapes?  No matter what your own tale is, Troost can probably top it.  No matter how dreadful your trip turns, Troost's misadventures will make light of yours.  Totally fun read.

May your road rise to meet you - with laughs but without misadventures!
Ann

Your Health & Safety Are Your Top Concerns!

I violated my cardinal Rule of the Road, and have paid for it.  Whoops!  Always maintain healthy habits, take your vitamins, keep up your strength.  Well, I blew that big-time.  Ran out of vitamins, above all vitamin C, as well as echinacea, which boosts the immune system, and neglected to restock promptly.  In fact, let it go for a couple of months.  Busy-busy-busy.  Then ran into a friend, stopped to chat, and she had bronchitis.

After two courses of antibiotics, weeks of fever - ailing - fatique, I'm back.  And vow to help you keep the bugs away!  Worse than being sick at home is being sick on the road, or in temporary digs, or living the Road Warrioress life.

So, here are some tips I've followed (and those I've failed to follow).  The difference is staying healthy and keeping up with travel's rigors and demands, or not.

1.  Maintain high standards of hygiene and health maintenance.  Shower, brush teeth, scrub hands with soap instead of using that goopy alcohol sanitizer, keep everything clean - clean - clean.

2.  Drink only bottled (distilled or reverse-osmosis deionized - also called "purified") water.  Minerals can vary from one type of spring water to another, and goof up your system.  Lots of those minerals are salts, and salt is not particularly useful.  And drink plenty of water, too!  Eight 8-ounce glasses a day is about two liters or two quarts or half a gallon.

3.  Take your vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements.  Choose your vitamin regimen that works best for you and stick to it!  Keep up your resistance, keep your immune system well revved up.

4.  Hanging around an area for awhile?  Expats share info on their favorite docs and dentists, not just where to find lightbulbs or American pantyhose or British-favorite teas.  Make quick notes of resources in a small notebook by country and city.  Or keep a little pack of index cards in a plastic box.

5.  Get sick in a strange place, or fracture a tooth?  Call the nearest consulate representing your country of citizenship, ask for Citizen Services, and see who they put on the list for your country's diplomatic services personnel.  Often they select professionals trained in your country, or speak your native language, or at least speak English as well as the local lingo.  Since English is the world's most widely spoken language (when you count native speakers plus second-language), that's the "default language of choice." 

American consulates are generally well equipped with lists of American-trained doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and assorted healthcare professionals since so many foreigners go to university, med school, etc. in the US.  UK and Canada are very much up to snuff.  Australia is particularly good in the Asia-Pacific region.  From my experience and reports from other expats and PTs, these four really surf the local turf for top-notch people, and often have the longest lists to choose from.

The French and Germans, according to contacts in those expat communities, are very particular, very diligent.  They might not have a large array to choose from, but even if there's only one, that's the one!

6.  Travel is stressful.  Exercise is the antidote.  Find a way to go for a walk everyday, even if you cannot get into some sort of health club, hotel exercise room.  Or learn some basic exercises you can do in a small space (like a hotel room).  Jog in place, stretch and bend, do some quick isometrics for the mid-section at your desk or in your plane seat!  Do something religiously, even it is only for ten or fifteen minutes a day.

Stay healthy!  You really don't want to get sick, spoil your trip, or wallow in self-pity and fevered sheets ten thousand miles from home.

May your road rise to meet you - in good health!
Ann