How to Cope with High Altitude

Well, it certainly pays to check out racks of travel and tourism brochures!  There's home delivery of oxygen to cure what ails you in the high Rockies.  How nice of them to list several tips for acclimatizing to such an environment.  Some of them are new to me, so let's list them all here for you.

*  Avoid maximum physical exertion for the first 1-2 days
*  Catch up on sleep
*  Stay hydrated with sports drinks
*  Limit alcohol and caffeine
*  Limit time in hot tubs
*  Eat small low-fat, high-carbohydrate meals
*  Eat dinner at least 3-4 hours before bedtime

So far, I'm needing at least two days to get used to the altitude.  By which time, I'm leaving!  The car is loaded up with bottled water, vitamin-water, green tea.  Sports drinks, with all those electrolytes, are something I'd missed.  The high-carb diet is another unfamiliar tip.

Starting to feel a bit better, though still in need of another nap before dinner.  Horizontal remains the only good position to be in for the moment.  But there's so many exciting things to tell you about, I'll be back after a bit of a rest!

May your road rise to meet you - with helpful hints along your way!
Ann

Some People Are Not Meant for Mountains!

There are so very many things to write about - including surprises and the spectacularly delicious! - at the moment.  I can't breathe.  Can hardly sit up.  Totally horizontal is the only position where my heart is not pounding so loud it must be heard all the way to the Himalayas.

Denver altitude was a tough adjustment, not met within a couple of days.  Despite some articles to write, beer tastings were conducted very cautiously.  Tiny sips, savored long on the tongue, rather like wine-tasting.  Drunk on low-oxygen, alcohol was totally unnecessary.  More about Suds City to come as despite little sips, as opposed to desired "big glugs,"  ooh-la-la, there's lots to share with you!

And don't forget a bigger surprise . . . coming as fast as fingers restart proper functioning.

Yesterday, it was up into the mountains.  Darling Little Baby-Car was not particularly happy about it, but made it.  Not so sure yet about my survivability of another 24 hours way up in the mountains.  Worse, it's snowing.  Supposed to melt by tomorrow, and it better.  Ski season has not started, won't with this piddly-bit, and I wouldn't be joining anybody on the slopes anyway.  Skiing is not my thing.  Seems just plain old mountains in general aren't, either.

We each have our sense of some ideal location where we feel most at home.  Seashore, prairie, mountains, desert, forest or rainforest - even out to sea - whether we're at home or traveling, that's the sort of environment we tend to seek.  That's "the kind of place for me," whoever's talking.  We each tend to feel more comfortable, at home, in a certain kind of environment.

It's a good thing all 7.3 billion of us don't want exactly the same thing!  But mountains are definitely not for me.  Himalayas?  Probably never go there since it tops a very short list of "places I will not go."  They're better viewed from a distance, towering over northern India, while I stay where the air still has some oxygen left. 

Headed "downward" tomorrow, and I'll breathe easier then.  Meanwhile, a little rest, and try to write some more or I'll never catch up with everything there is to talk about!

May your road rise to meet you - but not to-o-o high!
Ann

The Joy of the Road Trip

This time, it's a road trip.  No TSA, no keeping other people's schedules, just footloose and fancy-free, as they say.  It's a great way to leave whatever ails or irks you behind.

By the time I drove across a big bridge, I was smiling at river scenes and boat traffic below.  By the second state-line crossing, I was grinning!  Fall foliage in the Poconos is already a searingly beautiful flame color.  Leaves actually sparkle in sunlight.  Once I hit farmlands and the Great Plains, the harvest is almost all in.  Colors of browns, beiges, and evergreen windbreaks surrounding farm buildings - along with brilliant glints of light off silver silos.  (I could do without smelling the cows, however!  A stockyard-full was particularly intense for several miles.)

Now it's the foot of the Rockies.  There's some snow up there, particularly atop what Coloradans call "the Fourteens" - those 14,000 feet and up giants.  Surprisingly, there's less fall color than back East!  Mornings are crisp (to say the least) but the sun is brilliant and downright hot.

Before I left, friends were all in a panic.  They love me dearly, worry about me.  But I've lost count of the number of cross-country road trips I've taken.  This is not even all the way across.  No big deal to me. 

But it made me wonder why so few woman drive solo cross-country, in foreign countries, or wherever it takes more than a day to get where you want to go.  Probably fear, I guess.  Perhaps time constraints.  Definitely the sore butt after driving 500 or 600 miles!

Have you driven long-distance yourself?  If not, why not?

Considering how wonderful road trips are, why not give it a go?

May your road rise to meet you - with freedom and pleasure!
Ann

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