Proof of Travel Life

I was feeling unwell yesterday. I guess it's still part of the effects of the vaccine. I didn't want the day to waste away so I parked myself on the bed to sort out some stuff. I decided to work on my travel bags. 

I normally bring two hand carry bags whenever I travel. One is a tote bag and the second one is a backpack or a bag with wheels. I emptied the bags yesterday and found a treasure of hotel pens hahaha. Apparently I just kept tossing them in the bag and it added up. I was happy with the find because it means I don't need to buy a pen for a long, long time. Tossed out piles of receipts and asked help from Sweetie to shred print outs of tickets and hotel bookings. 

One thing I learned through the years was to keep a small amount of currencies from different countries. My job required me to travel a lot. I normally don't bring a lot of money, but you always should have enough cash to cover taxi rides and give tips. When I go back home I would keep the currency in an envelop for the next trip. Now that travel is suspended I'll just exchange the money back since some countries may change their bank notes and render my cash useless. 

Sorting through my stuff was also a trip down memory lane. I had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people and learn about their cultures. Traveling wasn't easy for me especially the past three years (I had falls), but I was happy to be there to serve and help. With my health now I don't think I'd be able to do what I used to do. The best treasure I found yesterday were the happy memories and the opportunity to make many new friends across the world.  

And I think I found the money to buy a new sewing machine. Yay!

CB////*Yr2/185 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/206 #NewG262 #Home21 #Xmas73 #StayHome #BeKind

Frequent Flyer Habits

My first plane ride was to the US when I was four years old. It was our grand family trip which my parents organized because my brother and sister were on a long break. I remember going to Disneyland, Great America, watching Mr. Rogers and learning to cross the street to get the newspaper. We went home on my birthday and I celebrated it three times - at my Mom's best friend's home in San Francisco, on the plane and in Manila.

It was my first time to fly alone to the US when I joined my current job. I shed some tears when I arrived in San Francisco because I felt it was such a grown up thing to do. It was a huge learning experience for me and I've had to figure flights, hotels, getting from one point to another eversince.

I've done some crazy traveling in the last 10+ years. More than 90% of my travel has been work related, all memorable nonetheless. Here are some things I do whenever I have a flight.

1. Come to the airport early. I don't like rushing and I can't run.
2. Visit airport lounges selectively. I only go to the lounge when I'm at an airport I frequently visit or when I have some work to do.
3. Check out the airport bookshop and buy a magnet. I usually also check if there's any interesting tea to bring home for Sweetie.
4. Drink celebratory milk tea (where available). I have my favorite spots in Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
5. Make sure I have water. I always bring two bottles with me, one for water and one for coffee to avoid buying plastic bottles.
6. Wear a mask. I'm immuno-compromised so my doctor advised me to always wear a mask when traveling. I read though that germs abound more at the airport, but I wear a mask usually for take-off and landing. I could feel the air is very dirty during take off and landing. This is usually very obvious during haze season. So protect your lungs from dirty air!

One thing I need to work on though is reducing my handcarry. It's hard though because I have essentials I can't put in the check-in luggage (meds/essential oils). It really helps though that I use a Chromebook and it's much, much lighter than previous devices I used to bring with me.

What about you? What are your frequent flyer habits?

Long Flight Travel Tips

I have scaled down my travels in the past year. I'm not getting any younger and I now have preference to do more strategy work than implementation. Sometimes though I still have to travel.

Here are some things I always have whenever I travel:

1. Water bottle - long flights tend to dry you up and you may end up with a sore throat (and other sickness) if you don't hydrate. I always request the stewardess to fill up my water bottle at the beginning of the flight and they always indulge refills as well.

2. Extra shirt and face towel - a change of clothes mid-flight help keep the blues (and the baho) away.

3. Toothbrush and toothpaste - not all airlines provide this so it's best to have it in your hand-carry. (Also try to bring some mouthwash if you can).

4. Lozenges - sometimes even when you drink lots of water your throat would dry up. Lozenges help.

5. Entertainment bag - you can only watch as much movies and TV shows throughout the flight. I always bring a tiny quilting kit with me so I have something to do with my hands. I also always have a book with me.

6. Pen - for filling out immigration forms.

7. Compression socks - to keep DVT away!

And one thing I try to do is assess what I really use during long flights so I can trim down what I put in my bag. 

Battling Jetlag

I haven't blogged for over a week. I'm blogging now because I am slowly losing the battle against jetlag and I have to keep awake so I can adjust much faster. Historically though it takes me at least 2 days of coma-like sleep after coming back from the West to get up. I hope to battle this though since I need to travel again by Monday.

Here are some tips that my friends have given to battle jetlag:

1. Stay out in the sun for a few hours.

2. If your arriving at night, don't sleep on the flight so you can sleep at the proper time.

3. Take meds (I'm scared of doing this though).

4. Never give in to a nap if the sun is still out.

5. Just keep busy.

I've unpacked, did 3 loads of laundry, bugged my son most of the afternoon, nagged Sweetie, drank coffee, Coke and milk tea (okay too much caffeine isn't really good), but so far the best deterrent to falling asleep is putting a lot of stuff on my bed so I can't lie down. Ahh, maybe I should listen to Madonna to keep me up for at least a few more hours.

What do you do to fight jetlag?