• Home
• About Medjet
• Feature Destination
• Medjet eNewsletter Archive
• Medjet Virtual Chumby
• The World Wide Will

Chill Momma

Posted on June 28, 2008
Filed Under Travel, Website Tips | Comments Off

Kim Orlando from TravelingMom, one of my favorite sites for travel advice and ideas, has dedicated an entire issue to stress-less travel. And I agree with Kim, vacations are supposed to relieve stress but sometimes preparation and expectations can get in the way. Well have no fear TravelingMom is here and Kara Mayer Robinson, the site’s resident product expert, mother of 2 and avid traveler, offers 10 Tips for Stress Less Travel – 10 attitude adjustments that’ll squash stress and make your next family trip a pleasure

You can read all of the tips on www.travelingmom.com so I won’t rehash them but I do have to share the number one tip because I think it says it all!

#1. Think “trip,” not “vacation.” Depressing as this may sound, you’ve got to let go of images of rest and relaxation. This is NOT your kick-back-and-relax honeymoon, nor is it a let-it-all-hang-out spring break with college pals. Taking your family on a trip is all about boosting connections, creating memories and getting a breather from routine. Love it for that and milk it for all it’s worth. You can sleep in when you get home.

The World Wide Will 

MedjetAssist -Take Trips, Not Chances

What Not To Carry On

Posted on June 24, 2008
Filed Under General, Travel | 1 Comment

I write often about tips and ideas of what to carry on but this time I thought it might be a good idea to cover some of the things that you ought NOT carry on or for that matter, bring back period. I have seen a lot about this lately and it does warrant some attention. You see, some objects that are legal to buy and sell in foreign countries are illegal here in the U.S. Now that fact in itself does not surprise any frequent traveler. We all know not to bring back certain tobacco and alcohol items like Cuban cigars and Absinth. However, there are a host of other items that, because they’re made from endangered animals or plants, are illegal to bring back as well. Below is a global sampling of some big no-nos that appeared in a past issue of Conde Nast Traveler Magazine. 

• Indonesia: Don’t buy products made from green and hawksbill turtles. 
• South Africa: Don’t buy ivory or the skins of elephant, crocodile, snake, lion, jackal, leopard, zebra, or ostrich. Don’t buy ostrich eggs, mako shark or hippo teeth, porcupine quills, coral, or rare shells.
• Greece: Avoid tortoise-shell, ivory, or cat fur.
• Italy: Only buy pork products that are stamped and sealed for export into the U.S.
• The Netherlands: Flower bulbs must have a U.S. phytosanitary certificate.
• Caribbean: Don’t buy turtle oil or tortoise shell. Avoid reef flora and fauna and anything made with bird feathers (trust me on this one).

The entire list of what not to bring back appeared in Conde Nast Traveler’s October 2007 issue.

 

The World Wide Will 

MedjetAssist -Take Trips, Not Chances

 

Greece is the Word

Posted on June 18, 2008
Filed Under General, Johnny Jet, Medjet, Safety, Travel, Travel Products, Website Tips | Comments Off

One of my blog readers posted this comment regarding my recent trip to Greece, “I hope that you had a great trip. Can’t wait for your next post to see if you used any of your tips or if you came up with any new ones. Also, I’ve always wanted to go to Greece and would love to hear about your overall trip and particular recommendations, etc.”

Flattered that someone is reading my blog I feel I must accommodate at least part of her request. I will skip the overall trip details but I will go over some more of my past tips that I did use on this trip and I will also touch on some fun recommendations on restaurants, sites and such.

Tips I Practiced:

• Pack a Power Strip: As you can see in my Power Trip post the best tip I practiced was taking a power strip on my trip so I have to mention it again. Johnny Jet was right it, is a great thing to have in a foreign hotel room when you find yourself needing to charge all of your electronics.
• Get a First Class Sleeper: This quirky device is great for the coach class, like me, that likes to sleep on the plane. It’s a bit odd looking but you won’t care because you will be asleep…
• Hydrate Yourself: I cannot pass up on an in-flight cocktail but I do make sure that I drink plenty of water – even when I don’t want it. Staying hydrated will help prevent jet-lag and it will help keep your muscles from cramping on a long plane ride.
• Sleep Over: Another jet-lag tip. Make sure you keep in time with your new destination, i.e. if you’re headed to Europe sleep on the way over and stay awake on the way back. If you’re headed west towards Asia do the opposite.
• Day Trip: If you are headed to some night-time festivities like dinner and dancing and you are in a new town, go and find the place during the daytime. I always do this and on many occasions I have changed my plans due to a scary neighborhood that I would not want to be in at night.
• Join Medjet: Yes, I know this is shameless self promotion but you really do need to make sure you have a way home should you encounter some sort of medical emergency. Walking down the Acropolis I almost busted it many times and let me tell you I would have rolled a long way down before stopping. An accident only takes a fraction of a second to seriousy injure you.

Will’s Top Recommendations for Greece

• Climb the Acropolis in the morning – you will avoid the heat and the crowd.
• If you are in Athens you must visit the Plaka, an area at the foot of the Acropolis that is full of restaurants and shops and is happening all night.
• Get a take-away souvlaki and a beer, here we call them gyro wraps, and eat and walk through the Plaka. It is better and less expensive than sitting down to eat one. You typically have a choice between pork, chicken or mixed. My fav is the pork.
• Try the grilled octopus even if it freaks you out. It is some good stuff.
• Visit the islands, they are breathtaking. And if you like a little party and some fantastic designer shopping with your view, go to Mykonos.
• Take the Athens metro to and from the airport. It is easy, clean and much less expensive than a cab.

For more tips that I mentioned using before my trip check out my earlier post – Practicing What I Preach.

The World Wide Will

 

 

MedjetAssist -Take Trips, Not Chances

 

No Frills Airline

Posted on June 16, 2008
Filed Under General, Safety, Travel, Travel Products, Website Tips | Comments Off

In light of last week’s multiple airline stories ranging from $15 for the first checked bag to $2 sodas I thought I would start the new week off with a few tips that will come in handy now that everybody and their mother will be just packing carry-ons.

Here is the list

• First, get yourself two good 20″ soft-side suitcases. These will fit in most overheads and on smaller planes you can check at the tarmac. Why make sure it is a soft-side? They squish better…
• Look into a courier service. Legendary travel expert Peter Greenberg once told me at dinner that he never travels with his bags. Just Google “Ship your luggage” and you will have many options to choose from.
• Pack smart- one suit and several dress shirts or blouses along with a variety of ties and scarves can make for a lot of choices on a business trip.
• Skins - I really want some of these and plan on getting some. Shoes are most definitely the bulkiest items to deal with. These revolutionary kicks provide you with one hard shell that fits your foot, and then you buy the skins to slip over them. You could pack gym shoes, dress shoes and casual dinner shoes all in the same space of a traditional pair of dress shoes. The downside is they are hard to find. But I am on the hunt.
• Pack your own snacks and buy your water and sodas at the airport – past security… Some airlines, I won’t mention names but they know who they are, have gotten so lazy they will not even offer a beverage service if the flight is an hour or less. And others will charge you now just for a soda. BTW, in Europe they will serve full beverage and snacks on a 30 min flight for free. Makes you wonder why our service in the States is so bad…
• Pack multiple sets of quart bags for your liquids. That way if you’re home for a day and out the next you don’t have to worry about unpacking and repacking – I just grab my other pre-packed bag and go.
• Be an A-Lister – If you fly Southwest you will need a good place in line so use your smart phone to check-in from the road. It is as easy as browsing to http://mobile.southwest.com. You can print your pre-assigned boarding pass at the airport.
• Check the overhead bins on both sides. Sometimes they are larger on one side of the aircraft than the other.
• Be nice and use your space under the seat. We will all need and appreciate the bin space so don’t use more than you need.
• Don’t carry more than you can lift. Most flight attendants can’t or won’t help you. Oh, and if you see some poor soul on crutches give them a hand. Trust me it is not fun having an entire row of first class passengers and a flight attendant look at you in wonderment to see if you can actually get your backpack up there by yourself.

If you can still manage to keep a sense of humor about this whole situation, check out this YouTube video that is being sent around now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCz8he36hsk.

Who knew Carol Burnett was a prophet?

Travel Safe – Will

Power Trip

Posted on June 12, 2008
Filed Under Johnny Jet, Travel, Travel Products | Comments Off

In my Medjet eNewsletter I recently touched on taking a power strip with you when you travel but would like to visit the subject again here in the blog for two reasons. First, I think it is a brilliant idea that one of our Medjet members shared some time back. Secondly, my good friend Johnny Jet just gave another great idea for power strips regarding international travel that I never thought of.  

So why take along a power strip in your carry-on bag? What are all these great ideas? For one thing, when you’re sitting at the airport and you cannot find an available outlet. If you have a power strip in your carry-on you can at least have the opportunity to politely ask the traveler connected to the one and only outlet in the terminal if you can plug in your power strip and share the precious electricity. But Johnny’s idea has proven the best so far.  

Johnny suggests taking a power strip on international trips. That way you can plug the strip into one adaptor/converter then you have an entire row of plugs for your cell phone, camera battery, iPod – whatever you need. And let me tell you, the first time you do it you will never travel abroad without one again. At Johnny’s advice, I took one on my recent trip to Greece and it was a life-saver. I just have one thing to add to Johnny’s tip and that is make sure that your adaptor or converter accommodates the three prong plug on your power strip. If it doesn’t accommodate a ground prong then you will need to take an additional ground adaptor that converts your strip’s plug from three prongs to two.

 

The World Wide Will 

MedjetAssist -Take Trips, Not Chances

keep looking »