I Could Be Turning Into A Hippie...

What is it about traveling through third-world tropics that make it seem acceptable to start ditching my REI or Northface gear for something a little more...cotton-y and flowy?

Truthfully, it's just too damn hot for the synthetic, quick-dry, über-cool, high-performance, fitted, multi-pocketed, anti-theft, anti-sun, bug repellant, superpower gear.

I find myself wearing the unrestricted, flowy, cotton-y, all-sizes, hippie wear for the rest of our Southeast Asian trip.  It's cheap, easy to wash, easy to wear. Somehow, it just happened. 

I'm not kidding.  I've got the long unruly hair, hippie-sack bag, flowy skirt, and Birkenstocks to prove it.  

I would never wear all of this together at the same time, but you get the drift.  I've gone hippie.  Omg.

-A

Pre-emptive Strike on Mosquito Bites

Not only do I hate mosquitos, the bites overreact into gigantic red welts that itch and hurt like hell, takes forever to heal, and leaves perm-scars.  Sooooo, a Peruvian beach paradise, or an Amazon jungle expedition, or a Thailand beach paradise could be real issues.   Not to mention, we have to take malaria precautions in many of these places as well. 

Not to fret.  This week in Los Organos, Peru has been a good trial for our future 2-months of mosquitos in Southeast Asia.  

We've gone through plenty of insect repellant spray to maintain our 24/7 coverage (which, by the way, is one item that is not cheap in Peru).  We also have mosquito coils in our bungalow, and keep the fan blowing on us all night.  

But, what happens when they DO infiltrate our shield and we get bit?  Those anti-itch creams don't do a damn thing. 

I know this sounds like quackery...I thought the same thing...however, the BEST tool I brought with me is called Therapik.  Thera...wha?!  Exactly.  Bug venom is sensitive to heat.  Immediately after a bite, the heat from this device is applied directly to the bite for about 30 seconds, converting the poison into a protein, and relieving the itch and potential inflammation.  

It is no short of a miracle for me.  The bites that I've gotten have been zapped with the Therapik and they are essentially gone.  No itch, no pain, no inflammation, no welts.  AMAZING!

Therapik is also suppose to work on bee stings, flea/tick bites, and jellyfish stings as well.  

So there.  My product endorsement for the year.  Therapik - check it out.

Curating My Travel Wardrobe

According to the dictionary, curate means "select, organize, and look after the items in (a collection or exhibition)", usually referring to a job responsibility of a curator in a museum or gallery.  My belongings don't come close to being artwork, but I believe I have taken the same meticulous process in selecting my travel wardrobe.

We are limiting ourselves to a small-frame, lightweight, backpack for the next 8 months.  This has generated more conversations of disbelief than I expected.  It also happens to be the number one reason most people say they can't take a trip like this; due to their inability to part with their large suitcases full of clothes, shoes, makeup, hair products, etc. Therefore, I thought that showing my "curated" travel wardrobe would be of interest to many.

10 things I take travelling then wonder why I bothered | The Career Break Site

10 things I take travelling then wonder why I bothered

24 February 2012

I just wrote a blog post on 10 things I can't travel without. But as you know, less is more. So here are 10 things I have, at one time or another, taken away with me for no good reason. And which I should probably start leaving at home.

1. A book that I think I ought to read. I love books, and I've read loads while travelling, but these days I seem to leave my book in my bag the whole trip. It's because I take something that I feel will look good when someone spots me reading it on the bus (to make up for looking like a drooling idiot when I'm asleep).
2. Spare plastic carrier bags. Don't mix these up with Ziploc bags, which are actually useful. Or the plastic bags you've got your shoes in. I always take spare because I think I'm going to need them, forgetting: one, that I won't and two, even if I do, I will end up with some from going to the shops. Duh.
3. Fancy shoes that aren't very comfortable. I think I'm going to go to a cool club or posh place to eat. I don't. And on the rare occasions that I do, I normally end up wearing my slightly-less-smart-but-acceptable shoes because my feet already hurt from walking all day.
4. An item of clothing that I never wear at home. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this. I've got a shirt, say, that doesn't go with anything else and is too tight under the arms, but for some stupid reason I decide to pack it. Because "things are different when you're abroad". Unfortunately my arm fat is not one of them.
5. Bits of paper that I think I'll need. Everything's done online now, but I insist on printing out all the stuff (twice) and taking it with me. Writing down the reference number in my notebook would be more efficient and less annoying.
6. 8 different kinds of body lotion. "I need this one because my sister gave it to me for the trip, this one because it smells like pineapples, this one because just look at the packaging..." No I don't. I need one, plain, multipurpose one I can put on my sunburn.
7. Items not designed for my destination. You can tell me until you're blue in the face that there's no malaria in Scotland, I'm still taking my mosquito net.
8. Things that I'm not going to have time to do while travelling. I don't do lazy, lying on the beach trips - I'm always haring about to museums, up mountains and so on. Yet I still think I'm going to have the time and energy to write an eloquent, thoughtful blog post when I get back to my room, when really I just drink beer then fall asleep.
   
9. Equipment for hobbies that I don't have. Sketch book and pencils? Yes, because even though I have the drawing skills of an angry baboon, I think that the mere act of going abroad will transform me into Picasso. 
10. A small wooden doll. This is also on the list of things I never travel without. It's supposed to be a comfort thing, like travelling with your teddy, but I never even get it out of my bag. Also I'm 37 so I should probably stop playing with dolls anyway.

This post was written by Rachel Morgan-Trimmer, founder of The Career Break Site yet still startlingly bad at travelling. If you want to buy a sketchbook, hardly used, leave your details in the comments below.

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Original Page: http://www.thecareerbreaksite.com/blog/10-things-i-dont-need-to-take-travelling

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