Tag: travel health

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Don't Let Allergies Dictate Your Travel Plans

May 3, 2013 at 3:54 PM | by | Comments (0)

Have you packed your phone charger? Check. Phrasebook? Check. Deodorant? Check. Epi pen or other allergy medications Umm, better not forget that!

Spring has totally sprung and, with the change of season, comes a new onslaught of potential allergic reactions. It's wise to remember these may happen anywhere, so preparation is needed before embarking on a trip, no matter how near or far.

CNN's Health section has a whole focus on "Living with Allergies," including a brilliant piece on tips for travel. Here, a few of our favorite ideas of theirs:

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Can Jet Lag Be Cured by a Scientific Shower?

March 4, 2013 at 9:32 AM | by | Comments (0)

We thought Delta was hard at work adding plenty of those Economy Comfort seats as well as WiFi on each and every flight, but apparently they also have a little extra time to work on some other projects. They’re actually trying to solve the problem of jet lag, and they just showed off some of their most recent ideas at the Technology, Entertainment and Design—TED—conference out in Long Beach, California.

This stuff might be a little bit above our pay grade when it comes to understanding the science behind things, but basically what Delta has created is some kind of light shower. Photon light rains down upon you, and then like magic you’re cured from any and all jetlag—at least in theory.

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Staying Fresh on a Red-eye Flight Need Not Be a Head-scratcher

February 15, 2013 at 8:32 AM | by | Comments (0)

It's the question we get all the time, and there isn't really one straight answer besides "drink lots of water," but recently Conde Nast Traveler attempted to answer the big mystery of how to stay looking fresh on a red eye or long-haul flight.

The article—which you can read on their Daily Traveler column—is heavily aimed at women travelers (makeup touch-ups!), but there are some tips for all, like:

If you can handle it, avoid lowering your seat all the way back, says Dr. Peredo. “Fluid may retain in your eyes, causing bags to develop.” And regardless of how you sleep, make sure to take a stroll a couple of times throughout the flight when the "fasten seatbelt" sign is off. The blood circulation you’ll get walking around will do wonders for holding off bloat and keeping your skin rosy and “awake” looking after you de-board.

That's one advantage Economy flyers have over lie-flat Business or First Class right there—the inability to fully recline means less puffy eyes!

[Photo: zenra]

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The Clock's Ticking on America's Few Remaining Airport Smoking Lounges

January 16, 2013 at 3:45 PM | by | Comments (0)

As we explained when we went over the infuriatingly stupid debate on banning electronic cigarettes on airplanes, there's this famous Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek and he has this kind of infamous theory on anti-smoking campaigns. The main argument is that there's something not quite right with our society, where we're pushing toward more permissiveness and legalization on one hand, but when it comes to smoking cigarettes the trend goes way, way, way the other direction. We pushed smokers into smoking-only sections, then we pushed them outdoors, and now we've even banned outdoor smoking in some places. With the e-cigarettes ban, the suggestion is that even water vapor as a substitute for smoke is too much for people.

In airports, where you can't go outside, the usual practice has been to confine smokers to closed lounges. If Zizek's right, we'd expect to see efforts to ban what remains of those lounges. Hey guess what?

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How James Bond's Omega Watch is Helping to Keep a DC-10 Flying

October 25, 2012 at 4:28 PM | by | Comments (2)

What's the oldest flying DC-10 airplane up to these days? The answer: it's the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, completely reconfigured (see below) to be a learning center for opthamologists in the developing world and a temporary medical center for those in need, wherever Orbis flies. Even the guys in the cockpit are volunteer pilots.

What's Daniel Craig (aka the newest James Bond) name as his charity of choice? The answer: you guessed it—the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital.

The two have been working for a couple years now, raising the funds necessary for the DC-10 to get its jetfuel and get across the clouds to places like Ulanbaatar, Mongolia, where Craig came together with the crew to shoot an informative and touching mini-documentary (embedded below).

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Thank NASA Astronauts for the Eventual End of Airsickness

October 17, 2012 at 12:33 PM | by | Comments (0)

NASA has always been very eager to showcase "practical" space travel spin-offs. Voters have generally been reluctant to fund the space agency merely because it takes humanity into the stars and builds telescopes that peek into the origins of the universe—even the Apollo program had problems getting support at the time—so NASA tells people that space technology will also help scientists build better toasters or whatever. It's actually kind of depressing.

That said, and luckily, people who can land bus-sized rovers on other planets with tick-tock precision are obviously going to create some really cool stuff. And since it's already there, why not spin it off?

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If You're Not Looking for a Side of Roaches, Avoid These Miami Airport Restaurants

October 15, 2012 at 11:02 AM | by | Comments (0)

Have you had the chance to check out the latest and greatest in airport reality shows—"Airport 24/7: Miami?" The program on Travel Channel details the ins and outs of airport security, the boarding process, check in, and pretty much everything else through a behind-the-scenes look at the terminals and its employees. One thing they haven’t dug into too much are the airport restaurants, and that's a good thing given the recent news out of MIA.

If you’ve just cracked open your lunch box you might want to put that PB&J aside for a moment, as the following is far from tasty. Two restaurants at Miami International Airport were recently shut down as there were apparently quite a number of creepy crawlies where it should have only been nummy yummies.

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Flying Far? Heathrow Airport Recommends You Do a Little 'Strategic Napping'

July 19, 2012 at 2:02 PM | by | Comments (0)

Earlier this week, London-Heathrow Airport let us in on a few secrets of what'll be going down within their terminals during the upcoming Olympics. We're talking javelins and firearms in checked baggage and 1,000 local volunteers just to show people to right way off their planes.

Today, Heathrow has some direct advice for all of you about to board a long-haul flight, whether it's over to them for the Games, or elsewhere, for vacation or work. Taking health hints from the Olympics, Heathrow devised a plan for beating jet lag as well as generally staying healthy during longer periods of travel.

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When Airplane Toilets Malfunction

March 5, 2012 at 4:34 PM | by | Comments (0)

Hey, who wants to read an article with the phrases "blackish-green liquid" and "excrement had leaked out?" How about a version with "some black liquid, black oil came off on her face" and "there was quarter-sized, nickel-sized, dime-sized drops all over"? No one? Then allow us to summarize.

A Long Island couple was enjoying the unusually mild Northeastern winter we've been having by spending the evening on their deck. Their otherwise idyllic lounging was disrupted by black semi-liquid sludge that came falling from the sky on top of them, and which turned out to be incompletely frozen waste dropped by an overhead airplane.

According to the local CBS affiliate, they "want answers" as to why this happened to them (apparently they're not satisfied by the idea that the universe just wanted to make a cosmic punchline out of them that day). Money quote: "She says 'oh my God it’s raining' I said 'No it’s not'". Can you imagine?

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The Special Ryanair Welcome at Bari Airport

Where: Bari, Italy
October 28, 2011 at 1:16 PM | by | Comments (0)

Now, we know you always get, uhh, different treatment on a Ryanair flight but, when we arrived at Bari Airport in Italian region of Puglia fresh off our recent flight, this is not what we were expecting to find.

A heath checkpoint solely for Ryanair passengers? A health checkpoint sponsored by Ryanair? A sanity test for the unfortunates disembarking from O'Leary-jet?

We didn't dare ask, lest we be subjected to the health check. And since we were unfortunate enough to be flying with British Airways, we didn't get to test it out, either. Maybe next time.

At least there's something that made us happy to be flying BA.

[Photo: Jaunted]

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E-Cigarettes on Airplanes: The Newest Big Debate

September 16, 2011 at 3:50 PM | by | Comments (0)

Famed Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek tells us to be very suspicious of anti-smoking campaigns. Often what's at work has very little to do with improving individual and public health, and everything to do with just kind of making smokers miserable. Under this line of thinking people don't want to ban smoking because they're allergic to smoke or whatever - although some people undoubtedly are. What they're after is the thrill of denying smokers their fix. As non-smokers they don't enjoy nicotine in any way, so why should anyone else be allowed to?

Nonsense, you say? The people behind smoking bans are the most objective of public health professionals, driven purely by epidemiological data and not at all by an obnoxious busy-body urge to "protect the public" from anything they don't themselves personally like? Fair enough. But then please explain this travel health idiocy.

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The Top Ten Gross Things Flight Attendants Have Seen Passengers Do on Airplanes

August 9, 2011 at 1:00 PM | by | Comments (16)

A flight attendant career is glamorous! Or so I thought! I admit, I signed up for the glamour eighteen years ago, but I quickly learned that most of the glamor was gone from this industry. I was on my second trip as a new hire flight attendant, my uniform was crisp, my hair was pulled back in a perfect french twist to match my beautiful french manicure, and I had all the right accessories.

This particular day I was the aisle flight attendant when a passenger asked me if I would heat up a baby bottle. I knew just what to do! Now all I needed was a sick bag so I could fill it with hot water. I reached into a seat back pocket, grabbed a sick bag and pushed my hand inside to open it up. Feeling the still warm, oatmeal consistency on my hand is where the glamor ended for me. Yes folks, I had just stuck my manicured hands into fresh vomit!

You've heard about the gross things people do on airplanes. There's classics like cutting toenails, walking barefoot around the plane, changing a baby diaper on the tray table...I could go on. I hate to admit it, but these are all behaviors I see or experience as a flight attendant every time I go to work.

I recently asked some co-workers to share the grossest things they have seen throughout the years as well. Warning, the answers even shocked me! Fasten your seat belts for...

The Top Ten Gross Things Flight Attendants Have Seen Passengers Do on Airplanes:

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