Tales of Seven

Part of This Nutritious Breakfast

-- starting an oral Typhoid vaccine today in prep for travel.  Yum.

 

Best Place to Get Shot in the Arm

Before heading off on any travel, be sure to get immunizations updated. The very best place to go is a dedicated travel clinic where they can input your destinations and recommend shots based on the most current travel requirements, time of year and location.

Be sure to get in about 6 weeks in advance as some shots require a series, and some medications like anti-malarials need to be started in advance of travel.

The best place I've found in San Francisco is The Adult Immunization Clinic, voted Best in the Bay for getting a shot in the arm - professional, fast and thorough. On the menu for me this time? Meningitis, HepA/HepB, Typhoid, Malaria, Yellow Fever.

Immunization Cafeteria

And just so we remember why immunizations are important:

 

 

The Christmas Crab

Every once in a while, nature takes back just a little turf. Favorite part? If you play golf during the migration, there is a special rule that "The crabs belong to the game." If a crab pushes the ball into or away from the hole, it stands.

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The Anatomy of a Plane Ticket

In a recent search for flights, I found that my ticket price was often 30% to 50% higher with taxes included. Never having seen prices so inflated, it seemed worth a closer look. What I found was a baffling and long list of fees and taxes including the:

• Travel Facilities Tax     $7.70
• U.S. Excise Tax     7.5%
• U.S. Federal Segment Fee $3.50
• Passenger Facility Charge (PFC)    $4.50
• September 11th Security Fee     $2.50
• U.S. International Transportation (Arrival/Departure) Tax     $15.40
• U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Fee  $5.00
• U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Fee     $7.00
• Foreign Taxes      Up to $299
• International Surcharges Up to $260 each way

While I do appreciate the Animal and Plant Inspection Fee as the only one that is self-explanatory (that covers the cost of the beagle that sniffs my luggage when I fly in from Florida with a suitcase of oranges), I wonder why the income taxes we pay our respective governments can't cover all the things they need to do (including buying food for the beagle)?

Solo Traveler Tips

A dear friend of mine is going on her very first solo trip in just a week. After having traveled solo a fair amount and having encountered a great variety of issues on the road, here is some advice I provided...

For safety and peace of mind, I:

• Scan my passport and send myself a copy in my own email. Then I can print it out no matter what happens, from any internet cafe.
• Get travel insurance. It's inexpensive and protects when there are flight problems, illness or lost luggage. Worst case, it also provides medical evacuations.
• Visit an internet cafe every couple of days to let someone know where I am and that everything is okay. (This is particularly important when traveling in a less predictable path. If there is a more predictable travel plan, sending an itinerary to friends is also a good idea. I pick a couple of people and designate them as my contact points!)
• Call my credit card company ahead of time so they don't block charges
• Get a traveler belt from REI . It's a web belt with a little inside zipper pouch. I store just emergency cash, a few phone numbers and a copy of my passport in there.

Squaw Valley

A few images from an impressive little point and shoot camera.

Last weekend's trip to Tahoe (Squaw Valley)

The Art of Flight Patterns

....fiber optics, torrential rain, neuron activity.... just a few things these unexpectedly beautiful depictions of flight patterns bring to mind...

Jordan Slideshow

A short slideshow with some of the highlights of my recent trip to Jordan!

Idea for New Travel Map Tool

I recently did a map of my recent trip to Jordan manually in paintbrush, but would love to find an online tool that would automate this a bit.

The idea is that a traveler could select cities or destinations and apply an 'order of travel' to the list. The tool would then draw a map connecting the destinations. There would be options to apply 'dates' to each destination, and the opportunity to click through to pictures and stories for each.

It could be an easy way to share an itinerary with friends, and to provide more context to travel pictures and stories. Has anyone seen a tool like this out there?

Neon-ness

I'm am the proud, new owner of this blindingly-bright-neon-orange-walks-its-own-path kind of bike. It will carry me around Burning Man and be easily found amongst piles of other bikes in the pitch dark. Such glory deserves a name. What shall it be?