To Americans, especially, I think finding your roots is appealing.  We're a nation of immigrants for the most part.  Finding your roots can be appealing to others whose ancestors have relocated… Australians, New Zealanders, many South Americans, and even Asians and Africans.  

Finding out about your ancestors can be just going through genealogical records.  I have friends and cousins who have done that, and I have to admit, it is interesting… but for me, it's much more exciting to travel to see where those ancestors came from.  Let me tell you a couple of stories of our own that might get you thinking about traveling and finding your roots.

The first time we went to Europe, we began in Norway and Scotland because I claim to be mostly Norwegian, and my spouse has a Scottish surname… good enough reason, don't you think?  That first trip was just a look see; a visit to say we had been to "the homeland".  It also whetted our appetites for more.

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You do want to take some measures to prevent lost luggage on your trip.   Lost luggage is a nightmare you really don't want to deal with when you're starting your long awaited holiday.  Here are some tips to prevent lost luggage:

1.    The absolute best way to keep from losing your luggage it to carry it on.  It's also a way to save money on domestic flights since most airlines now charge to check bags.  We've always advocated that you really don't need to travel with more than one bag each, but you have to plan for this and have the discipline to avoid that "just in case" syndrome.

2.    If you must check your luggage, there are some things that you can do to help make sure it arrives with you, or that you will at least be able to survive until it is reunited with you.

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Electrical adaptors and converters.  You're going on HOLIDAY not studying electricity… Why do you need to know about these?

Because if you don't have the right adaptors and converters, you're appliances just might not work!

Electrical adaptors for travel are plugs that go between your appliance with their US or European style prongs and the foreign wall socket with the receptacle for a different arrangement of prongs.  It changes the plug shape to match the outlet.  There are actually 16 different types of electrical outlets that you may encounter throughout the world.

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You're traveling the world!  Now you need to know how to deal with jet lag.  Every traveler feels jet lag to some degree if you cross time zones…  What you have to learn is how to prepare yourself ahead of your trip and then recover once you get there, so you can get the most out of your vacation time.

Try to leave home well rested.  It's easy to leave packing until the last minute, then be running around picking up last minute things, doing laundry for that favorite travel shirt.  Pack a few days ahead, and try to keep the last couple of days before departure more stress free.  If you leave home more rested, you'll be better able to deal with jet lag once you're on your way.

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Some travelers say driving on the left is not for them.  They will never drive in a country where they need to do that.  It's true some things might be hard to gauge if you pick up a rental car and need to drive on the left… when you're used to driving on the right.  But really, it's a lot easier than you might think.

We have driven on the left in all of the U.K. and Ireland… in Australia and New Zealand… in Africa and in some Caribbean Islands.  You just have to stay extra alert all the time.

Here's something to remember when you're contemplating this… not only are you driving on the left, you're sitting on the right side of the car.  I can't tell you how often we've both gone back to the "wrong" side of the car when we were driving on the left.  

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You're ready to push that "buy it" button, and you see that internet flight insurance is offered with that airline ticket you're buying online.  

Internet flight insurance?  You have just seconds to think about it.  It seems cheap enough so you add it on to the price of your ticket.  But is it worth it?  

There are times when you should get some kind of travel insurance and times when you may not want to… but either way, don't buy insurance impulsively.  Take your time.  Research what is offered and what your options are.  Choose carefully.

We have a story to illustrate this.  We heard of a passenger who really wasn't paying attention.  This traveler mistakenly purchased his ticket for the day BEFORE he wanted to leave.  This only came to his attention when the check-in kiosk wouldn't work… It said "see agent".  This fellow was really annoyed with the airline because the kiosk wouldn't check him in.  It had to be the airlines fault, right?

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Jet lag is something that every traveler has to deal with.  It's one thing to change your wrist watch by six or nine or twelve hours… It's whole different thing to get your body to change the same number of time zones.  

All those feelings you have… tired and grumpy, puffy, headachy… they're all part of a real physical reaction.  Your biological clock is upset when you travel rapidly across many time zones.  You're body produces certain hormones to tell it when you normally sleep, when you wake up and when you're hungry… now your watch and your brain are trying to tell it something different…. your body is lagging behind.

Crossing one or two time zones usually doesn't cause jet lag.  There really isn't enough of a time change there to really disrupt your biological clock.  And it's not linked just with the length of the flight.

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Know your visa requirements before you go tearing off to a local Consulate or send your passport to an Embassy.  Be sure that you have collected all of the information and documents you'll need to apply for your visa.

Your travel agent may give you good advice on visa requirements, but it is ultimately your responsibility to obtain your visa, and to do that you need to gather the proper information.  To find out what the procedure and requirements are for each country you want to visit, check with the Embassy of that country.  

You can look up basic information on the internet.  The U.S. State Department site, for instance, has information on what U.S. citizens need for visas, but when we went to China, it didn't mention a requirement about the passport needing to have 3 months validity after a visit ends.  The Chinese Embassy site was where we found that information.  

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