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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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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Flip a switch, and you have electricity worldwide… the lights come on.  Plug in an appliance, and it will go on too… right?  Not necessarily.  There are different voltages and currents all around the world… not to mention the shape of plugs.  Electricity worldwide is always there…. it's just delivered differently, and you need to know about it.

If you're planning to take something electronic with you (and who isn't these days?) you should check the voltage requirements on the gadgetry you plan to take abroad… and compare it to what is available in the country you're visiting.  

There are two basic standard wall currents in electricity worldwide…. 100-120 versus 220-240 volts.  You'll need to read the guidebook or look up what is used in the country you're visiting.  When you're traveling, it's important to know if you need to "step up" or "step down"  your voltage with a transformer or converter so you don't damage your appliance.  

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Why do you feel fatigue after flights?  Ever wonder why you feel done in after traveling?  Here are some facts about why you feel that fatigue after flights.  

We're not talking jet lag here, though that fat-headed fatigue is definitely part of jet lag.  You may feel fatigue after a long north-south flight where there is little or no change in time zones or even after a daytime cross country flight with only a couple of hours of time change.

One of the main culprits is the cabin air in airplanes.  Commercial aircraft are pressurized… that means when you're flying at 35,000 ft  (10,670 meters), the cabin will be pressurized to about 8,000 feet (2440 Meters)… so it will feel like you are in the mountains… high in the mountains.  If you've been hiking or skiing at those altitudes, you know that the air is thinner, and you easily get out of breath.  There is less oxygen in each breath you take because of the lower air pressure, and that lower oxygen level tends to make your brain fuzzy.

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I don't know about you, but I remember when we didn't worry about keeping in touch when we traveled.  It was just too difficult and costly.  When we first started traveling, you had to find a post office, when one was open, and you could place long distance calls from there.  Then came phone cards… you had to buy a phone card and find a pay phone…. then figure out how to use it.

Then of course there were the post cards.  Everybody wanted one, and we always sent them…. but they weren't really keeping in touch… they always arrived days or weeks after we got home.

Keeping in touch when you travel is easier than it ever used to be…. gone are the days of being mostly incommunicado… unless you want to travel that way!   With all the modern electronics, there is no problem keeping in touch today.

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