Little Black Guidebook

Cartoon Via: penelope-jolicoeur

From the moment I set foot inside an airport I feel like I am being worn out and beat down by the process of travel. I mitigate it as much as possible with snacks, naps, noise-canceling headphones, but really who sleeps well sitting up or enjoys being in motion for more than 12 hrs?

I’d love to pick a long-haul international stewardess’ brain on this, but in the meantime, here is what I’ve found that works for me vs. jetlag. I’ll be employing all these techniques just to focus now that I’m on the ground in France.

Any tips appreciated!

Sleep the week before you leave

Stay rested the entire week before you travel. This means don’t stay up until 2am the night before packing or making the house clean so you have a clean house to come home to. I like coming home to a clean home, but I won’t feel like a zombie for three days of my hard earned vacation to accomplish this.

Stress-proof your body

Your body needs sleep, good food and hydration. Figure out how to get them while traveling.

Hydration – The alcohol may be free, but its de-hydrating. And don’t forget to hydrate your skin. The dry plane air is no fun for skin. While technically it won’t help with jet lag, a little moisturizer on your face will make you feel more human guaranteed.

Food – For longer trips pack accordingly, don’t make yourself a victim of the food they serve. (ah, how happy I am we’re not flying on an American airline) And for short trips its far better to have some healthy almonds in flight than those nasty salt packs they hand out.

Sleep – I don’t sleep on planes. 36 hrs to Hong Kong and nope not a wink in the air, but I have been known to set a cell-phone alarm and crash in the airport.

• Lounge: Trust me, $20 to get into the business class lounge and take a nap in a comfy chair is worth it!
• Set your Watch: I also put myself on the local time of my destination as soon as possible. I enforce this on my body by restricting sunlight with sunglasses (who cares if I look dumb walking through the airport in sunglasses) or forcing myself to stay up to get on local time as much as possible on the way there (subject to flight changes and other travel requirements).
• Eat like you’ve arrived: Eating meals at destination times helps me adjust.
• Try some drugs: I also pack Melatonin to zonk myself out as needed. While controversial for a while, the latest research shows that melatonin does help fight off jet lag. (1-3 mg about an hour before you want to fall asleep, but no more or you’ll be a zombie when you wake up.) I haven’t tried Ambien, but I’m thinking about it.

Drink tea

Chamomile tea keeps me calm, but it also works for nausea and as an anti-inflammatory. Ginger calms tummies too and maybe its all in my head, but a good ginger scone makes me feel less claustophobic too. Sitting there eating a homemade ginger scone with some chamomile tea from Starbucks is a travel ritual that doesn’t get old.

Things to try, that don’t work for me

Acupressure wristbands

No jet lag herbal suppliment

Turkey is definitely on my list of places to visit for tea-tourism. Alas we won’t be going to Turkey on this trip, but I will be in Paris in less than 24 hrs!

Via petrina tinslay

The 6 item challenge is all about living in only 6 items of clothing for a month to get a better feel for what you really need and detach from your clothing possessions. I think its a cool project, but I don’t know if I could travel on only 6 items like this lady: My month of madness, or how I traveled in 6 items

BTW, the challenge doesn’t include accessories or underthings. Still, I wonder what the guys on the OBOW would think of this as a packing technique! Although, they’ve been hung up on men’s trench coats as a packing technique lately, I think they would still be impressed.

Update: As a personal test I tried to do a 6 day challenge for my 3 week trip. I’ll be leaving tonight with 10 items instead. Personal best, but still far from minimalist.

The car is rented. One more thing off of the checklist before we leave on Friday night. I hate to rent when I could take trains, but this trip it just makes sense. Tonight is my last manual driving lesson and I’ll also be buying a Europe iPad GPS app. to join our Michelin Germany map for navigation.

Lessons learned for trying to rent a car in France & Germany:

1. Its cheaper to rent from avis.de or avis.fr (hertz.de or hertz.fr, etc.) than it is to rent from avis.com. Why? I don’t know.
2. You really should call your car insurance company before you leave to see if they cover your European rental. I have USAA (a really good insurance company usually), but they don’t cover you in Europe
3. Call the credit card company you plan on using for the reservation and see what protections they offer you. My American Express had TOTALLY different coverage than our Visa.
4. Renting for Sunday pickup is hard. In France it seemed impossible to pick up on a Sunday except at the airport.
5. Check Europecar, Sixt and other non North-American rental car agencies, they often have better deals.
6. Learn to drive manual, its saves tons of money. We’re talking $50/day in France savings.
7. Pack light, these cars are small!

Wish me luck, and German/French drivers I apologize in advance for my manual skills.

Our last couch surfer “Long Way Dany” is a long-time traveler with quite the journey to talk about. He is also a great videographer. I really liked his latest, made a few days after leaving us.

NoWhere from Daniele Ciccone on Vimeo.

Rain, rain, go away, mmm…but good excuse to hold my teacup with both hands. This time next week I’ll be on the plane to Europe!

The 6th wedding anniversary is the candy anniversary according to the traditional gift list. So this weekend we stopped into Modern Dwellers Chocolate Lounge in Anchorage and bought 6 truffles for our 6th anniversary. Some of the flavors were quite surprising, but all our selections were delicious. So delicious that three of them were gone before I got a picture!

Drinking Chocolate

Anchovy & Salmon Chocolate? No Thanks.

Dark Chocolate and Coconut and Vegan Too

Pistachios and dark chocolate? Yes please.

Julep Jive = A Mojito Dipped in Dark Chocolate

Such a beautiful, small, and wonderful thing chocolate is.

Who needs matchy matchy China when you can have tons of cut tea cups that go with anything?

Tomorrow, le 14 juillet, is Bastille Day. This year marks the 50th anniversary of France’s farewell to its empire so troops from 13 of its former colonies will controversally march down the Champs Elysées alongside their French military counterparts in the annual parade. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/13/france-sarkozy-bastille-africa-colonialism) You can attend the parade or go in for some less controversial fun by celebrating things we love about France:

1. The impressionist collection at the Museé d’Orsay
2. The view of the Eiffel Tower and fireworks. Good places to watch the fireworks are:
   • Breteuil Square:  This square is close to the Duroc tube station and perfectly aligned with the Eiffel Tower. Mostly unknown by tourists (or so we hear, so that might not be true) so this may be less crowded.
   • The Buttes Chaumont Park: This beautiful park on top of a hill offers an outstanding view over Paris.
   • Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre: A very social spot to watch, surrounded by tons of tourists, but elevated so the nice panoramic views make up for it!
   • Passerelle Debilly: This bridge is on the Quai Branly and quite close to the Eiffel Tower. It provides a cool reflection of the fireworks in the water.
3. French antiques
4. Champagne at lunch
5. Boulangeries and the smell of fresh baked baguette
6. Fromage, fromage, fromage!
7. Celebrate summer like a real French person and get out of Paris. Go to the Normandy beaches – Honfleur & Deauville.

This list was inspired by La Mom, the French expat Mommy-blogger we’d all secretly like to be for a day (or more!).

Et vous, why do you love France? How are you celebrating Bastille Day?

Backsplash, tea cup cozy, utensils, love love love. Via Heath Ceramics