Archive for September, 2007
LIP vs Traveller: Friends or Foes?
“So, when do you start your year travelling around the world?” is a question I’ve been asked quite often by the select few who know about our LIP plans.
I’ve been quick to point out (sometimes too hastily) that we’re not just travelling to places such as New Zealand and Brazil but we’re also creating a viable and sustainable online business that will give us the monthly income to enjoy more than just a backpacker lifestyle but a LIP lifestyle!
It’s not that we have anything against travelling in itself or the image of a traveller. Indeed, being able to afford to travel the world without having to work sounds like bliss to me! My perception is that even travelling in itself is short term in nature…perhaps ranging from 4 weeks to 18 months. Traditional thinking dictates that it’s something you do in between school and university or in between jobs. It means that “normal” life will always be somthing that you come back to after your travels have been completed.
Claudia and I are aiming to make living in fantastic locations and working on projects we love doing at our own pace our “normal” lives. Which means that there are no “promotion-risking career breaks” or “must-do travelling before the kids arrive” or “I wish I had the time to go there but…”.
On the face of it, what I’m writing may seem like wishful thinking, even fool hardy, to those who aren’t aware that a LIP lifestyle is not only possible but sustainable as a life choice.
However, I do believe that when people hear about and see with their own eyes that friends, colleagues and family members are choosing to live their own personalised LIP dreams mindsets may change!
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LIP Health Tips
As a former health coach, staying fit & healthy is something that is often at the forefront of my mind. Fortunately that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the local beer, fried plantain chips and knock ‘em dead spicy rum punches here in Grenada once in a while!!!
These are some of my top tips for staying fit & healthy on your LIP journey:
1) Take a small first aid kit with you which includes pain killers, antihistamines, any prescription medication you require, small ice packs, assortment of plasters, stretchy bandage, some duct tape/medical tape and if you are going to remote locations where the facilities are less than ideal, you might like to consider packing more ‘hard core’ equipment like a sterile scalpel and some needles.
2) When it comes to trying out the local delicacies give your system a few days, perhaps a week or two to acclimatise to all the other changes you’ve thrown at it (stress of travel, different climate, etc.) before you guzzle down the new & strange foods available to you (this is expecially important if you already have digestive issues such as IBS, frequent bloating or the like).
3) If you do have chronic health issues such as IBS, back pain, allergies, migraines, PMS or anything else which you suffer through usually but can foresee it being challenging to continue to suffer as a LIP, I would recommend working with someone to get rid of any chronic health issues before you leave (or even whilst you’re away). If you want any recommendations for good ones, leave me a comment I know plenty… I coach them!
4) Supplement your diet with high quality nutritional supplements. Whilst one of the benefits of LIP living is that you may get to eat a very varied diet in different locations, taking good quality supplements will help ensure you always get the full range of nutrients your body needs throughout.
5) Be aware of falling into that "holiday feeling" whilst you’re living the LIP life…you know the one, where you allow yourself to indulge in things you wouldn’t necessarily do normally because you feel in the holiday spirit. This goes for exercise too…try & maintain your typical exercise routine wherever you are in the world – an active life is truly one of the most effective ways to maintain your health.
6) Give your body time to relax & recover from stress. The LIP life is not always an easy one and the stress of moving, travelling and planning can catch up with you if you let it. Listen to your body and if it gives you any warning signs, take notice and take some time out to recharge & re-energise.
LIP Health Hazards Part 3: Over Hydration
Yes, that’s right…over hydration not dehyrdration. There is such a thing.
Here’s a cautionary tale from my own travel experiences…
About 4 years ago, I took part in a 400km Marie Curie bike ride for charity in Vietnam with my Mum whose ovarian cancer had just been re-diagnosed. I was the youngest on the trip, she was the oldest!
[Side note: That along with a group trip to the Mexico, Guatemala & Belize stand out so far as two of the best ever trips I have ever made - usually a bit shy of groups, these experiences totally changed my mind about group travel].
One of the things we’d all been warned about was drinking plenty of water of course. Cycling for up to 5-6 hours each day, we needed to keep even more well hydrated than we would simply blobbing by a poolside.
After a couple of days of acclimatisation, our cycling trip began along the very dusty, very noisy & very busy highway 1 just outside of Ho Chi Minh. Tough going it was and at a
welcome break after an hour swigging sugar cane juice and fresh mango
juice from a roadside stall, we were all knackered and swigging back
the copious amounts of water provided by our excellent back up team.On the bus at the end of the day, Charlie, our guide asked if everyone was feeling ok – one of our group, a girl said she felt a bit ill. When we arrived at our hotel in the hills (3 hours from the nearest city), she was still feeling ill and my Mum had to help her shower and then put her to bed.
Skip forward 2 hours and on return from our dinner (she’d stayed in bed), she was worse still and had fallen unconscious. They drove her back to HCM in a minibus (over a 3 hour drive) and straight to the nearest hospital where they couldn’t work out what was wrong with her.
After 2-3 days (our cycling trip continued but in a very subdued manner), we had word that she was out of the coma and they’d figured out that she had over hydrated and completely screwed up the electrolyte balance in her system because of it…with everything being far too diluted to be effective. She fully recovered after a few weeks but had absolutely no recollection of the event nor the trip afterwards.
So just how much had she drunk? Well, we’d been advised to drink approx. 5 litres of water a day whilst we were cycling but this girl had drunk 5 litres of water the day before we started cycling, as well as at least that on the first day of cycling. Apparently she had hardly sweated on the ride nor had she had to pee that much either so the intake of water was disproportionate to the amount she was losing or that her body needed. Scary story and it certainly gave everyone food for thought…
And what does this mean for LIPs?
Aim for around 2 litres of water a day as a minimum, irrespective of your body size or if you want a more accurate measure, multiply your body weight (in kgs) by 0.033 to get your recommended intake in litres. And don’t forget, if you are more active & sweating considerably more, increase your intake accordingly but don’t over-do it…if you’re not losing water by sweating or peeing, don’t over-do the increase in your intake.
Packing Hand Luggage
As a bit of a weakling, I like my carry on luggage to be pretty light when I travel, even if J does often carry it for me. Here is what I take in my hand luggage and why…
1) My Sony VAIO SZ4XWN/C laptop in a ZSHOCK hard case with charger to fill up any waiting time at the airport, get some work done or test out the wireless facilities wherever I happen to be.
2) A Freecom Portable 120GB external hard drive with a back up of my files.
3) A universal travel adaptor to charge up my things at airports, during delays and in case my other luggage gets lost.
4) My 80GB Apple iPod to drown out the noise of the plane (and other people).
5) My travel ’shroud’ – a very thin cotton sarong which I use as a blanket or to put over my head on a plane when I want to sleep (J has attemtpted to disown me on several occasions but failed each time).
6) Travel documents of course…like passports, copy of my travel insurance, tickets/boarding passes and my driving licence.
7) My travel wallet – neither of us use a bulkly wallet or purse anymore and have swapped these for slimline versions which hold just 2-3 essential cards each and a few notes.
My Canon Powershot 700 & USB cable in case I see anything of interest to take whilst in transit and then want to blog about it instantly.
9) My personal air ioniser which 
10) A clear re-usable plastic pouch which carries a small tube of my favourite organic all-pupose moisturiser, a small bottle of organic hand sanitiser, a small tube of lip balm and my toothbrush – in case of emergencies, this is pretty much all I’d need if everything else got lost.
What are your must have travel items that you take with you in hand luggage?
P.S. Very alarmed to hear that some UK flights are now banning laptops as carry on items because of heightened security…
