Preparing To Leave
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
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…
Packing For A 3 Month LIP Trip
Only 14.5 hours until our taxi comes to pick us up & whisk us away on the next stage of our LIP adventure. With the prospect of a 4-day fun & food-filled trip to NYC and then 3 glorious, sun-baked months in Grenada, here’s what we’re taking & how we’ve packed…
His & Hers Clothes
With the [...]
Only 14.5 hours until our taxi comes to pick us up & whisk us away on the next stage of our LIP adventure. With the prospect of a 4-day fun & food-filled trip to NYC and then 3 glorious, sun-baked months in Grenada, here’s what we’re taking & how we’ve packed…
His & Hers Clothes
With the advantage of just having spent 2 months in Grenada, we know exactly what we need there. Despite having had to constantly restrain myself in the shops here in Nottingham we’ve been ultra realistic about the fact that we know we live in swimmies, shorts & t-shirts practically the whole time.
There’s a couple of ’smarter’ clothes shoved in there for our NYC trip but we’re being very sneaky and taking a separate small holdall which my brother will then take back to Dubai with him and keep it there all ready for our month in Dubai over Xmas & New Year. Our clothes are all packed up in 2 each of the fab Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes.
…plus shoes
Add in a pair of comfy trainers that I’m travelling in and a pair of flip flops each and that’s it for shoes. Bit different from some of my past packing efforts with 6 pairs for a 10 day trip.
Clothes & shoes fully packed in one side…
Gadgets, wires, first aid kit, toiletries & other bits & bobs in the other…
And here’s how big the case looks next to J’s legs…(it’s titchy)
I’ll be adding our packing lists to the book (X Marks The Spot) with details of what we’ve learned are ‘must have’ items versus ‘nice to have’ items versus ‘think they’re vital but totally useless’ items…and including one tip which, if we’d learned earlier, would have saved us a couple of hundred pounds ($400).
Managing Your Address As A LIP
One question which is always really difficult to answer as a Location Independent Professional is: “Where do you live?”. Still not quite got a succint enough answer for that one yet.
Despite moving around however, it is vital to maintain a couple of fixed addresses for correspondence - especially if the places you’re visiting have less-than-reliable [...]
One question which is always really difficult to answer as a Location Independent Professional is: “Where do you live?”. Still not quite got a succint enough answer for that one yet.
Despite moving around however, it is vital to maintain a couple of fixed addresses for correspondence - especially if the places you’re visiting have less-than-reliable or slower-than-a-snail postal services (like Panama, Buenos Aires & Grenada!).
Here is what we do:
- Maintain a correspondence address in the UK (the in laws address) to which we get all important mail or cheques sent to.
- Use a great online mail service which lets you get your postal mail online and then decide what to do with it all via their website (have it scanned & then emailed to you, have it forwarded to you or have it binned).
I have also just found & registered our previous addresses with this service which basically gets you removed from all the junk, direct mailing lists and helps cut down on receiving unwanted mail for you (or someone else) to process.
