Travel During Turbulent Times

Interesting take from Paul Theroux about why we should travel even during turbulent times.

"Travel, especially of the old laborious kind, has never seemed to me of greater importance, more essential, more enlightening."

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/travel/03Cover.html?src=dayp&pagewanted=all#

What to Ask When Disaster Strikes

We've been heartbroken by the images of devastation in Japan, and riveted by the unrest in Egypt. But what do these events mean if you have been planning to travel to those destinations? You've daydreamed, researched, and planned for months. Here's a thoughtful list of questions to ask yourself when disaster strikes your travel plans.

“May I please take your picture?”

I’ve asked this question of people countless times during my travels, wanting to capture a smile, an outfit, a small shop—an image that evokes my experience in a particular place and time. Usually, the answer is a smile and a “yes.” Occasionally, it results in a rather amusing pantomime involving me pretending to snap photos and smiling and the subject looking quizzical. Very rarely is it “no.” I suppose if a visitor to my home town asked to take my picture, I’d acquiesce. But in India, for the first time I found myself on the receiving end of this question. I was surprised and discomfited. After all, I was the traveler, not them.

Initially, feeling somewhat taken aback, I assumed that there was something wrong with me. After a young man in Delhi asked if he could take my picture, I surreptitiously checked my teeth to make sure there was no remainder of my favorite lunch of dal tarka stuck among them. I felt the heat of embarrassment spread across my face, my apprehension assuming he asked so he could later ridicule my image with some derelict gang of his fellow high-school boys.

My tour through Delhi and Agra progressed, and my self-consciousness only grew as the question became more frequent. I felt hounded by people asking the question I wanted to use myself: “May I please take your picture?” It didn’t matter if I avoided eye contact, wore hats and sunglasses, or pretended not to understand. Two young men skulked around me at the Taj Mahal, pointing and laughing. At me, I assumed. A year earlier, I had a rather unpleasant episode of being groped in Egypt by two men who approached me in a similar manner. Now, I allowed my discomfort to lead me, quickly hopping across the bridge of the Taj’s reflecting pool to escape into the crowd.

Eventually, I realized I was being ridiculous. I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve been in uncomfortable situations, something that can be hard to avoid as a solo female abroad. If I didn’t want to interact with others, I should have stayed home. If people wanted to photograph me because I didn’t look like them, then so be it. So what if my photo was going to be the source of amusement across the Indian subcontinent? Who cares if my image went viral on Indian Facebook? Surely the desire to document things and people that are outside one’s daily experience spans the globe. Wasn’t it fair to assume that curiosity is universal? Didn’t I want to take pictures of them for the same reasons that they wanted to take pictures of me? Yes. And yes.

So, I relaxed. Later in my visit at the Taj Mahal, I again ran into the two snickering fellows. They renewed their request. I agreed, but only if they would be in the shot with me. We chatted for a while in the broken English and hand gestures of those who don’t share a common language. Now I’m not ashamed—I’m even proud—to know that somewhere in India, on someone’s cell phone, there’s a picture of me. Smiling.

Travel Tip: Registering Your Trip with the State Department

I'm sure you've been watching the news about the political situation in Egypt right now and heard that the State Department is assisting Americans who want to leave. In our experience, it's a good idea to register your overseas trip with the State Department so that they have a record of your itinerary and contact information. We register all our group trips with the State Department in the event of any unforeseen emergencies, whether they be related to politics, natural disasters, or any other surprise.
 
Formally known as the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), the online registration process allows you to enter your personal information and your travel plans. When you sign up, the State Department will also send you updates on the country you've registered for. For example, clients who registered their trips to Egypt received email updates including travel alerts.
 
Learn more at the State Department website. There's a lot of great information on the site -- I always use it for looking up visa requirements and other relevant pre-trip information.

Travel Tip: Dealing with Lost Luggage

Good friends of mine recently went to Egypt for a two-week trip. Their bags, however, went ... well, somewhere else. (Fortunately, the bags eventually showed up.) So, what should you do before you check in your bags at the airport and what should you do in the unfortunate event that your bags take a separate trip from the one you planned?
 
Before You Go

• Put your name and contact information both on the luggage tag and inside the bag.
• Pack your valuables and important information (camera, laptop, prescription medication, passport, itinerary with contact names and numbers, etc.) in your carry-on.
• Make sure that your bag is checked to the correct destination (SJO and SJC are both San Jose, but in different countries!).
• Keep an inventory of the contents of your bag (may sound like overkill, but an inventory is very helpful if you need to file a claim).
• Make sure that you have a claim tag for each bag and that each person has his or her own claim tag.
• Leave plenty of time for connections if your itinerary has multiple legs.
• Pack a change of lightweight clothes and a toothbrush in your carry-on.

If Your Bags Don't Arrive

• File a missing bag report while you are still at the airport. The airline will give you a claim report with a file reference number that can be used to track the status of your bag online. The file reference number will contain five letters and five numbers -- the first three letters represent the airport, the second two letters represent the airline, and the last five numbers represent the unique claim number. So, for example, PDXDL12345 means that the bag was supposed to arrive in Portland (PDX) on a Delta (DL) flight. Enter the number on a site like My Lost Bag to track your bag's status.
• Also ask the airline representative for their customer service number so that you can call them.
• Keep the receipts from your additional expenses so that you can file your report with your travel insurance company.