Health

Coach Class No Longer the Culprit of Blood Clotting

You are now encouraged to move about the cabin © Gene Eaton “Economy class syndrome”, the nickname that suggests Coach seating causes blood clots, is in fact not true. New guidelines state that the real risk of deep vein thrombosis during plane travel is from not getting up and moving around enough during long flights. [...]

SFO Opens Yoga Room

Just say ‘Om’ to the new yoga room at SFO © lyn tally Yesterday SFO opened the very first airport-based yoga room. Stressed out travelers are free to come in and practice independently. The room is open during operating hours of Terminal 2, where it is located. The new yoga room is bathed in calming blue [...]

The World’s 10 Worst Travel Diseases

Turner Wright explores the ten worst diseases for world travelers.

6 Real Tips To Beat Jet Lag

Forget the endless online tips, cure-all medications and bits of expert advice that claim to beat jet leg. Amanda Kendle reveals the six ways that actually work.

The Rise of Medical Tourism: Shopping the World for Medical Procedure Bargains

Exploring the rise of medical tourism – a growing cottage industry that caters to travelers shopping the world’s hospitals for medical procedures at bargain basement prices.

Detoxing with “Hedonism Rehab” Packages in Thailand

Bangkok at Night © antwerpenR Feeling a little dirty after nights of Patpong sex shows and buckets of Chang? No worries, Thailand has you covered. For a mere 30,000 USD per month you can kick any nasty habits in a serene Buddist temple rehab facility. Interested? Try Tham Krabok Temple where a regimen of daily [...]

The Culinary Essentials Every Budget Traveler Should Know

Nora Dunn discusses a few essential recipes every self-respecting budget traveler should add to their culinary repertoire.

6 Tips for Sleeping Well in a Foreign Place

Amanda Kendle reveals her top six tips to catching maximum shut-eye while traveling abroad.

Medical Treatment in a Foreign Country: Learn to Expect the Unexpected

Amanda Kendle explains why expecting the unexpected goes a long way towards preparing for medical treatment while traveling abroad.

Bedbug Bite May Be More Serious Than Originally Thought

Travelers have another reason to fear bedbugs, according to a report by MSNBC; a study finds bedbugs also have antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Lovely. More via CheapOair.

10 Nastiest Travel Diseases: What They Are, What They Do and Why You Don’t Want Them

Amanda Kendle explores the 10 nastiest diseases that travelers should be most concerned with.

5 Simple Ways to Stay Healthy While Traveling

Amanda Kendle offers a bit of advice on how to stay healthy while traveling.

X-ray Scanners Deliver “20 Times the Average Dose Quoted by TSA”, Scientist Says

BoingBoing points us to a rather alarming statistic regarding the new full-body X-ray scanners now favored by the TSA. In an online essay titled, Holt Continues to Question Science, Effectiveness of TSA Full Body Scanners, scientist and U.S. House Representative, Rush Holt, warns: In March, the Congressional Biomedical Caucus (of which I am a co-chair) [...]

Jet Lag May Cause Stupidity

Exhausted Passengers at Frankfurt Airport, Germany © Alberto Vaccaro According to a new study (oh if I had a nickel …), jet lag may not only be inconvenient. It may actually make you dumber: A study presented November 15 at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting finds that hamsters suffering extreme, chronic jet lag had [...]

The Spirit of the Running People: Three Cultures You Should Know

Turner Wright explores three “running cultures”, in which running is life, deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds of the natives.

Dangerous Dining: The World’s 10 Deadliest Delicacies

Turner Wright explores some of the deadliest foods the world has ever seen – poisonous or harmful, not by accident, but by design.

The Traveller’s Medicine Cabinet: 5 Essential Drugs for the Road

Robert Evans reviews five nutritional supplements and natural medications every traveler should pack, no matter their destination.

Clever Malaria Awareness Ads Use Mosquito “Murals” to Make a Point

A new ad campaign by Africa Directo for malaria awareness uses mural drawings of mosquitoes to make its point. The portraits of despots like Hitler and Stalin – responsible for the deaths of millions – are created by drawing thousands of mosquitoes to define their features. The caption reads, “Nothing and no one takes as [...]

Ask the Readers: Any Advice for Diabetic Travelers?

Every once in a while, I receive an e-mail from a wayward traveler looking for a bit of advice. A kind, young chap e-mailed me this morning: Hey! I love your website after just having discovered it a couple of weeks ago. It epitomizes the life I’d like to live for a few years once [...]

Dogs Leading the Charge in New York’s War on Bed Bugs

Two Beagles, Phoenix © freeparking The noses used to sniff out anything from cocaine to bombs are now being used to sniff out another menace – bed bugs. A New York company is offering the services of a pack of six dogs who can sniff out bed bugs from apartments, hotels and hospitals in New [...]

An Idiot’s Incomplete Guide to the Bidet

Chris Cook explores the fascinating (albeit confusing) role of the bidet.

5 Steps to Solid Travel: How to Beat Airport Security Every Time

Nora Dunn explores the five steps to ditching your liquid contraband and becoming a proud solid traveler.

The Cleanest Rainwater in the World, Bottled

Move over Evian, there’s a new stylish bottled water in the market, and it’s sourced from a region even more pristine than the French Alps. Heaven, actually. Tasmanian Rain bottled water is captured from what its manufacturers say are the clearest skies on the planet. That isn’t just advertising hype. According to the World Metrological [...]

Foreign Accent Syndrome: Blame That Bad Sean Connery Lilt on Your Genes

From the Mental Floss Random Fact Generator: Foreign Accent Syndrome is a rare side effect of brain trauma, whereby a patient’s enunciation is altered to the point where it begins to resemble a foreign accent. Perhaps the most famous example occurred in 1941, when a young Norwegian woman began uncontrollably speaking with a German accent [...]

Rising Food Prices Force Haitians to Eat Mud ‘Cookies’

As rising global oil prices have pushed up prices of basic food ingredients, people of the Caribbean nation of Haiti are learning to make do with an ingredient that’s more affordable, albeit not so nutritious – mud. Haiti, along with other countries in the Caribbean, has been hit even harder by the price hikes in [...]

Yellow Fever Alert in Brazil

The BBC is reporting a yellow fever alert in Brazil. Brazilian authorities are asking travelers headed to the country to check their vaccination needs, after a man died of yellow fever, the first such case in urban Brazil since 1942. In recent weeks, as many as 12 suspected yellow fever cases have been reported, and [...]

Health Officials Looking for Passengers Infected with Rare Strain of TB

A 30 year old Nepal native from Sunnyvale, California might have infected other passengers on an American Airlines flight from New Delhi to Chicago, with a deadly drug resistant strain of Tuberculosis. Health officials are now searching frantically for other passengers who might have been sitting close to her on the same flight. The woman [...]

Tokyo Says “No Smoking” in Taxis

As a rather apt follow-up to this video review of Tokyo’s coffin hotels … Tokyo has joined the growing list of cities to enforce stricter restrictions on smoking in public. After Paris’ cafes, it’s Tokyo’s taxis that have become smoke-free zones. Two Tokyo taxi associations initiated the ban on lighting up inside, responding to the [...]

German Pub Skirts Smoking Ban with “Butt Holes”

This is one trend that promises to be the butt of many jokes to come. (Get it? Seriously, we’re here all week) At the Maltermeister Turm in Goslar, Germany, the enterprising owner found a novel way to beat the new smoking ban, and accommodate customers who complained about having to freeze their butts off in [...]

Could Nalgene Bottles Cause Cancer?

Note: This post has been revised due to factual inaccuracies noted in the comments below. Thanks to Mark for setting us straight on the technicals of this issue! Nalgene water bottles have found a place in every rucksack, and have millions of confirmed backpacking fans. But now, new research by a Canadian outdoor gear company [...]

Keep Looking »