Teen Travel Tips for us Older Women Who Are Young in Spirit!

This is segment 3 of the, my husband I traveled for 18 days through France and Spain, story. Specifically, we flew into Frankfurt, rented a car at the airport and drove to Saint-Avold, France to visit the American Cemetery. There is a very romantic WWII story associated with that stop, which I will go into in another post. After an overnight there, we drove onto Normandy for the weekend. In fact, we were in Normandy on 9/11, which other than NYC, seemed like a great place to be on that day. Both were sites of tragic deaths of heroes who died saving others – very humbling indeed!

After that, we drove to Mont Saint Michel, then down the West Coast of France to the Bordeaux region and the town of St. Emilion. Following an evening of fabulous wine drinking and the very best smoked salmon pizza I ever ate (actually it was the only one I ever ate and I want more!), we went the next day to San Sebastian, Spain where we spent a few days eating pintxos and drinking Rioja wines like it was our job to eat as many different kinds of pintxos, as there were available.  Pintxos are the “Basque equivalent to tapas, served in Northern Spain”.

The car was returned and we took a train to Madrid to spend a few nights and then took another train to Southern Spain to stay in the Andalucía area for a week. While in Madrid, we ate our first pan of paella and shared our first pitcher of Sangria while sitting at an outdoor table observing the people strolling by us. It turned out to be the best paella of the trip because it was well-seasoned with enough spices, garlic and salt to make it more flavorful then some of the more bland renditions I have eaten. Importantly, it was packed with seafood. Also, the Sangria was refreshing and full of fruit. In fact, I joke that the only fruits I ate were from the bottom of the Sangria pitchers we drank.

OK, I just rambled through our itinerary without any of the dramatic description that it truly deserves because in this post, I really want to talk about traveling and vacationing in general, not the sites or the food we experienced. If one isn’t traveling well, I believe that they can’t relax enough to enjoy the local cuisine or the attractions. To help with that, I found an excellent article on beinggirl.com, titled Teenage Travel, which provides excellent tips that are beneficial no matter what the age of the traveler. The link is below.

http://www.beinggirl.com/article/teenagers-vacation/

There are so many aspects of the article that are more than helpful, they can be vacation saving. For example, there is a paragraph that offers advise on being a smart packer. It states that fumbling with your luggage can make you a target for pickpockets. VERY TRUE! My experience has been that pickpocketing in Europe has become an art form. Along with the advise given, I will add that you should watch out for diversions, such as street fights, kids running in packs, or someone doing something crazy that you just have to see. In that split second, a wallet can be lifted or a purse taken. I have seen it, been with friends who had that happen and had a wallet lifted from my cross-body handbag after someone pushed me on a subway in Paris.

On this trip, we made a pact (or at least I did since I am the key violator of packing far more than I wear because I like choices) to only pack one medium suitcase each and one small carryon. We knew that we had laundry facilities at our lodging in Southern Spain so we could wash our clothes there. Before that, we hand washed clothes, if needed.

Even though we had a car for a lot of the trip, those two train rides meant we were in train stations. I must say though, security at the Madrid train station was almost as rigid as at an airport. That was actually reassuring. Take a read of the article on beinggirl.com and let me know if you have any added tips to help make someone else’s travel more pleasant. Since I am about the food, below is a photo of a half-eaten plate of fried sardines from San Sebastian. I ate the rest after the photo because they were fresh and delicious!! The other picture is of a working fishing boat in San Sebastian.

European Vacation with a dab of Africa

My husband and I went to Europe for 18 days and returned home late on Saturday, September 24. After being gone so long in a time zone that was 6 hours different from where we live in North Carolina, I am finally getting my being back into some sort of equilibrium. Even with the sluggishness and the angst that I have tons to do now that I am home, I would go again. I love to travel, especially when it involves visiting places that I have always wanted to see. Even with the ability of the Internet to allow us to view locales just about anywhere in the world, it just isn’t the same as being there.

On this trip we traveled from Normandy, France to Southern Spain and also spent a day in Tangier, Morocco. While there, we ate wonderful foods, drank fabulous wines, saw sites we planned on visiting and some that I didn’t even know existed. All in all, we had a wonderful time. Having said that, people keep asking me to name my favorite place. Despite the fact that my first post-vacation blog post was about European Potties, my favorite places were just about everywhere except bathrooms. However, I would change the question to ask what place was our biggest surprise – and that was the Moroccan city of Tangier.

Thanks to our excellent guide Yoseph, we spent a day in Tangier and toured just about the whole city, from the beaches on the Mediterranean to the Atlantic shores and the Rif Mountains that surround the city. Not surprisingly, the waters of the Atlantic were rougher and cloudier than the clearer and very blue Mediterranean, which was the only demarcation of waters that flowed into each other with no divider.

To get to Morocco from Southern Spain, you take a ferry from the Spanish city of Tariff and go across the Strait of Gibraltar, which takes about 45 minutes of actual travel time. From what I understand (and this happened for us both coming and going), the trip can expand to almost 2 hours with delays. After visiting, the only impression I had of Tangier before was all WRONG!  It is a very progressive and culturally diverse city that seems to welcome everyone, as they have for thousands of years, whether they are Christian, Moslem or Jewish. 

We went to the beautiful seaside, I rode a camel on the beach (though not really willingly), went to fruit & vegetable markets, meat and fish markets and visited a beautiful old Synagogue in the heart of the Jewish section of the city.  I almost cried to know that there is such an acceptance of my people in an Arab country.  Wish everywhere could be like that. 

Our lunch in Tangier was fresh and delicious. We started with a bowl of olives and a salad of fresh tomatoes and onions in olive oil and vinegar. Then we ate: grilled lamb kabobs, couscous with chicken, and a Moroccan lamb stew with prunes and chickpeas that was seasoned with saffron, cumin and garlic. When ordering, we just told the waiter to bring his best offerings. YUMMM! I washed it all down with a locally made crisp and light white wine. Another positive about Morocco is that they have vineyards and produce delicious wines! I was a bit frightened after the fact that I might get some sort of traveler’s issue due to a more sensitive constitution than my husband, but all was good!! 

Another point that just popped into my head is that the King of Morocco's chief advisor is Jewish.  Also, women and men, regardless of religion or culture, serve equally in all occupations as well as in the government.  Gotta love a place like that.

You know you really liked a place when you want to go back – and I do!! Next time Marrakesh and Casablanca, but not for a while!

Public Potties in Europe

My husband and I just returned from a fantastic European vacation where we traveled to France and Spain mostly. We also crossed the strait of Gibraltar in a ferry and spent a day in Morocco. I didn’t blog about my trip while traveling due to concerns about security at home. It is crazy that there are people who go to public sites for the sole purpose of determining who’s away from home so they can rob their house. I have read online security tips advising not to do that, using, as an example, some poor family who posted publicly while they were on vacation. They came home and found that someone ransacked their house while they were riding the waves in some remote location. In any case, I have a lot I want to share, now that I am back, and will begin with public washrooms.

The reason I am starting with the topic of public potties, rather then going on about the delicious food we ate, fabulous wine we drank (a glass of wine costs about as much as a cup of coffee in many places), and sites we saw is because I have a thing about cleanliness and hand washing. We all know that hand washing can prevent the spread of diseases, important to do all the time, but even more so when away from home and as we enter flu season. If we all supposedly know we should wash our hands after going to the bathroom, then why doesn’t everyone do that?? I have witnessed women bolting the bathroom without washing their hands. There is no excuse. Instead of being Nurse Elaine in a starched white uniform and going on about germs, disease and prevention, I thought I would talk about the public bathrooms in Europe and what I liked about them. Believe me, there is no way I would talk about the U.S. public restrooms, as I find most of them gross.

1) Always Found Soap: Yep, in the vast majority of bathrooms I used there was soap. And, if you have read my posts on incontinence and also read what I have written about urinary tract infections, you would know that I have visit many, many public restrooms while traveling. In fact, I would argue that I visited many, many different bathrooms in a day sometimes. On our recent vacation, I can’t remember not using a bathroom that didn’t have a soap dispenser of some kind. This includes toilets at different landmarks, airports, train stations, auto rest stops, restaurants and small bars located in alleys. Soap is present and where there is soap there is the potential for good personal hygiene after using the toilet.

2) Most restrooms were clean: Love the fact that while some of the toilets I visited had really old fixtures, lighting that looked like it was from the 1930s, and tile floors and walls that were original to very old buildings, they were clean. I don’t know if it is a pride thing or just a better understanding of the importance of cleanliness when you are providing services to tourists, but I was happy to see that. In fact, I would argue that I see more yucky potties in the U.S. then I’ve ever found abroad. For example, I was talking to my next-door neighbor’s mother yesterday who mentioned that she had also been to Morocco. She told me that a restroom she used, when traveling there many years ago, was spotless. The only thing that was disturbing to her was the man who continued to mop between the toilets even while women were using them. Then, he expected a tip. She gave him one!

Years ago while in Hamburg, Germany, I went into a public restroom at the train station and backed out hurriedly because there was a tall man in a butchers coat in there. Checked the sign on the door again and, sure enough, it was the ladies room. He was there to keep the room clean and he did. It was spotless and I gladly tipped him. Now there is a jobs program that could be implemented in the U.S. I’d be happy to designate my tax dollars to ensuring clean public restrooms and filled soap dispensers. Could reduce infections and save insurance providers billions of dollars. I am kidding - sort of!!

3) Very few paper towels for hand wiping after washing: Don’t know if that is a cost savings thing or not wanting to waste paper, but I didn’t like that. Often there were hand dryers, but many didn’t work. In any case, I sometimes just air dried my hands by waving them while walking or wiped excess water on my pants. Oh well, at least I washed with soap.

4) Mostly found toilet paper: Important to always carry your own pack of tissues or wipes, because you never know if there will or won’t be paper. One thing I liked is that when there wasn’t, the woman before me would mention it and offer me paper. That happened more than once. Wish we could all cooperate on more complex things too, but I appreciated the kindness of the warning.

5) Didn’t see many tampon or pad vending machines: The only place I saw vending machines were in airport or train station bathrooms. So, be prepared and take product with you if you even remotely think you will need it. Recently in the U.S. in Pinehurst, North Carolina, where you find many very exclusive golf clubs, I visited the Pinehurst Country Club that houses Course No. 2. I am not a golfer, nor do I belong to that club but it is supposed to be a really big deal if you play golf there. We had friends visiting that wanted to go to Pinehurst. Of course while there I had to use the bathroom. Along with cloth wipes the Club had complimentary Tampax sitting in cute little baskets. That doesn’t happen often, so again, take some if you think you may need it.

6) No buggies on the walls: OK, that is me with my bug phobia and not wanting a spider to fall into my bushy wild hair. Hate when I see spider webs in bathrooms and I truly didn’t see any. Made for a much more relaxed experience.

7) Found many bathrooms with high stall walls: I have always hated bathroom stalls that had short metal pieces as dividers, as they afford absolutely no privacy. You might as well place the potty in the middle of the room. In Europe, I most frequently found high walls between the stalls or even some bathrooms that were individual rooms with their own lights. It kind of made me feel at home. In any case, this is just a non-hygiene observation that I wanted to share.

For those of you have stuck with me and read this blog, I want to reiterate that I am writing about the ladies rooms in Europe as a way to talk about hand washing after using the bathroom. According to the Center for Disease Control, “Keeping hands clean through improved hand hygiene is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others.” If no soap, use antibacterial cleanser, as you owe it to yourself and others! I promise that my next blog will be about the wonderful sites we visited and there will be no mention of potties!

The fear isn’t with asking the question…

I recently blogged about the most asked questions that teens have about periods, puberty, products and relationships. As a beinggirl.com women’s health expert, I can attest to the fact that teens don’t hesitate to research about what is bothering them. They go to beingirl.com, yahoo, facebook, WebMD or wherever there are health experts and they ask away, then ask away some more. However, it seems that while we women continue to have questions about our changing bodies as we age, the older we get the more hesitant we can be about finding out what is happening to us.

While I believe that everyone should ask questions about their health to learn about the best way to manage their situation or to figure out if the changes are normal or not, you can’t force information on someone. Sometimes we accept abnormalities for so long it becomes the norm for our beings. I truly believe that should not be the way it happens. Laughing about a problem is good, but finding out what can help us is even better.

One of my passions is helping women and teens find answers to bothersome health issues. Before responding to questions, whether I am familiar with the answer or not, I still research the topic to ensure I am providing the most current information or research available. On the beinggirl.com website, where I am one of the women’s health experts, we have been answering questions from teen girls for years. Historically, Dr. Iris Prager developed the answers on the site, when she was the education manager for Tampax and Always. She has a PhD in health education and is a past president of the American Association for Health Education. Women’s health experts, including me, as well as physicians, educators, scientists, and other nurses reviewed her responses. The content on beinggirl.com along with the responses used as the basis for responding to the questions asked continue to undergo regular reviews to ensure the information remains accurate and current.

Back to the women and the topic of not asking questions or addressing their health concerns. I read lots of blogs that reflect laughter, tears, frustration, anger and despondency. Some blogs share wonderful touching (and some very frightening) stories about the physical and emotional changes some experience with perimenopause, menopause, as well as older lady aging stuff like stress or urge incontinence. The blogs are situational sharing with a theme of acceptance until the annoying symptoms or physical changes go away or get so horrid a doctor’s appointment is finally made. By the way, stress and urge incontinence are a pathological condition, not a normal part of aging.

While it is great to know we are not alone in our suffering, it would be even better to identify information that can help us manage whatever it is that is ailing us. There are tips and advise out there on credible sites in Internet land that can help us avoid issues before they even begin. For those of you who do ask and find answers, GOOD FOR YOU. For the others who suffer needlessly, ask away, there is help and you are not alone!

p.s. Thanks to Mary B., Dr. Iris, and Virginia for inspiring this topic.