Hostels once held a reputation as cheap and grimy places to stay. Fortunately, while they continue to offer good value, many hostels have taken the quality of their accommodation to the next level. At the same time, when you stay at a hostel, you are living in close proximity to many people, specifically travelers coming [...]
Travel Health Tips
This category contains tips for staying healthy on the road.
I've been traveling for nearly two years now. I've spent most of my time in West Africa, a region of the world that is notorious for traveler's diarrhea, malaria and a variety of parasites, such as Guinea Worm. While I previously wrote an article on the 7 travel health tips I've learned from West Africa, [...]
Cholera is one of the world's more notorious diseases because of its ability to produce outbreaks and quickly kill significant numbers of people. In light of this fact, it is hard to believe that it is actually a highly treatable disease. As a traveler, your risk is relatively low, unless there is an outbreak going [...]
This new series of posts will take a look at hypothetical travel health situations and how one should respond in those circumstances. In this case, we will imagine ourselves getting stung by a jellyfish in Australia. Why Australia? It has the distinction of being home to one of the most deadly animals on the planet, [...]
The bane of international travelers is jet lag. One long flight can turn your mind upside down and create something of an internal vertigo. There are ways to lessen the impact, though, and this post will point out some prevention and coping mechanisms that you can use on your next trip. Best case scenario: you [...]
While you're unlikely to come across it, meningococcal disease should be on your radar for the simple fact that it is potentially fatal. The good news is that the disease is rare and it is vaccine-preventable. In this post, we will describe symptoms and tell you where the disease can be found and how it [...]
In one of our more recent posts (What Happens when you Get Sick), we talked about how the body responds to sickness. In this post, we will talk about ways to accelerate your body's fight with a typical cold virus. While there is no silver bullet that will instantly cure your cold and make you [...]
Most travelers don't give bed bugs much thought. Depending on where you are going, it may be unlikely that you will have a run-in with them. At the same time, bed bug infestations have been on the rise in many places and in some cases, even upscale hotels haven't been spared. You mean besides the [...]
Japanese encephalitis is yet another mosquito borne illness. Confined to the limited geography of Southeast Asia and the Far East, Japanese encephalitis is rare in travelers, but it's certainly not an illness to take lightly. Acute clinical cases (roughly 1% of cases) of Japanese encephalitis have a fatality rate of 20-30% and among survivors, 30-50% [...]
Since gaining Independence from the British on March 6, 1957, Ghana has been a jumping off point for many people looking to travel West Africa. Whether you are looking for beautiful beaches, sobering and powerful historical slave trade castles/sites, lush rain forest, or a rich music and culture scene, Ghana has it all. When it [...]
