Well, kind of. We’re on their Young Blood 5 website, where young people with a cause can discuss what matters to them…

Check it out!

And then leave us a comment so they know we’re popular, please!

Trail Walking

We have a little tradition, here in Cape Town. Every Sunday (or Saturday if the weather is better), Mark and I go on a Nature Walk. It doesn’t have to be for long – usually only an hour or two – but it does have to be somewhere in wild, unspoilt nature. We’ve done forests, mountains, beaches and wide open spaces… And we’ve got it down to a fine art.

Constantia Nek

We strap on our sensible walking shoes, pack some snacks (usually fresh fruit) and make sure we have a water bottle or two on hand. Then we head off, walking slowly at first, to warm up, but gradually getting faster and faster, till we’re striding along, taking great big lungfuls of fresh air. Sometimes we’ll talk, sometimes we’ll be silent, lost in our own thoughts or the beauty of our surroundings. Sometimes it will be a lighthearted, playful nature walk, other times it will be quiet and peaceful. You never really know until you’re in the middle of it… that’s the beauty of exploring nature.

Orange Slices

Although I also love that it opens up your mind. I said to Mark yesterday, as we were clambering along a rocky path on beautiful Silvermine (we made a video – we’ll post it soon!) that getting into nature lets my mind work in different ways. It seems to wake up and stretch, to walk along unfamiliar pathways, to think of things I wouldn’t think of at home, in my everyday routine.

And that’s what I’m so excited about for our forthcoming trip… I’m so excited that we are going to be confronted with things that make us think differently, and look differently, and feel and hear and smell differently, every single day. And that we’re doing it together. Because no matter how beautiful the surroundings, it’s infinitely more beautiful when you’re doing it right next to someone you love.

I’ve been waiting a lot, lately. Waiting to hear back from sponsors about our journey, waiting to hear about a trip to Durban and Joburg for publicity stuff before we leave, waiting to plan the last six weeks of normal life.

I’m not very good at waiting.

In fact, I’m pretty terrible at it. My impatient nature combined with my control-freak tendencies means I’m always wanting to sink my teeth into things, without waiting for other people to do their part. This is not a very good part of my character, I can accept that. And I’m working on it.

But I am also learning to accept other things. In fact, I’m working on the gentle art of acceptance.

We found out this morning that one of the major sponsors we were hoping would come on board doesn’t have the necessary budget to help us out. A lot of this journey towards the journey has been knocking on doors and understanding that some open and some remain stubbornly shut… But I must admit I was really disappointed when this one didn’t fly open. There’s still a chance that they’ll be able to help us out on a smaller level (sponsoring our air tickets and an iPhone so we can record our daily video snippets), but it looks like we’ll now be choosing Plan B.

Plan B is still extremely exciting, just in a different way. Instead of 16 countries for 2 to 3 weeks each, we’ll do 9 countries for a month each – and stick to South-East Asia and South America (the countries where our savings will last us longer!) We’ll be roughing it more, but more open to adventure and new experiences (as there won’t be any time constraints). We’ll get to fully experience two beautiful parts of the world. And if a major sponsor decides to climb on board while we’re away, we can always add in some of the other countries we’re going to be missing. Or that can be Journey 2. Or Journey 3. The plan is to keep doing this as long as we can!

The overriding feeling I have from this, though, is that it’s time for me to walk the talk. I keep saying that life always gives you exactly what you need, and that in retrospect everything always turns out for the best, and sometimes we just can’t see what is best for us from our limited present outlook. Now it’s time to trust in that, to trust in the flow of life. I need to learn to stop micro-managing everything, to trust that if you have the best intentions (and I really do, this cause is something I deeply believe in) that life will give you just what you need.
Only sometimes what that is will look a little different to what you expected it to be.

I’m excited about this journey! Literally and figuratively. I’m excited to challenge myself, to discover new things about life, and love, to explore this crazy world of ours. I’m excited for whatever lies ahead, down the river, around the bend, whatever it is I can’t quite see from here…

PS – Should anyone have any contacts with airlines or big companies who like diabetics or iPhone people, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Which, for those of you outside of South Africa, is the biggest health website in the country.

Check it out! www.health24.com
Front-page story about our upcoming trip… Fame at last!
And it’s a really lovely interview.

Now I’m off to run errands all morning – chat to you later!

Exotic Brazil pics (here and below)

Here it is, as promised! The second half of my interview with the very inspiring, very well-traveled Martha Iskyan. For those of you just joining us today (go and read yesterday’s post first!) Martha and her husband, Howard (a Type 2 diabetic) have travelled pretty much all over the world, and have very kindly agreed to share some travelling tips with us.

Here goes…

4. How prepared were you before you left?

We were very prepared.  We knew how we would get from the airport to the hotel or B&B or wherever we stayed the first night, so that there would not be any anxiety or confusion about that.   After that first day/night, we could plan what we wanted to do by reading the Lonely Planet, our travel “bible”.  We also had car rentals reserved online, before we left, since that is much cheaper than walking into an office and renting a car.

We had a general schedule of staying in one city so many days, but if we did not like the place, we left earlier, or if we liked it, we stayed longer.

We travel light: each one medium sized expandable suitcase on rollers, each a small pack-back, Martha a small purse that fits under her jacket, and Howard a small flat envelope-sized bag around his neck with important credit cards and extra cash.
When we walked in cities, I kept a small amount of money and one credit card in my sock.   Each of us had two different credit cards, in case one card would not work, another would.  ATMs the world over are fickle!  Particularly in Brazil!  Some cities still run on an ancient CIRRUS system, and our cards would not be accepted in the whole city!   HSCB banks are the best and always took our cards.

5. Do you have any hints or tips for diabetics who want to travel?

Some hints: See above… and more…

Clothing for different climates was a challenge.  We found that being able to “layer” was the best; i.e. 2 pairs of basic pants:  several tops with short and long sleeves, fleece jackets, one heavy sweater, and a windbreaker jacket with a hood.  It looks like your schedule takes you mostly to warm climates during the time of year those countries are in summer.

Every day, I inspected Howard’s feet to ensure there were no blisters or athlete’s foot and toenails were short.  I gave him foot massages for circulation using a good all purpose cream.   We brought flip flops to use in bathrooms.

If you feel a cold or fever coming on, or have flu symptoms, go to the doctor immediately.  We cannot stress this enough.  Do not rely on remedies of pharmacists.  They want to help, but cannot prescribe antibiotics and that is what you need to take.  (However, pharmacists are very good at giving directions when you are lost.  They usually live in the city or village, are intelligent and speak some English.)

Always travel in two’s.  I noticed when Howard would get tired or sluggish, before he realized that his sugar had dropped dramatically, while we were walking.
The way to get his carbohydrate level up was the universal great drink: BEER!   How he enjoyed that!
It also gave us a time-out to regroup and review how much more we were going to walk, see, or decide if it was time for lunch.
We usually had one large meal a day: lunchtime.   During the day we would purchase some whole wheat bread, cheese, fruit, drinks, (beer or maybe a small bottle of wine) and enjoy this in the hotel room in the evenings.

Take one regular syringe with you, just in case your pen doesn’t work, for some unexplained reason, so that you can still draw the insulin out.  We have had this happen twice now.  That way you do not waste the whole pen, if there is still a lot of insulin left, and you will not run out, since you will take exactly what you need!

Make sure you have prescriptions for every medication you take, in case you need a refill, but also to show to the airport control, if they question your insulin pens. (We have never had anyone question this, but you never know).

Do not carry anything more than 100CC of liquids or creams in your carry-on bags, nor scissors.
We had a small blanket in the backpack to sit on, or to use if we were cold: a spoon, fork and small knife and bottle opener.    We also brought or bought a small bag of whole grain cereals, to eat for breakfast if there were only croissants and coffee  (often the case in Argentina and Chile).  Brazil has by far the BEST breakfasts anywhere!

In restaurants we asked for vegetables instead of the daily ration of chips and rice.  We never had any questions about that.  Sometimes, we had to pay a little extra, but that was worth it.   Try to eat only peeled fruits or fruit that you can peel yourself, and cooked veggies, to ensure that you are not getting some bug.

Most of the time we drank the water out of the faucets, but it is probably advisable to have bottled water for night-time drinking.

We had a check list that we used every day, either before leaving on a daily outing in a city, or when we left the hotel.   I would go over the check list and we both would say, “got it.”  My job was to look under the covers and under the bed(s) and check the bathroom, as the last person leaving the room.

Have an awesome time, enjoy every moment and above all, relax and take the ride in stride!    Howard and I are intending to make a round-the-world trip, if and when he retires!
We will then see the places we have not seen yet!

(Martha in Ecuador)

What a serendipitous week this has been!

I was being interviewed on the radio last week, and Martha Iskyan happened to be listening… She emailed me straight afterwards to say that her husband, Howard, is diabetic, and they’ve travelled all over the world – to many of the places we’re going! I immediately asked if I could pick her brain and learn from their experiences. And what a lot of experiences they’ve had!

Here’s what she had to say:

1. Hello! Please could you introduce yourselves – names, ages, how long your husband has been diabetic?

I am Martha Iskyan, 63 years old, married to Howard Iskyan, 69 years old, who’s been diabetic since he was 33 years old.   Diabetic for 35 years now.  We’ve been married for 42 years in September.

2. Where have you traveled?

We have lived in the US for 30 years in 12 different States. 10 years in Madrid, Spain, 2 years in Johannesburg, and 8 years in Cape Town, South Africa.  We have a house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where our daughter, Kara lives.  She is an internal and trauma medical Doctor.

We have traveled in Latin and South America to:  Mexico, Guatamala, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles Islands, (Martha was born and raised on the island), Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

In Europe:  We have an apartment in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where we spend a lot of time.   Lived in Spain for 10 years and saw all of Spain.  Martha lived in Portugal for 4 years.   We have traveled to:  Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, some of the Balkan countries, Greece, Italy, Sardinia and Istanbul (not Turkey itself).

The Near and Far East:   Bahrain.  Martha lived in Tokyo, Japan and Sydney, Australia for 1 year, each country.  We visited Singapore and Thailand and Hawaii in the Pacific.
In Africa:  Gabon, Ghana, DRC, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zaire.

3. What was the most difficult thing about traveling with diabetes?

Adjusting the long term insulin to the time zone changes, especially going East or West across the Oceans.   Howard would set his stopwatch when the plane lifted off and stop the watch when we arrived.  He would adjust his regular watch to the time of the country that we would arrive in.  We paid particular attention to the pilot giving this information, or asked the flight attendant to get this information for us.    The stopwatch would keep track on when the long term insulin had to be taken again.   This meant that it was sometimes at 11am, whereas at home he would inject at 7am local time (because of the 6 hour difference in time, going forward).

Howard had made a daily schedule for each month, on which he recorded each glucometer reading and subsequent insulin amount injected.   This way he could keep a record.   This was for both himself and the Doctor to see a “trend” if there was one of highs and or lows.

Adjusting meals and snacks to somewhat “normal” times, while flying, was a juggle, because meals came right after take-off (whether it was 11am or 2pm), then there would not be anything served for 8 hours!  Each airline has its own peculiarities.

We ALWAYS had sandwiches, fruit, nuts and raisins, cookies and, oh yes, chocolate.  We asked for a small carton of fruit juice every time the flight attendant came around, but kept this in our little “stash” bag.

Howard kept the insulin he needed during the flights and during the day when we were “on the ground” on his body at all times, so that the temperature stayed about the same all the time.  The extra insulin was in the suitcase, some in mine and some in his and some in my backpack and in his backpack.  (I read that you have already thought of that).

Howard had a jacket on that had many pockets, so that he could have his glucometer, insulin, baggie of nuts and raisins, cleaner wipes, or small bottle of gel and a small tube of antibacterial cream, bandaids,  one pair of clean socks, little woolen hat for drafts in airplane and hotel/B&B rooms, 10 paracetemol, (if you feel hot or feverish, take 3 and the fever will go down by the time you arrive at the airport, so that you are not send back with the next returning plane!), passport, inoculations card and money on him.  Do not rely on anyone else to carry “your diabetic stuff”!

We suggest that you buy a packet of protection masks and put one on in the airplane (and remove this before deplaning).  You do not want to raise suspicion that you might be sick, but it will keep you from getting the bugs that are so generously “flying” around the plane.

Try to get seats in the middle of the plane over the wing, and ask just before boarding if you can have 3-4 seats for the 2 of you (if plane is not full) so you can stretch out and put your legs and feet up.   I would massage Howard’s feet regularly on long flights and he would get up and walk and do knee bends in the aisle, every 2 hours. These are just a couple of the things that helped make the trip easier for us…

(Another pic from their travels in Ecuador)

What a wealth of information! And there’s more – this is only half of the interview. Check back tomorrow for more priceless Travelling with Diabetes tips!

It just hit me. This weekend. I was looking at my diary and I saw that we are now a mere SEVEN WEEKS away from the 1st of September! We’re leaving in 7 weeks! How incredible.

So now I am officially excited.

We’ve been working so hard to get everything done in time, that I haven’t really had a chance to think about the reality of what we’re about to do. I’ve been talking about it a lot – I was on Good Hope FM, Radio 2000 and SAfm in the last two weeks alone – but that was all about the idea of it, you know? Not about the actual trip.

We’re going around the world! It is so freaking exciting. So I’ve started prepping already – I sorted through all my jewellery and all my clothes this weekend, and I’ve put aside anything I don’t love. We’re going to have an (indoor) yard sale in a month of all the things we want to get rid of, and invite all our friends over to cart off our unwanted goods. I love doing stuff like that… I already feel more free and ready to take to the road.

Seven weeks! It’s just around the corner…

I’ve got to say, I don’t think I would find it at ALL difficult to settle into the 5 star lifestyle…

We stayed at the One&Only in Cape Town last week (the night before my birthday – best night-before-birthday EVER!) and it was extraordinary. Lavish, luxurious, amazingly comfortable, discreet, beautiful, I would run out of adjectives before I ran out of enthusiasm for it.

Mark and I haven’t really stayed at many 5 star hotels. Our travelling style up till now has been more self-catering cottages than really fancy hotels, but I can tell you right now that I am more than ready for the switch! Of course, we won’t be in fancy hotels the whole time we’re travelling, but if luck is on our side we’ll have a night or two at somewhere incredible in each country. We’ll be reviewing the hotels for Just the Planet – the luxury travel magazine for independent travellers (check them out at www.justtheplanet.com).

For now, we’re just learning the ropes of how best to review hotels, and getting a feel for what is expected at a 5 star place. The review of the One&Only will be up soon – I’ll keep you posted… It was such a treat, really, to be in a place that was entirely focused on comfort, and beauty. The bed was so soft and comfortable, the bath was huge and heavenly, the room looked out over Table Mountain. It honestly felt like a different world.

And yes, it’s a bit of a strange balance to strike – travelling for a cause, to spread the word about diabetes and show that just because you’re diabetic doesn’t mean you can’t follow your dreams – while at the same time staying in these beautiful places and writing reviews of them. But it’s a balance that I think we can strike. Because the whole purpose of this trip is to share the experience of it – and that experience will be wonderful and challenging, luxurious and difficult.

Life as a diabetic is never a smooth ride. You have great days, and awful days, you feel fantastic, and then you feel unwell. Life as a person is like that too, I suppose! And that’s what this trip will be – an illustration of life at its best and worst.
I like that.
I hope you’ll join us on the journey…