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…

It might look all relaxed and glamorous, this Round-the-World trip planning, but let me tell you – it isn’t!

Mark and I have one million things to do before we leave. Literally. One million. We wrote a To Do List the other night (at my insistence – he’s not quite as fond of making lists as I am!) and it was almost overwhelming how much there is to be done by the beginning of September. Turns out leaving real life for 9 months requires rather a lot of foreplanning…

Like what? I hear you ask.
Well.
There’s the trip planning, to begin with. Deciding on countries, deciding on cities, deciding on dates and modes of transport, costing everything out and making really tough decisions about what we’ll see this time, and what we’ll regrettably have to save until next time.

Then there’s the life planning. Selling the car, renting the flat, clearing the flat out of all our worldly goods, finding somewhere to keep those worldly goods we’re not quite ready to let go of, and ensuring that things like insurance and monthly payments are taken care of. And did I mention visas?

And THEN there’s all the day to day stuff. Somehow, between sending out and following up on sponsorship proposals, doing publicity, getting the word out about the trip and making sure that we are as prepped as we can be, Mark and I seem to have new full-time jobs!

And did I mention that we need to become much more video and web-savvy before we leave?

Now that I’ve garnered a little sympathy, though, I must be honest – we are loving every second of this stage. We’re crazy busy, it’s true, and in front of our computers waaaay too much (it’s 7pm and we’re both still hard at work) but it is such a JOY to know that what we are planning is going to turn into something that has a life of its own, and that in a few short months we are going to be having the adventure of our lives…

Till then? Time to get back to that List of One Million Things To Do.

Now you can plan one! Whether for a real life adventure, or to plan a dream trip (that will be more likely to come true if you actually have a specific route in mind!)

How? Good question. This time yesterday I wouldn’t have been able to tell you… But then I discovered a magical little tool called ‘Round-the-World Booking Tool’ on One World – www.oneworld.com

I was actually a little hesitant to click on it in case it didn’t turn out to be what I’d hoped for… but it was! And more. You see, when you’re planning a round-the-world trip there are all kinds of terms and conditions and confusing rules and regulations that can make your head ache – you’re allowed 16 flight segments in 5 continents, but you’re only allowed to fly in one direction (East to West or West to East) and you’re only allowed a certain number of flight segments within each continent. You’re also only allowed to fly the routes that the airlines in that alliance fly (which isn’t too much of a bother with One World – they’ve got everything from British Airways to Cathay Pacific to the LAN group in South America).

Still, when you’re something of a control freak (as I am – had you noticed?) and you really just want to get your flight path organised, the whole thing can seem a little overwhelming.

Which was why I was so thrilled (really thrilled, down to the tips of my toes) when I discovered this Round-the-World booking tool. You type in the cities you want to go to, and then choose your flights and your itinerary is built in real time… Really freaking cool.

I’ll keep you posted as I go along with how easy it is to follow through on the process, but for now – go and dream! At www.oneworld.com

So I’ve just returned from a 3 week solo trip to the USA, to publicise my novel, Strange Nervous Laughter, being released over there. Very exciting, let me tell you! I don’t think I’ll ever get over the thrill of seeing my book on bookstore shelves…

In many ways, though, this trip felt like a test run for our Round the World trip. It was my first time travelling overseas on my own with diabetes and my first time crossing time zones with diabetes, and I really wasn’t sure how I would feel. I am (very) happy to report that I felt great! The whole time. It was no problem adjusting to new types of food, no problem taking long plane trips (except for the discomfort of having to sleep sitting up!) and in general I felt really healthy and full of energy. What a relief!

It was also a test run for me to see how I feel about travelling. Knowing that my next trip will be over ten times as long as this one, I kept checking to see how excited I was about it. The verdict? Unbelievably excited! There is something so exhilarating about travelling, it makes me feel really alive and open to everything around me. I didn’t realise how much of a routine real life was until I had 3 weeks away from it… and it has done nothing but wet my appetite for our Big Adventure later this year.

Of course, a lot of that was because I was travelling in comfort. I’ve been to the States and back many times – I used to study there – and every single time I went, packing was a nightmare. Either my bag would break, or I’d have to leave half the stuff I wanted behind, or I’d pull a muscle dragging my suitcase through the airport. Seriously – you name a luggage affliction, I’ve had it!

This time, though… what a breeze! I gave my very fancy (very beautiful) Samsonite Aeris a run for its money, and it more than rose to the challenge. Somehow my stuff kept multiplying (possibly because everything was on sale!) and every time I had to pack up and go, it was more and more of a challenge to fit everything in. But fit it in I did! The beautiful thing about this suitcase is that it’s solid, but it can also expand. Don’t ask me how this works, but it does… And the locks are so secure and tight that I didn’t have to worry about it bursting open in the middle of the airport (or, worse yet, on the New York City subway!) Of course, those miracle Vac Bags helped a lot, too. If there’s one thing I would recommend every girl to take with her on holiday, it’s Vac Bags. No matter how many dresses you buy, they’ll fit in your suitcase if you have these bags. I didn’t really believe the hype until I saw how dramatically they reduced the space my clothes took up. Now I’m permanently indebted to them.

So now I’ve returned, and although my suitcase is looking slightly travel-worn, I’m sure she has many years of adventures in her yet.

What did I learn from this trip? A number of things, actually.
* Diabetically, I’m going to be fine.
* I can’t wait to start travelling around the world.
* And, perhaps most importantly, I have to leave at least half a suitcase for all the temptations I’m going to run into on the way!

Had anyone told me how much work went into a round-the-world trip, I would have scoffed at them. ‘Come on!’ I would have said, with my disbelieving face on, ‘It’s a holiday! How hard can it be to plan?’

The answer? Very.
Or rather, not very hard, but very complicated. And thrilling. And unbelievably exciting. It’s just that a round-the-world trip is a many-headed beast… And when you decide to do an Uber-Round-The-World-Trip (note the capital letters!) that not only encompasses 18 countries but also aims to spread positive awareness about diabetes, well, that many-headed beast grows a few more heads.

What do these heads look like? Some of them are fairly factual – compiling lists of Tips for Travelling Diabetics, and Diabetes Resources. Some are purely whimsical – writing out an expanded, evocative itinerary that makes me want to pack my bag and leave right away. And some are just about the planning – how exactly are we going to get from our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City (in Vietnam) to a home stay in Sapa? The answer? Take a train to Danang, then another one to Hue. From Hue travel to Hanoi, and then on to Sapa, all by bus (I think… I have it written down somewhere!)

But perhaps I’m getting a little ahead of myself. You don’t even know where we’re going yet, do you? Allow me to expand, over the next couple of blog posts… In fact, I’d recommend brewing yourself a cup of tea or coffee, and getting comfy – this could take some time!