Food Safety: How to Avoid Getting Sick While Traveling

You arrive in Bangkok and you decide that your first adventure after a great relaxing sleep is to fill your hunger both for adventure and your tummy. So off you go to be the next Tony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern of The Travel Channel.  Your destination is the Floating Market. You notice a number of small stalls and boats selling local fruits, produce treats, snacks and oh does that noodle dish look so yummy. And what about that grilled BBQ “whatyoumacallit” on a stick? My gosh it’s cheap, so of course you immediately want to buy-try-savor, right?... BUT WAIT.....Salmonellosis, E.coli, Norwalk virus, intestinal distress, traveler’s tummy, Montezuma’s Revenge, Traveler’s Trot,  the Toltec Two-Step, Delhi Belly, The Runs, TD (Traveler’s Diarrhea) are you listening here! IS ANYONE LISTENING??????

As a Smart Traveler you have got to be wise in your choices. It’s not to say that these local fruits, treats and snacks are all gonna make you sick! But there’s no guarantee that it won’t either. The reaction by one visitor may not affect the same way as in another. Below are some articles I came across that will hopefully assist you in guiding
your decisions to try various street food, colorful drinks and even safety on eating a local fruit. 

You be your best advocate! Princess Cruises may sponsor the shore excursions but understand that they use local guides and operators. So the guides may not think about reminding you about food safety and how to potentially avoid getting sick. 

An added note the photographer had was this notation under his photo which was taken in Bangkok Thailand...a good note to remember: " ...street food looks tempting, 30 degrees Centigrade being on the street for hours at night makes this a risky adventure, when it is healthy, its really tasty, when it isn't healthy, it's time for the emergency room"

  

Food Safety: How to Avoid Getting Sick While Traveling

http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/safety-and-health/food-safety-how-to-avoid-getting-sick-while-traveling

http://zesterdaily.com/world/asian-street-food-safety-tips/

http://www.travelfish.org/feature/235

http://goasia.about.com/od/Food-and-Drink/qt/Street-Food-in-Asia.htm

Photo provide by Flickr.drbutoni

Princess Cruises' PORTS OF CALL

There are Wonders of the World and then there is the Wonders of the Internet!

In our last posting, I had directed you to start by getting yourself registered with Princess Cruises. So you haven’t done so yet, right? Well fear not, as I thought this might be the case for some of you. So, lets ease you into taking a few steps at a time to explore  Princess Cruises website and NOT having to register. As I explored the pages of Princess Cruises: Prepare for Your Cruise, I couldn’t wait to share this source with you:

Yup, you will have to register at some point or pull out your check book and sweet talk Alex to do your work and then maybe she just might assist? ....Well for right now, let’s just start getting you to explore, drill, search and enjoy the journey of the Wonders of the Internet! So grab a drink of your choice, as Roger often says,  and let me lead you to a source for preparation and exploration to some of our Ports of Call via Princess Cruises....Oh by the way, be sure your drink of choice isn’t too close to your computer as Diana found out that her coffee cup hates that laptop screen when it leans and makes her coffee pour all over the tabletop. Yikes, what a mess!

On this blog posting, I have linked for you some of the pages on Princess Cruises where you can explore the various ports of call we will be visiting. Just double click on the highlighted turquoise word or phrases in this blog to get you to the appropriate page.

Also, I want to point out some great information for you to either create a hardcopy notebook or download to your computer folder for reference. Under each port of call page is also a pdf icon which has terrific introduction information to get you started on each of the city/ports of call we will be visiting. So be sure to look for this. 

I leave you with this thought....”A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step” Lao Tzu ...so shall we begin our journey?!

Ports of Call - Asia

Bangkok, (Laem Chanang) Thailand

Singapore, Malaysia

Ho Chi Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Hong Kong, China

Shanghai, China

Nagasaki, Japan

Busan, South Korea

Beijing (Tianjin) China

Dalian, China

Osaka, Japan

Tokyo, (Yokohama) Japan

Anchorage (Whittier), Alaska

Photo provided by Princess Cruises - Find A Cruise

DIANA’s TOP FIVE TRIP THOUGHTS FOR NOW

Embarkation for boarding the Princess Diamond may seem a far distant day in the future. But in reality, your successful vacation getaway begins today, in the preparation and planning. I wanted to get you thinking, excited and most of all prepared so you won’t get caught off guard  So here are my TOP FIVE TRIP THOUGHTS to think about to get you planning and prepared about your upcoming journey!

No 1. PRE-CRUISE & POST CRUISE PLANS

As you are aware, our destination begins in Bangkok Thailand and ends in Beijing, China if you are 16day cruiser or Anchorage, Alaska if you continue on with Roger and I on the 32 day cruise. Either cruise options will have you reflecting on how many additional days you will need in add to your booked cruise. As you try to figure this out, keep in mind that you will be crossing the International Date Line which may make a significant “day” difference. As you journey across the sea to this exotic world,  think about the must see sights, places and things of this area. So this is a good time to think of your bucket list and see if there are places or things that you must do and see while you are there. If you can spare the time my recommendation is to go and do it! 

No. 2. PAPERWORK

If you haven’t found your passport or your birth certificate.....this might be the time to do it. Alex will be asking you for your passport information as we get closer and we will also be needing Visas in some of the countries we will be visiting. So know where these important documents are and nows a great time to check the expiration date on your passport!

No. 3. SHORE EXCURSIONS

In addition to the sailing days of the cruise, Princess Diamond will be visiting a number of Ports O’ Call and you can count on Princess Cruise will be offering a number of shore excursions for you to consider. So become familiar with the visiting ports, know what you would like to see and do, consider your activity level and ability, budget your costs and yes there is a time limit so pick wisely as unfortunately we can’t have it all. 

FYI...Princess Cruise on-line has shore excursions posted for your viewing. Alex is also working on some Pre-Cruise and Post Cruise Excursions that she hopes to offer us after her research, so stay tuned. 

No. 4. STUDY GROUP

Roger and I will be hosting a Study Group for those that might be interested. We did this for the Mediterranean Cruise and it was a great success as well as a good reason to get together. I understand that since our guests are not all located in the Southern California area you all won’t easily be able to join our particular group. So may I offer up a recommendation that you think about who your travel companions are and start your own group either face to face or use today’s technology and share, share, share via the internet. We will look at starting our study group come this Fall 2012, so more information will be forthcoming.

No. 5. AIR TRAVEL

Yes come April 2013, we will all meet and embark on the Princess Diamond in Thailand. Specifically, Laem Chabang, Thailand. This is the port where we will board the Diamond Princess. Some of you may choose to book your own air flights, others will look at using Princess Cruise Line Air and still others will be looking at me and saying what are you doing? One of the joys for me in working with Alex is that she truly knows Roger and me! Our choice is to get to our destination safely, make our timeline without worrying and to be as cost effective as possible so that we have more money to spend else where whenever possible. I will be asking Alex once again to help us out on searching for a way to get us to Asia and back with all these criteria. So think about what you would like to do about your flight arrangements as in the upcoming days ahead we will be touching on this topic and yes, inquiry minds will want to know what you would like to do.... so start thinking, preparing, planning and having your decisions and answers ready to go!    

Photo provided by Flickr: Gwen's River City Images