Travel Advice: Friends

Nothing compares to traveling with a friend: the joy of discovery, bonding over hardships and success, the laughter, and the tears; but with all the hopes and dreams comes the inevitable disappointment when friends clash and harsh words are spoken. At home you separate to your respective corners for retreat, but inside a car, 10 miles into the bush, or in an unfamiliar town there is no such thing.

There are four necessary skills for traveling with a friend: communication, acceptance, patience, and courtesy. While they seem simple in the thick of travel it will be a Herculean feat to not only remember but use them. Taking the time before, during, and after to communicate will ease tensions and correct any misconceptions. Acceptance and Patience are crucial to a good relationship when traveling with a friend. Throw out the golden rule; it might not bother you if hair is left everywhere, but it might drive your friend insane.

Here are six steps that will go a long way to making that next trip with your friend amazing...

To see the rest of this article visit  ehow.com How to Travel with Friends in Peace

Traveler Tip: Flights

Here are some website I have come across that offer travelers a helping hand with a budget savvy slant.

1. Farecast.com

http://www.bing.com/travel/

Brought to you by bing.com

The reason to use this program is the “Find the dates with lowest fare.” The graph projects what flights will cost with-in a 30 day window. Eye catching arrows let you know when to buy and when to sell, the probability that the price will lower, and an estimation of by how much the price will lower.

Additional features include Map where to travel, displays the flight path of the selected flight; Graph when to travel; and Grid length of travel, lets you choose a flight according to date and amount of time of flight.

Also allows you to compare searches in Expedia, Hotwire, PriceLine, Travelocity, and BookingBuddy for flights. Beware each comes up in its own pop-up window, so you will need to temporarily allow pop-ups.



2. www.Miletracker.com

Brought to you by USAToday.com

Consolidate all your frequent flier programs flights, train, bus, and rental cars all in one secure place.

Links to Deals for cruises, beach getaways, romance getaways, and shop flights.

Cool additional feature Airport guides. If you have never been to the Denver International get basic information about weather, flight delays, and links to concourse maps and Denver Int’l official website. Other sites offer information about parking and fees, sites aren’t uniform in layout but do give access to the same information.

Travelers' Health: Meningitis

A dangerous disease that affects all ages and able to render its victims dangerously ill within hours of infection is an important disease that travelers need to understand. Meningitis most commonly associated with kids and teenagers is also a problem for international travelers. According to the Center for Disease Control Travelers’ Health at any time 5 to 10% of the world’s population may be a carrier for meningitis.

Meningitis is caused by a bacterial or viral infection. The later is more common, far less powerful, and with a shorter recovery time. Antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections but patients recover within 7 to 10 days on their own.

Bacterial meningitis is the deadliest and less common of the two. According to the CDC 10 to 15% of the world’s population carries meningococcal bacteria in the back of their nose and throat. Meningitis transfers when items such as food, utensils, glasses, water bottles, tissues, towels, lip-gloss, and lipstick are contaminated and shared; the bacteria enters the body and heads straight for the meninges surrounding the brain and spinal cord. After infection symptoms can begin anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days; there they cause swelling in the meninges which brings on flu like symptoms of nausea, fever, headache, and pain. As the disease progresses the symptoms become severe with throat swelling, high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, light sensitivity, and mental confusion; if untreated it can lead to serious health problems such as a loss of limb, hearing loss, vision loss, learning disabilities, or mental retardation.

Meningitis is treatable if proper medical care is sought immediately. The most important step to determining treatment for meningococcal disease is defining the type of meningitis. Antibiotics can be used to treat bacterial meningococcal but additional medications might be needed to treat other symptoms. A hospital stay will be determined by the doctor and the severity of the symptoms. People in close contact with those treated for meningitis need to be seen by a Health Care Provider.

In particular, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends vaccination against meningococcal disease to persons who travel to or reside in countries in which meningitis is hyperendemic, especially if exposure to the local population will be prolonged. Those at greater risk are young children, adults over 50, and people with recent upper respiratory illness. Meningococcal disease vaccination is required for travelers to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj when prolonged close contact is necessary. The vaccination is also highly recommended for travelers to the Meningitis belt of Africa during the dry season between December and June.

6 things to do to protect against Meningitis:

1. Vaccinate! Ask your Health Care Provider about the Hib and pneumococcal vaccines for meningitis.

2. Wash hands with soap and water.

3. Well-balanced diets rich in veggies and fruits.

4. Get enough sleep; a strong immune system works better.

5. Exercise regularly to help your immune system stay strong.

6. Don’t share food, utensils, glasses, water bottles, tissues, towels, lip-gloss, or lipstick.

The CDC Travelers’ Health report should be checked before traveling internationally to identify possible health threats such as epidemic s of meningitis.

http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/about/index.html

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/content/diseases.aspx

http://www.meningitis.org/

The Last Remaining Giraffe in West Africa

Take the main road east out of Niamey for 60 kilometers through flat orange savanna with sparse green fauna, clear azure skies, warm clean air, and the only sound the roar of the engine; the scene is eerie and heartbreaking. Unknowing you have crossed the imaginary line into the wild, on your left a giraffe appears on the side of the road.


Defying nature and urbanization the giraffe in Niger continue to survive. Just a hundred years ago giraffes roamed free from Senegal to Cameroon but over time the number shrank from thousands to less than a hundred. Several factors contributed to their demise from poachers and hunters to humans pushing out cutting down their shelter and food. At the end of the 20th century predators such as lions and hyenas ceased to be a threat when they were exterminated by poachers. Now, the last remaining giraffe survive in the area east of Niamey between Koure and Niger’s River in the Dosso region.

The continent of Africa is home to 9 subspecies of giraffe. In West Africa, the subspecies is called Giraffa Camelpardalis Peralta (G.C.P) distinguishable by large orange-brown spots fading into pale white legs. Over the centuries local giraffes were rounded-up and taken to other countries where they breed with other species of giraffe, but local giraffe have remained genetically and ecologically the same due to reproductive isolation. This subspecies will allow scientist to better understand genetics, a step forward for humans and animals. So it is no surprise that when it was learned they were close to extinction conservation groups stepped-in.

Since the intervention of conservation groups there has been a dramatic change in the life expectancy of the giraffe. In 1996, the Association for the Protection of Niger’s Giraffe (L‘ASGN), recorded 50 giraffes in the Koure area. Conservation groups began pushing government for changes in policies stressing their value for eco-tourism and to the global science community. Two years later, the government began making changes, they created polices banning hunting and poaching of giraffes --two major factors in the extinction of predators in the Koure area. The ASGN began a local campaign of habitat restoration, awareness programs, and giraffe support incentives. Signs of success are slow to show in West Africa, but gradually circumstances for the giraffe are improving. A 2008 study recorded 200 giraffe in the area a 12% yearly increase a positive sign for eco-tourism, scientist, locals, naturist, and giraffe.

There is more hope for the West African giraffe. In February 2010, eight giraffe were fitted with state-of-the-art gps trackers in a project funded by the British Conservation Foundation (GCF). This will allow scientist to keep better track of the expanding heard and monitor its movements as they cross over into new frontiers such as Mali - where there are no laws in place to protect them.

Websites:

Giraffe Conservation Foundation http://www.giraffeconservation.org/

 Association pour Sauvegarde des Girafes du Niger (ASGN), http://www.cerza.com//

Birds of Passage

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Black shadows fall
From the lindens tall,
That lift aloft their massive wall
Against the southern sky;

And from the realms
Of the shadowy elms
A tide-like darkness overwhelms
The fields that round us lie.

But the night is fair,
And everywhere
A warm, soft vapor fills the air,
And distant sounds seem near,

And above, in the light
Of the star-lit night,
Swift birds of passage wing their flight
Through the dewy atmosphere.

I hear the beat
Of their pinions fleet,
As from the land of snow and sleet
They seek a southern lea.

I hear the cry
Of their voices high
Falling dreamily through the sky,
But their forms I cannot see.

O, say not so!
Those sounds that flow
In murmurs of delight and woe
Come not from wings of birds.

They are the throngs
Of the poet's songs,
Murmurs of pleasures, and pains, and wrongs,
The sound of winged words.

This is the cry
Of souls, that high
On toiling, beating pinions, fly,
Seeking a warmer clime,

From their distant flight
Through realms of light
It falls into our world of night,
With the murmuring sound of rhyme.