July 29, 2009
By JJ Virgin PhD, CNS, Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Authority
1) Repeat after me: “No Red-Eyes.” Unless you are flying in your own private jet for more than 9 hours you will have a bad nights’ sleep and start your vacation or work week off on a bad note. It always sounds like a great idea until you are actually living it. Instead, I turn the plane into my own personal office and bring all of my writing and reading that I need to catch up on (I take extra batteries and plugs too) and fly during my most productive hours. I use my iPOD to create my office “walls.” This way once I land I can immediately shift into “escape” mode now that I have gotten my work done.
2) If your travel includes a time zone change, start shifting the day or two before by altering your bedtime, wake time, and meal times by an hour. Use Thin Sticks (my favorite fool-proof all natural appetite suppressant and cravings crusher) to help your appetite cooperate with you.
3) Pack the Bullet. I travel with my Magic Bullet Blender
and carry sandwich baggies prepared with a blend of my Olympian Labs Prescribed Nutrition shake stirred with some added fiber. I’ve learned to include a few extra baggies in case I end up missing a meal somewhere in transit or if I show up late at my hotel and want to have a shake instead of a whole meal. I also carry EmergenC™ Packets with me to kick up my immune system and keep my stress at bay as well as some of my favorite protein energy bars so that I never get stranded and fall victim to the airline “snack pack” out of desperation.
4) Plan your workouts. Whenever possible I workout prior to getting on the plane, especially on long flights. If the flight is too early I schedule in a workout when I arrive. I always make sure that the hotel where I am staying has a fitness center (as opposed to the dreaded fitness room containing a lone treadmill and a broken tv) or access to a nearby gym. If all else fails you will find me in the stairwell doing my bursts. If I am driving I bring my Xiser along. It weighs under 20 pounds so some of my male clients actually pack it; I unfortunately have far too many shoes that I MUST pack to be able to squeeze it in….
5) Carry your safe filtered water bottle along but remember to empty it BEFORE you go through the security line! Security will confiscate it… I’ve learned this one personally. I have also found that most hotel gyms have a water cooler so you can always locate a great source of clean filtered water for bottle refills, and hence yet another reason to make a visit there!
© 2009 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. JJ Virgin PhD, CNS is a celebrity nutrition and fitness expert, author, public speaker and media personality. She is internationally recognized as the authority in overcoming weight loss resistance and trains other health care professionals in her program. She is the president of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, www.nanp.org.
If you are frustrated with your body and feel like nothing you are doing is working, take her free quiz “Are You Weight Loss Resistant?” at JJVirgin.com and receive her monthly LEANzine loaded with insider information on fighting fat and getting lean for life!
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
July 18, 2009
Last weekend I traveled by a different mode than normal. While I usually fly most weeks, last week I walked …. and walked . . . and walked. I participated in a 39-Mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco. There are no Avon Walks in Orlando, so for the past two years I have flown to a different city to participate. I wasn't the only one to fly in — there were walkers from 42 states! My girlfriend Laura walked in this event as well, and she's from Montana. So Laura and I count for two of the 42 states. 
The walk was 26 miles on Saturday, starting at Golden Gate Park, heading through the Presidio, over the Golden Gate Bridge (totally covered by fog in the morning), down and around into Sausalito, up into Mill Valley, and then back again to end at the Presidio. On Sunday, the remaining 13 miles were in the hilly streets of San Francisco. There were several streets that I didn’t think I’d make it to the top, but I did. There were people cheering us on at many locations throughout the walk, which kept up the motivation to keep on walking. There were about 2,800 walkers with $6million being raised in the fight against breast cancer. 
Pictures of the trek, starting with Friday’s registration and ending at the closing ceremony on Sunday are at http://tinyurl.com/AvonWalkSF2009. Click the Slideshow button (upper right side) and you’ll see the story of this weekend.
Laura and I are all signed up for next year’s Avon Walk in Washington D.C. on May 1 & 2. We’d love for you to join us!
Posted by Carol Margolis under Giving Back |
July 14, 2009
According to an article in LA Weekly, a study commissioned by Dell found that 12,000 laptops are lost each week at U.S. airports. Los Angeles leads the pack with 1,200 laptops reported lost or stolen at LAX weekly. Incredibly, most laptops are left behind at security checkpoints, with only 33 percent ever being recovered (17 percent before the flight, 16 percent after). This sounds amazingly high! My first question is “How can someone not realize that their weight of their bag has gone down since exiting security?” Unless you’re carrying a small NetBook, I would think that the weight difference of a missing laptop would be noticeable, whether you’re using a backpack, a shoulder bag or even a roller bag laptop bag. But maybe with the rush of getting your shoes back on, your belt back in place, and your liquids back in your suitcase, I suppose it is possible to not realize your laptop is still in a bin (or lifted by some quick sticky-fingers).
Whether the study’s results are really true about 12,000 laptops lost each week is true or not, it is a fact that some laptops get forgotten at the security belt, are picked up innocently by someone with a similar laptop, or outright stolen. So what are some ideas for keeping your laptop safe and to ensure it gets back in your laptop tote once through airport security?
- Attach a business card to the bottom of your laptop and include your cell phone number. If you are traveling through an international airport, you may also want to your international dialing code along with any translations of your name and/or phone number (such as into the Chinese character set).
- Attach a bright label to the top of your laptop so it is easier to see once it’s inside the dull gray bin – a piece of pink duct tape works well and does not rip off easily (yes, duct tape comes in many colors now!). Many of us put bright colored tags on our luggage so we can spot them coming around the luggage belt, so think of doing something similar for your laptop.
- When placing your laptop through the security machine, put your shoes on the belt immediately after the laptop. You may be challenged to always remember your laptop, but you will most likely never forget your shoes!
- To keep your laptop within your sight (as well as your purse), only walk through the security machine yourself once your bins are going through the x-ray belt. Try to avoid sending your laptop and purse way in advance of you getting to the other side of the belt. If you are delayed in getting through the security machine, then keep an eye on your bins as they come out the belt.
- Create a little ditty to remember your valuables. Here’s something silly I just created:
Remember to collect my purse, laptop, liquids and shoes,
Or else I’ll be letting out a curse and be feeling the blues.
Or remember the first letter of each item: PLLS = purse, laptop, liquids, shoes.
My husband has done this with the items he takes out the door each morning on his way to work, and this method has served him well for years.
- If you do realize you forgot your laptop or any other item while you’re still at the airport, head back to TSA as fast as you can (assuming you have time before your flight leaves). Or call the TSA Lost and Found office for the airport that you are at. See Lost and Found by State or Territories Served by TSA.
- As a preventative measure, consider investing in Lojack for your laptop. Lojack is software that will help secure your documents and recover you computer in case it is stolen. You can buy a 3-year license for $63.99. But do this now. It will be too late once your laptop has already disappeared.
- For extra security, consider Spiye.com. This software runs in the background and takes photos with your computers webcam ever few minutes. If it gets misplaced, you can see who is using your computer and their IP address to help track it down. They have a free version to try it out and a paid version for more control over the program.
- Use a recovery service such as Boomerangit.com. You register the items you do not want to lose (it works for anything from laptops to cell phones and bikes), someone finds your item (Lost & Found, Good Samaritan, or the police), calls the number on the tag and arranges to get your positions back!
Hopefully these tips on keeping tabs on your laptop will help reduce the number of missing laptops from airports each week.
I’d love to hear your tips on protecting your laptop. And if you’ve been unfortunate in losing your laptop or having it stolen, share what happened. Lessons learned, along with best tips, help all of us traveling women in protecting our valuables.
Posted by Carol Margolis under Safety |
July 10, 2009
We just posted a new article on Smart Women Travelers, rounding up the latest and greatest iPhone Travel Apps. Let us know which ones are your favorites!
Travel Apps For The iPhone
Posted by Carol Margolis under Web/Tech |
July 7, 2009
This morning’s trek through Security in Orlando (MCO) was horribly slow. Though for most travelers, this is probably typical. I have been very spoiled by the Clear Lanes, which has allowed me fast and easy transport through security for the past three years. In airports without the Clear lanes, I have been fortunate to always find a lane for elite passengers. So no Clear lane and no elite line leaves the frequent traveler at MCO with no perks of speedy access any longer. The signs for Expert Traveler are not seen until the time when you’re already grabbing the bins for your shoes, etc. so that was of no help to keep the families with strollers into family lines. To add insult to injury, my bag was gone through with a fine-tooth comb – the same bag with the same contents that has always gone through without incidence before. This should have nothing to do with whether I used my Clear card or not, but it added more pain to the morning’s TSA passage. Additional time it took to get through Security: 30 minutes. And this being a non-peak Tuesday travel morning.
Please Clear Lanes … come back to Orlando! Or Continental, if you’re reading, please work with other MCO airlines and establish an Elite lane.
Posted by Carol Margolis under Travel |
July 2, 2009
As we are now in summer vacation season, sharing a great idea from Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul books and The Success Principles, seems appropriate. And Jack was happy to let me share this idea with you.
His idea is for a family to create a Memory a Year, a memory so big and memorable that your family will remember it forever (it works with friends also). This memory could be on an incredible vacation idea or an unforgettable local event and it doesn't need to be a huge financial burden … just make it big and outrageous and memorable! The example that Jack used was of a family who planned a car trip across the country. They decided to pull the car over whenever they saw a body of water and jump in! Out of the car they'd hop and into the water they'd jump. Whether it was a pond, river, lake, or pool, the family jumped in. How fun, and what a great memory! Since I live in Florida with countless alligator-inhabited lakes, this wouldn't be my first idea of a great plan, but what the memory is doesn't matter. What matters is that an outrageous memory for each year is created, a memory that you can reminisce about forever. These memories can be made with your spouse, kids, girlfriends, or anyone you'd like to reminisce with.
Much of the fun is in the planning of the outrageous memory. How fun it would be each week to give the kids an assignment to come up with ideas, start the planning, get the maps put together, etc.
When Jack shared this story, I immediately thought of how wonderful an idea this was for traveling wives and moms. The guilt we load up on our shoulders over not being with our family at all times is heavy. Yet this idea is so easy and so fun and such a great way to focus on the anticipation and carry-through of an annual event, the guilt load may possibly lighten up. My adult kids and I can reminisce over past vacations or family events, but hearing this idea makes me wish I could relive the years when my kids were younger so that we'd have special great memories from each year.
Some ideas to get you started….
- A charity walk for the entire family to train, fundraise and walk in. Get t-shirts for everyone in the family.
- A trip to a city based on the alphabet … Year 1, select a city beginning with the letter 'A', the next year select a city starting with 'B', etc …
- A different mode of transportation each year (hot air balloon, helicopter)
- A friends-weekend with several couples, with lots of game-playing with our childhood favorites (Parcheesi or Twister, anyone?)
Be sure to put together a photo album (online or print) for each year's outrageous memory. Use the photos in family calendars that you create for the new year. Have 'reminiscing' talks frequently to bring back the memorable feelings, and start planning the next Memory a Year!
Thanks, Jack, for letting us share this story with our members.
Traveling women, please share your stories with us of your outrageous annual memories!
Jack Canfield is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar brand Chicken Soup for the Soul. The New York Times #1 best-selling book series has more than 200 titles in print and over 100 million copies sold in 41 languages. As an internationally recognized leader in personal development and peak performance strategies, Jack has spent the last 35 years teaching millions of people how to up-level everything they do. His bestselling book, The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be contains dozens of the most powerful secrets to success used by top achievers from all walks of life.
Posted by Carol Margolis under Relationships |
July 1, 2009
A new resource has been posted to Smart Women Travelers under the "Travel-Friendly Clothes, Shoes and Accessories" category focusing on Road ID. Road ID was created on the concept that active people should wear ID as part of their gear when participating in outdoor activities. Keep all of your vital information on you such as contact phone numbers, blood type and known allergies.
Keep an eye on Smart Women Travelers' Online Resources for a constantly updating list of great finds on the internet.
Posted by Carol Margolis under Safety |
