Stan, Clarence, and the Health Chatter team chat about the effects of traveling on health.Join the conversation at healthchatterpodcast.comBrought to you in support of Hue-MAN, who is Creating Healthy Communities through Innovative Partnerships.More about their work can be found at http://huemanpartnership.org/
Good morning, everybody in Health Chatter World. Welcome to today's show. We're going to be talking about traveling and health. What are the things you need to keep in mind when you travel? And also the benefits of traveling on our health. And there are some benefits and maybe not some for some people. So we'll be talking about all of that. We've got a great crew, Manny Levine-Wolfe.
Aaron Collins, Deandra Howard, Matthew Campbell, and Sheridan Nygaard are all great behind-the-scenes people that keep this show really moving for us, do our research, our production, our marketing, so thank you to you guys. Dr. Barry Baines is our medical advisor, provides insight from a medical lens, and we've really greatly appreciated his insights since he's joined the Health Chatter team.
And then, of course, there's Clarence Jones, who's co-host with me on these shows. We do a lot of chatting on air and off air. And it's been a pleasure. So thanks to everybody. Human Partnership is our sponsor for our Health Chatter shows. Thank you to them. Great community health organization. Does wonderful things in the community. Check them out at humanpartnership.org.
Check us out at healthchatterpodcast.com. Feel free to leave questions, reviews, ideas on our website. We would really appreciate the insight. So thank you to you as well.
So today's subject is health and travel, which it's kind of interesting because in my estimation, during the COVID pandemic, when it was at its height, there were really travel implications as it related to health, and in this case, COVID, And it was interesting, all the different things that you had to be aware of when you were traveling. But there are other things as well.
So our crew is going to be talking about travel and health today. Every one of us has done some traveling, whether it's in the United States or overseas. And it really is interesting when, if you just think about packings, You know, when you pack and get ready to go, you know, what kind of health-oriented things are in your mind? You know, Barry, you're probably a good one on this one.
You know, what kind of health things do you keep in mind when you're getting ready to go to wherever you're going to go?
Yeah, I think that top of mind for me is sort of the first division in the tree is are you traveling domestic or are you traveling overseas? Some things are common to both. I think the biggest issue when you're traveling overseas from really a purely health perspective is are you going someplace where you need immunizations before you travel? And I know that certainly the Twin Cities area.
We have international travel clinics because it's sort of hard to keep up on all the vaccines that you might be needing if you're going overseas. And so that's extremely important because the one thing you don't want to do is be getting on a plane, getting off the plane, and then being asked for your immunization status on this, that, or the next thing. And and then they don't let you in.
Although realistically, what's more of an issue is really to protect yourself when you're traveling, particularly with third world countries, and depending where you're actually going to be going. So I think the vaccination thing is an important thing. And I just encourage people,
to talk to their doctor or call the international travel clinics that are, you know, that are in town to find out about that. And maybe we could just get some resources for folks so they can save them some investigatory work to try and find out.
You know, it's like when you go overseas, you know, it's one thing to be vaccinated. And then how do you show proof that you have been? So to be honest with you, it certainly was heightened during COVID where you had an actual card with you that indicated your vaccinations. But other vaccinations, like I can tell you right now, I don't have any kind of a card or a certificate. Right.
Yeah. There are some apps. Actually, my daughter, who works for the health department, put me on to one thing. It's called Docket. Yeah. And it keeps track of all the immunizations that you get because they're all reported. You know, your immunizations are, you know, reported in. And so that's one easy way to to do that. So that was just the one thing that that just. you know, more of an aside.
We're not going to be getting into that, you know, I don't think. But I think from a purely health perspective, the other piece that affects regardless of where you travel is if you're taking medications, which, you know, certainly get to my age and probably, you know, speak for some of the hosts that are here. And it's very important to make sure
Number one, that you have all the medications that you need for the time you're going to be away. Also, I read these tips like everybody else. Don't just pack it in your luggage that's going to go on the plane because you might be going one place and your luggage might be going to another place.
The importance of keeping medications that are really close to you and your personal belongings that are going to be with you all the time. And then I just divide out things. And this is regardless of whether you're traveling internationally or domestically. Its impact on health is both, you know, good and bad, and it's physical and mental.
And those, I think, are when I look at the research that we have, it sort of breaks it down, you know, into those kind of things. So, you know, on the On the physical side, we have impacts of how many time zones that you're going through.
And it really, even though we all think we might be great travel warriors, when it comes down to it is every time zone that you travel through has an impact on your sleep pattern and our circadian rhythms or bio rhythms, as it were. And it could make you feel like you're dragging
for days and that's and that's true um and so sort of having a handle on how many time zones you're going to go through and how you might be able to mitigate um you know that whole thing because you go to a place and you're going to be staying for a week you don't want to be spending you know five of those seven days like with your eyes half closed right as you as you go through and then the other piece is again i'm just kind of you know putting these out there high level
hopefully high level enough, and then we can pick up the conversation threads on those. Traveling is stressful. It's very stressful because a lot of what we're doing is out of our control, particularly transportation, airports. We know how that's changed. How many things do I have to take off to get through security? Make sure that I have my ID correctly.
Overseas, in addition to immunizations, it's your passport, things like that. And there are lots of things you could just Google for travel tips that oftentimes give you a list of things that are very, very important, which can come in handy. I know I went overseas. One of the tips was if you're traveling overseas and you have a passport, make a copy of your passport.
Oh, and by the way, you know, like the Xerox copy. And by the way, don't keep it with your passport. And I was I was overseas. This is about 13, 14 years ago on a vacation to Portugal. And a couple of days before we left, I lost my passport. And I had to go to the embassy. But fortunately, I did make a copy of my I had a copy and I wasn't keeping it with my passport.
And so it, it, it relieved, it was very stressful losing your passport, but it was a relief that I had everything that was needed so that I could get a temporary one.
Um, you know, I, I keep thinking about, um, you know, overall, you know, like when, for instance, if you go overseas and, um, and Barry, I'm sure you can respond to that there. When, when people take medications, um, you know, you can call it medication management, but think of it this way.
It's like when you go over, you know, five, six, seven, eight time zones, and you're supposed to take your medication in the morning and in the evening. Okay. So, you know, based on your experience, what do you tell patients to do? What do you tell them to do in order to I guess, adjust when you take medication? Or do you keep on the same time frame so your body doesn't get totally out of whack?
Yeah. And I'll be honest, I don't exactly know what the current, you know, what's the most up-to-date, you know, advice on that kind of thing from a common sense perspective. Because you're going to be traveling somewhere, a lot of time zones away, but you're going to be coming back
I think I tend to just weigh in, again, just as a health chatter, you know, co-host and advisor here, is just keeping to that regular schedule is the best thing. That being said, though, you know, when your days are all sudden or nights and vice versa, that can be difficult. So if you have complicated medication management schedules and stuff,
I think it's certainly worth having a conversation with your provider.
Yeah, that's a great idea.
Or physician to sort of map out a plan. But again, the thing is, one way to relieve the stress is to have a plan of what you're going to do. And typically, if you're a little off for a few days on a medication, most of the time that's not going to be You know, the end, you know, the end of the world overall.
And it's still but again, to relieve that stress of, oh, my gosh, what am I going to do now? It's I'm supposed to take this morning. Now it's night. Having a plan for that is one way to relieve that stress. Yeah.
So, you know, I here's another tidbit. And I ran into this problem. I was just going out east. This was about a month or so ago. A friend of mine drops me off at the airport. I said, you know, I said, Forrest, thanks for the lift. I walked into the, and he took off. I walked into the airport and I realized I did not have my mobile phone. I left my mobile phone at home.
It's just like, do you have an idea how much you are dependent on that little device to in order to navigate God knows what. And so this is what I highly recommend. In your wallet, have a card with five or six phone numbers on it. Because to be honest with you, I don't even remember phone numbers anymore. Everything is, you know, speed dialed, etc.
And what you should know is when you go to the airport, And if you run into that problem, like I did, if you go to the information booth at the airport, they have a regular phone and you can call somebody. OK, they also all airports have courtesy phones as well. But you have to know which number you're going to call. And if you don't remember them, you're in trouble.
So I recommend to everybody out in the listening audience in your wallet or in your purse that Put just a small little card with three or four phone numbers on it in case you run into a problem like I did. Otherwise, it's very stressful. Okay, Clarence, I know you've gone to many, many places. Here, there, and everywhere.
Yeah, well, let's talk about the phone situation. That recently happened to me. I was traveling, and I recognized it as I had gone through the gates. Yeah. And my wife actually got a ticket trying to get my phone to the information desk. So I appreciate that. So I do appreciate those tips. Yeah.
Because it was stressful because I thought about I'd have to have the bed answer something to me the next day. But, you know, Barry, listen to you. I realize that in the Stone Age, when it comes to thinking about medicines and preparation. Now, I'll immediately go get my toothbrush, my toothpaste, make sure I got some deodorant. You know, all those kind of things, all the basic kinds of things.
I'll take my meds. And unfortunately or fortunately, I have my own way of doing my scheduling, which may or may not be helpful for anybody but for myself. I think as long as I'm doing it, I'm doing it. You know what I mean? But I do appreciate the fact that you talked about planning.
Because we do get into those situations where if we don't think about what we're doing or where we're going or the circumstances, because there's not a CVS on every corner. So you have to really think about that. And even though we're traveling domestically, or you're traveling domestically and not internationally, I still think it's important, based on what you're saying, I'm going to do it now.
Thank you, Barry, for encouraging me. I've got a better job of planning.
Yeah, and the thing is, there's the idea of having a travel checklist. There's a book that was written called The Checklist Manifesto. Okay. And actually, it was written by Atul Gawande, who wrote Being Mortal. I think many of you, you know, hopefully our listeners have heard that's a fantastic book to be reading as well. But the point is having a checklist is just to help you not forget anything.
And you know, the reality is, The airline pilots that fly our planes, they know how to fly the planes, but before they could do anything, they have to go through this exhaustive checklist. Surgeons in operating rooms have to go through a checklist before they operate so that, oh, it was the left leg, not the right leg. It's just one of those things, just so that you don't forget,
and uh having that checklist um makes it very very easy and you can always add to it usually you can't take things off of those checklists because our lives tend to get more complicated over over time uh but having that checklist is just a great way to know like i say that you pack your you know you also want to pack your toothbrush and toothpaste yeah exactly as well as uh is everything.
I went on a trip.
You know, it's funny. When I travel, I also, I put on a different kind of set of glasses as well. It's one thing, the medications that you might normally take and you need, okay? But then you also start thinking about things that you might need, okay? So for instance, you know, what if I get an upset stomach, you know, because of, you know, differences in food or water?
What if I'm having a hard time sleeping? you know, all these kinds of, and there are certain things you can take, you know, even, you know, I take like Tums with me, you know, in case, you know, I get an upset stomach or something, you know, so at least I have something.
Pepto-Bismol, Band-Aids, you know, which sound like simple little things, but, you know, you get a cut, you know, oh my God, I'm in the middle of nowhere here. Where in the hell can I get a simple Band-Aid? Well, okay. Keep those in your dop kit or your travel bag. But simple little things that you don't necessarily think of all the time. Like, for instance, I carry Band-Aids in my wallet.
That's because I have grandkids. Because everywhere they go, they're falling down and getting a scratch here or there.
You know what, Santa, I think that's great. Because I think that somebody mentioned a little bit earlier, I remember traveling overseas. And I walked out of the hotel, and I saw people that I knew who they were. But I couldn't respond to them. I mean, it was like I had always heard of this thing called jet lag, and I had been traveling back and forth. I had never experienced that.
So jet lag was not a part of my packing plan. But I do think you're right. You do have to think about what, if you get into those kind of situations, what can you do?
Or like if you're going on a plane, again, let's just talk overseas just for a second here. It's like what's going to help you sleep, literally sleep? So some people will put a mask on or some people will have noise-canceling earphones so they don't hear any noise around them when they're trying to just get some sleep.
So the issue is, or the important point to take away from this, is know yourself. Before you go, and Barry, to your point, it's like a little bit of a checklist above and beyond what you normally would take with you, you know, medications, et cetera, that can help in particular situations. So I can reflect on one thing. I went to a conference once out in Denver, and God, I got food poisoning.
And so I remember... walking into the pharmacist, into a pharmacy there, and I said to the pharmacist, I think I got food poisoning. And his response to me was, if you think you have food poisoning, you do. And so it's like knowing...
you know, quickly what to do in order to get assistance, you know, when these kinds of things happen to you that you don't normally experience maybe when you're, when you're home. So I want to switch gears a little bit about the pros and cons of traveling and our health. Okay. So, um, you know, for all of us, you know, Maddie, Aaron, you can chime in too, because I know you guys have traveled.
What are, what are some of the pros and cons that, that you've experienced? You know, Clarence, you can start us off on that. What do you think the pros are for, for traveling?
Well, that's a really good question, Stan. I, um, um, Let me think about that a little bit. Let me think about that a little bit.
All right. So for me, you know what it is? It's like, what are you traveling for? What's the purpose of your traveling? Is the traveling for personal reasons, personal vacation or what have you? Or is it business related? And it creates, at least for me, it created a different psyche in my head.
Okay, it's like, okay, I'm going on this particular trip or wherever it is to truly relax, do something different, et cetera. Whereas a business-related or work-related travel puts you in a completely different way. Oh, my God, do I have to give a presentation? And, you know, it's like it puts you all in a different kind of mindset and
Let me jump in real quick. Now that I've recaptured my thoughts here. Okay, go ahead. I think the whole idea for me, the pros of traveling really is life experiences. It really helps to, for me, to have a deeper appreciation of many times where I'm at, where I'm currently at. It gives me a chance to look at other things. But I do think it's important to to travel.
Because I think so many times people have a worldview that's only 10 square blocks or five miles. And with that kind of, I'm not going to call it a distorted perception, but with that kind of limited perception, it can cause you to misread so many things that are going on around you and that's going through your sphere.
And I have always been a strong advocate that when it comes to traveling, proof of traveling, young kids should travel to foreign countries or different places when they're eight, nine, 10. And in some cases, say they're two or three weeks or more. for them to really appreciate what they have. So that would be my restored comment about pros of traveling.
Barry, what about you? The pros and cons that you have run into.
Yeah, I think the biggest pro for this is that being in a new setting really helps you to see things in a different way. And it's very stimulating for the brain from a creative perspective, you know, seeing new scenery. And, you know, certainly I'll talk about traveling domestically here. There are parts of our country and our state.
It's not like, you know, travel has to be always going on a plane. But very often, in particular, when we connect with nature, And we have lots of natural, stupendous, awesome things, you know, in our parks and rivers and mountains and, you know, in this country. And it really is very stimulating to the brain and helps you think about, you know, things differently. It's very restorative.
So like, you know, if you're stressed out, sometimes that break helps. I think to build on Clarence's piece, it helps expand your worldview as you get out of your neighborhood. And that to me always ranks at the top of the list because oftentimes when you travel, you have new experiences, even experiences that are challenging, sort of being able to solve problems in a new setting
just expands your brain's ability. And so for me, that's always been the number one thing is how it really gets your brain going, which ultimately results in more energy to do things and more productivity in general.
You know, I can relate to that. I I recently went on a road trip with my pooch, and we went to a couple of places. I'll just tell you two of them. One was in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which was the original site of nuclear science, the Manhattan Project. And then the other site that we went to, another one was a battle at Fredericksburg.
And when you just stand there and you just reflect for just a moment or two, what has transpired on the spot that you're standing, it really, it really takes you to a different place in your head. And you can't, you can't do that just, you know, from your home, you know, Another place was the Flight 93 memorial site where the plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
You stand there and you realize, oh, my God, what has happened or what happened here. And those are healthy things. Those are healthy thoughts to have. And you realize that there are sometimes things in your life that that are much, much bigger than you, and here it happened. And so there are some real advantages to doing those types of things.
On the other side of the equation, for some people, traveling is incredibly stressful. I'll give you a story on that one. Just last week, I picked my sister and brother-in-law up. They were flying back from Hartford, Connecticut, and their plane was delayed three hours. They were on the plane for an hour. They were supposed to have gotten home, you know, whatever.
And the logistics of it all, when you think about people who are aging, especially, becomes much, much more difficult to navigate logistics. Like, for instance, in airports, My sister, when I picked them up at the airport, almost the first thing she said to me was this, I'm done flying. I'm done flying. It's such a pain in the you-know-where.
She said, it's so much easier to just throw a suitcase in the back of your car and go. Just go wherever. So ease of travel can be on one side a pro and on the other side a god. Obviously, plane travel gets you there theoretically faster, but what do you have to do to get through all the logistics of it all?
One thing that I've noticed is there are certain places in the world that they have health advisories. And if you're planning on traveling to some of these places, it's definitely worthwhile to check out. where these health advisories are. If you're flying, typically the airlines will have them on your app, on your phone, if you happen to have your phone with you at the time.
Or also you can check them out. The Centers for Disease Control keeps an update on health advisories around the world that are going on. There are also upticks from time to time in infectious diseases. We're starting to see that in the United States with COVID again. We're running into the, I guess, the higher COVID season. We're going to be running into the flu season.
And when you travel, you're putting yourself at potentially at a higher risk. There's also cruise ships. which also creates some things. I personally got COVID when I was on a cruise in Alaska, and it's really interesting because when you're on a cruise ship, they have their own medical department and the whole nine yards, and people aren't necessarily aware of that, but
They do have that and it's at your disposal if you need it. In my case, I did. I did need it. So Aaron or Maddie, any thoughts from you about all your great travels? I know you've gone places.
Yeah, I just would echo what Clarence and Barry said about like the pros for traveling, quote unquote. For me, it's just, again, getting outside of my one usual routine, but also connecting with new cultures and having new and different experiences from my usual ones. I think that
ability to step outside of your comfort zone is really important um and yeah i mean i think it's just such a good opportunity to see the world and like barry and clarence said to expand your worldview um and in in that i really don't see a negative obviously um sometimes with logistics and health concerns or whatever it may be.
Obviously there are cons, I guess you could say, but for me, I think in my tax bracket at the moment, the only difficulty is like affording to travel. That's something that I'm constantly thinking about. So that is definitely a challenge for me right now, but yeah,
You know, there are ways there are ways where you can travel that is more affordable than, you know, a two thousand dollar plane ticket somewhere. So I think sometimes when we think about travel, we think of like going around the world or something when really like. I just went to Starved Rock, which is a state park in Illinois, a couple weekends ago.
We drove an hour and a half outside the city of Chicago. And it was beautiful, you know. So, I mean, that's not the same as going to Paris, obviously. But, you know, you don't necessarily have to break the bank just to get outside your comfort zone and things like that. So, yeah, those are some of my thoughts.
You know what's interesting, though, as you were talking, I think about the fact is sometimes we travel for relaxation and we wind up coming back more tired than when we left. And I think that there has to be some tips, you know, based on, again, based on what it is. I mean, if it's business, that might make a lot of sense.
But I think there's got to be some tips on what we can do to make sure that our time spent relaxing... could be more relaxing versus, you know, feeling like we got to do everything, you know, that's on the brochure. So that was my thought is that sometimes when we travel, we travel for relaxation, but we don't necessarily plan for relaxation.
We plan to do activities and we don't get to the most important thing is why are we really doing what we're doing?
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. You know, and relaxation for some is different. You know, for some people, relaxation, throw me on a beach and leave me alone. You know, put me under an umbrella and, you know, I want to listen to the waves coming in. For other people, that's the most boring thing in the world and they can't stand it. And they'd rather go, you know, walking on the boardwalk
you know, next to the ocean. And again, it's a different scenery, but it's a different form of relaxation. For some people, you know, for some people, I want to read a book, buy a book. For other people, that's all I do at home, I read. So I don't want to read now. I want to go to the museum or I want to, you know, go eat somewhere that's different.
Well, you know, Sam, I think that's a good point to talk about traveling is you got to know who you're traveling with. You know, and I think sometimes we're forced to travel with people that, you know, no matter what we do, we're not going to enjoy it. You know, I mean, not because you don't enjoy them. It's that we have different interests.
You know, if I'm going someplace, I don't want to go someplace where I have to shop. You know, I don't want to go to all the different vendors and shops. I mean, that would drive me crazy. I want to go to the beach a little bit. But I don't want you to think I'm a drag because I don't want to go with you down to, you know, to these other things. You know what I mean?
So I think sometimes, and again, you get back to Barry, sometimes you have to plan things and say, okay, look, this is what we're going... You know, this is my personality. This is my style. That's your personality. That's your style. We can agree on some things, but... can we also have our individual space for us to enjoy this time together?
You know, sometimes you go places with people and they want to continuously talk to you, you know, because we never have a chance to talk. Well, you know, this is not the place where I want to be on, you know, be talking to you all the time. It's not that you don't love them, you know what I'm saying? But it's true. It's like, Can I rest? But we're never together.
So I think that you have to be conscious of that partner's request. But I also think you have to have respect, too, for what you need to do when you're traveling.
Yeah, I think when you travel, it gives you the opportunity to define space differently and experience things
differently so okay honey you want to go shopping down fifth avenue in new york great you go ahead i'm gonna go to the museum of art okay you know so it's just it's a different um a different perspective and and you say okay well wait you know why don't we do a little bit of both i mean so you know there's balance that can be done as well um or alone time you know is is
is absolutely okay as well.
One thing that's... Barry, what are you thinking? I see Dr. Barry laughing back there. What's up, Dr. Barry?
No, because once you're in a different environment, okay, it changes things. And my experience has been when I travel to a new environment, you sort of need to compromise more
You become more tolerable, you know, tolerance increases, patience increases, hopefully, and acceptance of things so that, you know, the idea that, you know, you negotiate, it's perfectly okay for someone to go shopping on Fifth Avenue and someone to go to the, you know, Museum of Modern Art and, hey, you know, I'll meet you here in an hour and a half.
And so sort of negotiating time and space and things like that, I think it helps you to see the people you're traveling with in a more appreciative way, but also understanding that we all have our limitations and we do all need our space. And somehow I've always found that being in a different environment
breaks, you know, all of us get into, you know, this pretty inflexible way that we act and behave, you know, usually when we're at home in comfortable surroundings that we know. And then when you're in a place that you don't know, I think it helps you to loosen up and even have conversations about things like that and be able to do those kind of things.
I think that's one of the other positive payoffs.
of you know of traveling is again it puts you in a a different environment and and you're able to uh you know to do things a little differently and and understanding that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't we're right we're all human and uh you know we might go down one path and you know maybe i have to backtrack so that was i realized that when i when i travel um
you do have to have a level of flexibility. So like, it's one thing what you've planned, geez, you know, we really want to go to here, here, here, here, here. Okay. And then, well, it turns out all those places are outside and it turns out that that those three days in a row, it's pouring rain, you know?
So now what, you know, you know, and then, and then, you know, for some people that really puts them in a tizzy. It's like, Oh my God, you know, You know, get out the travel book.
Let's see. What do we do? Or why did you select this week? You know, we should have done it next week, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, the other thing, too, is what you crave. Like, for instance, when I go to New York City, I crave having a good pastrami sandwich. I really do. Or, you know, a good bagel, okay? You know, I don't eat it every day, but, you know, it's something that, you know, Somehow or other, I got to make sure I do when I'm there. Okay.
So that's another thing that, you know, people look into to have some fun or different is eating differently. But eating differently can affect your health. So you got to be careful about that. You know, it's like you got to watch it. One other thing I wanted to bring up is mobility.
So one of the things is, especially for people who are getting closer to retire or retiring, if you ask them what they want to do when they retire, one of the things on their list for sure, besides more time with family and grandkids and that kind of thing, is travel. But none of them, most of them, I shouldn't say none, most retire. Don't prepare themselves for that.
Oh, we're going to go hiking in Portugal, in the mountains in Portugal. Oh, really? Have you done any exercises? Have you prepared yourself for a five-mile walk? And the answer is not a problem when we get there. Well, sure enough, when they get there, They go on a five mile hike and then for the next three days, they can barely move.
You know, so prepping, knowing your age and your limitations, prepping ahead of time is important as well. You know, knowing in advance what you should do, I think is very, very important. You know, when I come back from traveling I don't know about you, but I always appreciate getting home.
No matter where, no matter how fun it is, how relaxing it was, how great it was, how beautiful, blah, blah, blah. There is, for me, I'm talking for myself, there is something comforting about getting home. If for no other reason, your own bed. Right? Okay. So I think that that's something. One other thing I wanted to bring up is CPAP machines.
For people who are experiencing or have apnea, sleep apnea, what you should know, if you take your... I suffer from that. I have apnea. It is not considered a carry-on when you go on an airplane. You can take it in a bag in addition to
regular carry-on because it's considered a medical device okay and of course you don't want to pack that in your suitcase either you know that goes underneath because god knows where your suitcase is going to land up so it's just like your medication you take it with you wherever and there are other other illustrations of that type of thing.
Yeah, I just want to say one quick thing about CPAP machines because my sister-in-law just was in town, came in and as you know, you have to empty out all the water bottles, right, before you get on the plane and stuff. And the CPAP machines, she says, I need to get distilled water when I get there to use that. You could actually just use filtered water For a few days.
But if you're going to be gone, need to, again, put that on the checklist. Right, Clarence? Yeah, you know, am I going to be able to am I going to be able to get distilled water? Usually that's an easy thing to to find. But again, it's just one more of those things where, you know, she wasn't thinking about it until she got here. And then it was like. Where can we go?
The other thing are electrical outlets too.
When you go overseas, they're different than the electrical outlets. You have the adapters. You have to bring proper cords to charge phones and devices, etc. All these little things become a checklist. The bottom line is travel Overall, it is experiential, and it can be healthy for some, and for some people it's more stressful. I think it becomes a little bit more stressful.
I think I can go out on the edge here. As you acquire health issues yourself that you have to keep in mind, whereas before when you're younger you just say, You pack your bag, you get on the plane, you go. As you get older and you have more medical issues, you have to be more cognizant of those when you travel. Last comments, Barry.
Just that when you add up all the pros and cons, and I think we covered a lot of those kind of things. The bottom line, I think, is that the positives still outweigh the negatives. when you travel, for many of the things that we talked about.
And also, as we had our conversation, a lot of the negatives, the cons, the stressors and things like that, that we can do something beforehand to lessen those, which ultimately will make any travel experience you have more positive, right? You could either all right, add positives or take away negatives. And that, you know, the net result is a better experience.
So I'd say do, you know, do the planning and you'll enjoy your trip more. And there's just lots of rewarding activities and things that you can do with travel. It has lots of benefits. And I hope to Be able to take advantage of some of those. I know my limitations as I get older. I can't do what I did, you know, 40 years ago.
And so I can go on a hike that's more flat rather than, you know, climbing a mountain. But again, it's that planning piece that can really, really help. You do need to be more deliberate with planning.
Clarence, your thoughts, last thoughts. Yeah, I just want to say I agree. Again, planning came to the top of my mind right away. Not only do the planning list of your material things that you need, but also a checklist of your relationships. as you're going through to say, hey, like, you know, what do you like? This is what I like. What do you like? You know what I mean? This is what I want.
What do you want? You know what I mean? So that when you get there, you don't have somebody mad with you for the half of the trip because you missed something. You know what I mean? And it sounds kind of crazy, but I think everybody understands that. You know, one missed cue could ruin your whole trip.
So I think that just by checking in, you know, asking some simple questions from the very beginning, would be very helpful in making that trip more enjoyable and relaxing.
My last thing, there are many, many resources out there on traveling. There's a book called Atlas Obscura. which is an atlas of different places from around the world that you might not even think about going to that are quite, quite special.
There's also, I believe it's called Gastro Obscura, which all these different places around the world, you can imagine, have great restaurants that you might want to check in with. And the last thing I'm going to say is that You know, Barry and Clarence and I, we grew up in a map world where we had a hardcore map in our hands, right? A lot of those things are available now on a phone.
And that creates some angst for people where, you know, on an app, for instance, on a phone, you necessarily can't see the full picture of where you're going versus, you know... a little portion of a place where you're going. And some people can't navigate using the technology that's available. So again, those are types of things that you keep in mind when you travel.
Bottom line is, is it good for you? Yeah, it's good for you. It causes your brain to think about different things. And that's really good. Maddie, thoughts, last thoughts.
Not really. I mean, just underscoring what everyone else has said. I have a trip to Europe coming up in like six weeks. So these are great tips and great things to think about. So the timing is, is good for me. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, to me, I've always just grown up with... I feel like wanting to travel is a value in some ways. It doesn't interest everyone, and that's totally okay.
I think for me, my parents always instilled in us that traveling... is a really important way to, like we were saying earlier, to expand your worldview so you're not stuck in your own, you know, echo chamber of thoughts and experiences and perspectives. So I think that that's something that motivates me to continue traveling either, you know, relatively locally or to a totally different culture.
Okay.
And, you know, there are different types of places to go to. You can travel to a national park, which is a completely different type of trip than going to New York City where you're walking down Fifth Avenue. Okay, it's a different type of hike. And you have to make those assessments on what you want to do when you want to do them.
Yeah. And I have to believe that there is some type of traveling for everyone. You know, some people prefer national parks and connecting with nature. Some people prefer, you know, the Fifth Avenue trip to New York. Some people prefer going international. Some people prefer a little bit of a a little bit of everything, but I, I think there's so many different options.
Travel can mean so many different things that, you know, I think there is a piece of it that, that couldn't, could resonate with any type of person.
If you are an extrovert, it dictates certain things. If you are an introvert, it dictates certain things and it dictates different things when you're in different cultures. But that thought, I hope everybody keeps health chatting away. We've got a great show coming up next on Indian Health with the new director of Indian Health from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Until then, keep health chatting away.