Some Help With Motion Sickness

tinastravels — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:54:00 GMT

On a recent cruise I went on in the Caribbean, I really suffered from motion sickness. I still had a good time but did my research into ways to stop it as I have a cruise planned for next year. I wanted to share my advice with the community and hope it helps combat the nausea.

1.) Position of your cabin. If you ensure that the person booking your cruise is aware that you are a motion sickness sufferer, they should have the power to locate you accommodation cabin near the centre of the ship. This will minimise the amount of movement that your cabin experiences, even on mild river cruises and will dramatically reduce the chances of feeling ill.

2.) Eating ginger. Ginger has been used to combat travel sickness for thousands of years. Its natural ingredients minimize the gag-reflex response signals that are sent to the stomach from the brain and will help to stop you being sick. It does not however stop nausea, so you still might not feel great.

3.) Walking about. It sounds simple but it really can work. The unique movement that the brain experiences when on a boat is something it is not accustomed to and so it reacts badly. If you're up and about and able to walk around the whole boat for a little while you movement sensory organs will begin to be more comfortable with the sensations and you feel much better. I was on one of the bigger luxury cruises, so had plenty of room to move around...if only I had known what I know now!

4.) Motion sickness tablets. This is a very popular technique that is often the best method for reducing nausea. The sickness tablets work to reduce the brains receptiveness to movement and therefore act to minimise the amount of dizziness and nausea it feels. They can however also give you a drowsy feeling so you might not be able to take part in any strenuous activity...shame. To ensure that the chemicals are well circulated around the body when the ship leaves harbour, you should take your tablets at least 60 minutes before hand. This will mean that you’ll be protected against sickness from the minute you step on the boat.

Tipping In America

tinastravels — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:00:00 GMT

I loved New York last time I went, but it took me a little while to get used to the whole tipping thing. I hope this post will help some people out:

Tipping in America is simply the done thing.The American way of offering tips to those who help you should be practiced by all who visit, regardless of what the policies are in your own country. The following is a top 5 guide to tipping for anyone visiting the beautiful country on American holidays like me

1. Have some dollars ready. When you are in the currency exchange, make sure to ask for a certain amount extra to allow for tipping. You should really carry an extra in dollar notes at all times.This means you won't have to ask for change and you can tip whatever value you want easily. Don't be embarrassed if you have to ask for change though as it is quite common

2. Bars. It is common to tip around a dollar a drink at the bar but if you are ordering three or more drinks then you don’t have to keep to the 'per drink' rule, just give a reasonable amount. If you’re drinks are brought over to you by a bar man or lady all night, expect to leave around a 10% tip when you leave

3. Restaurants. The really is dependent on the restaurant in question. Cheaper take-away style places only really should be tipped maybe 15% whilst more up market eateries should be tipped at a rate of around 20-25% of the bill.If the staff go the extra mile for you then you should really thank them by tipping a little extra for their work.

4. Bags.The porter who brings the bags to the room will probably be expecting tip of one dollar per bag. This quite a strong rule of thumb, but you can always tip more if the service was great or there was a lot of effort involved for the porter. Bag carriers at airports should be tipped between $1 to $2 per bag

5. Poor service. If you don’t feel that the service was up to standard then don’t tip. Your reasons should be clearly explained though. Most service providers want to hear where they can improve and won’t be offended.

Tips and Tales

Some Help With Motion Sickness

Tipping In America