Farsighted Fly Girl

I love the sun. You will never hear me complain about too much sun or too much heat. I have never met a beach or tropical spot that I didn't love. As I write this, the sun has beamed 95 sweltering degrees onto Chicago and I am heading out to soak it up. Don't get me wrong, I always protect my skin with sunscreen and usually a wide-brimmed hat but always, always, sunglasses. I wear sunglasses year round and wherever I travel because my eyes are sensitive to light. It never occurred to me that I was actually protecting my eyes from damaging UV rays until I recently attended an informative webinar organized by The Vision Council . It turns out that your eyes can get sunburned just as easily as your skin and  wrinkles around the eyes, cataracts and cancer of the eye are all connected to UV eye exposure. Since I specialize in traveling to sun-drenched locations, I thought it would make sense to learn important UV blocking tips for the eyes. According to The Vision Council's...

It doesn't look like a wallet. In fact, when the publicist for HuMn Wallets  sent me two, thin aluminum cards for review, I thought she had mistakenly sent the packaging without the wallet. But no, HuMn wallets are really just two thin aluminum cards held together with an elastic band or shock strap. I couldn't figure out how these pieces were supposed to form a secure wallet so I watched the videos on the company's website. (Never thought I'd have to watch an instructional video on how to use a wallet but hey, we are in a new millennium. ) The creators are travelers who wanted a lightweight wallet that wouldn't bulge when filled with cards and would protect from RIFD skimming. They came up with a sleek design that blocks RFID scanners and can be customized with different aluminum and band colors. Cool. So how does it hold up while traveling? I tucked the wallet into my travel arsenal for Jamaica to find out. It was really helpful to be able to separat...

It happens to me all of the time, especially when traveling.  I'm scrambling to catch a flight, my hands are filled with my carry on, blanket and purse when my phone rings. Lots of fumbling and dropping of stuff usually follows before I can grasp my phone. It never occurred to me that there might be a solution to this not-enough-hands quandary until I was contacted to check out Flygrip . I'm not typically a huge gadget fan but the name alone intrigued me--Fly girl using Flygrip! Cute name aside, I was interested in how this accessory would make traveling and multitasking easier. The colorful clip attaches to smart phones, e-books and tablets with detachable adhesive strips. Secured to your hand, the device allows you to text, read, tweet or take photos without worrying about dropping your phone. Flygrip clips your phone to your fingers so that you still have your thumb and other hand free. I tried it out during a walking tour of Chicago's Gold ...

I love the sun. It's no coincidence that much of my traveling takes place in climates where the sun blazes nonstop. Nothing encourages exploration and adventure quite like a sunny day, as long as you're equipped to handle it. Besides sunscreen and sun glasses, I always pack sun hats for any tropical escapade. And by sun hats, I don't mean the geeky safari or outback variety. You can have sun protection and style all in one hat and I have a carefully curated arsenal to prove it. The only problem is that not all fashionable sun hats are crushable and easy to pack so I'm always on the lookout for more.  So when I received a  review sample of  the La Scala Collezione sun hat with SPF 50 sun protection, I was a little excited.  I wasn't a lot excited because I was skeptical of the claim that this hat would block 97.5 percent of the sun's ultraviolet rays. With a cute ric-rac design, cotton and polyester fabric and a bendable four-inch brim, this little chapea...

This is a historic Chicago weekend.  For the first time since 1941, the Chicago Bears will play the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs. Although I'm not really a sports fan, as a Chicagoan I feel intense allegiance to our teams. Does that mean I'll be at Soldier Field watching the Monsters of the Midway in snow and 5 degree wind chill? Umm, no.  What I have been doing is handing out advice to pitiful travelers trying to figure out how to stay warm on a  January Chicago Bears weekend. Besides the obvious, (a real coat not a light jacket or hoodie, a hat to cover your ears, gloves and boots.) I recommend a secret weapon I actually discovered in Door County, Wisconsin. I was snow shoeing in 8 foot drifts and 2 degree temperatures and despite doubled-up insulated gloves, my fingers were cold.  My guided offered me a pack of hand warmers. I had seen these stacked up in Chicago drug stores but never took them seriously. Surely, somebody who's never lived through a Ch...

I'm not a neat freak on any level but I have a thing against nasty airport floors.  You know, the ones that thousands of people slap with their sweaty feet while they're shuffling through security?  I always, always, wear socks or stockings because I just can't bear to think about  my feet connecting with what's on those floors.  Now that it's summer, I'm amazed by the throngs of flip flop-clad flyers who think nothing about bare feet and frosty, dirty airports.  I usually suffer though stockings with my ballet flats but I've discovered a much cuter solution. The folks at Kushyfoot sent me free samples of their extensive line of reflexology-infused travel foot wear and I'm happy to say that the foot covers are the solution to my airport fears. Thin, soft, nylon with heel guards and foot cushions cover the bottom of your foot without peeking out of your shoes.  I slip through security without having to suffer thick socks, hose or who knows what...

The Caribbean reaps lot of attention for golden sun, powdery sand beaches and turquoise water.  And it's true, all of these elements  offer enough beauty to soothe your frazzled soul.  But there's one Caribbean attraction that I think deserves more notice.  It's the sunsets. There's nothing more gorgeous than a blazing sunset over a stretch of water. I make it a point to capture a sunset on every island I visit. The drama of it all is enough to make me forget the sun and just come out at sunset. I captured this setting sun in Eleuthera, at the Cove resort.  The property boasts a lookout tower just to watch spectacles like this.   Watching the sun gently dip over water, with palm trees casting shadows, is one of my favorite island activities.  What's your favorite way to enjoy the beauty of a destination?

Yesterday, I finally talked to the man who changed my mind about airline service. With all the nickle and diming, security hassles and overall disreguard for customers, airline flights have become something I want to get through as quickly as possible.  Forget smiling attendants and helpful ticket agents, I'm just happy  to make it through security and in a seat.  So when I flew into Fort Lauderdale for my connecting flight to Eleuthera, I was aiming to get  out of there as quickly as possible.  I had no idea that my experience would not be close to quick and that I might not make it out of Florida at all. You see, I didn't book my ticket. The PR agency that organized my press trip did.  It seems that they only left 20 minutes to connect to my flight. Apparently, that's an illegal procedure because you're required to allow at least an hour.  Especially in Fort Lauderdale. If you've never been to Fort Lauderdale Airport, let me explain. It is an ...

I was shocked to hear about the plight of the six Brooklyn tourists in Antigua who have been detained and charged with the assault and battery of several police officers. My shock involved many levels of disbelief. Number one, Antigua a tiny 14-mile-long island, with a relatively stable economy and government, isn't the sort of place where brawls and fights thrive. Number two, who goes to another country and fights the law enforcement? But there it was, all over the national and international news. USA Today reported here that the six tourists blamed the undercover police officers for not identifying themselves and starting the brawl. Local Antigua newspapers say that the tourists used indecent language, were rowdy and generally disrespectful. The crux of the situation is that the young tourists left their Carnival cruise ship and hired a taxi driver to take them on a beach excursion, agreeing to pay $50. The driver insists that it was $50 each way and when he demanded $100, the t...

So I'm back after the wildly fun and intriguing Blogher and TBEX conferences. Fun because I got to meet all my travel tweeps in person and intriguing because the ideas and discussions flowed non-stop. One of my fave discussions was with Heather of Gadling's Galley Gossip and her Laviators mile high headshots club. You see, lots of activities take place in airplane bathrooms than just mile high club activities. Heather believes that I'll soon be joining her exclusive group but it's just not happening cause the fly in fly girl doesn't stand for sky trippin' bathroom antics. But when I spied the Poo-Pourri personal wipes (fresh and clean for in between!) pictured above in our TBEX swag, I figured that bathroom banter might make a helpful travel tip post. Because I'm surrounded by a crazy amount of anal virgo friends, I know that there are lots of travelers that dread strange public toilets, nasty sinkholes passing for restrooms and the hellish scene of port...

I travel a lot. I love the whole experience of travel, from packing to hanging out in airports, but I have a secret. I'm prone to motion sickness. Fortunately, it never happens on planes but boats, trains, cars? Big worries. I know every old wives tale and trick to prevent it. Don't read, make sure your eyes can see the horizon, eat salt, eat ginger, stay in an upper level cruise cabin. Sometimes these work, sometimes they don't. This poses a nasty little problem for a travel writer. I refuse to miss an experience because there's a chance I'll get sick. That means that I have clutched the railing of a sailboat, reeling with nausea as I gazed at a sublime St. Lucian sunset. I have curled up into a ball on a stunning Belize beach because I was retching from the big cruise ship(I hate cruises, this is just one reason) that brought me there. I barely made it through the 2 hour car trip through Brazilian coffee plantations before I was overcome with dizziness. ...