Travel Tuesday: Tips and Tidbits

I’ve got a couple health- and fitness-related travel topics this week so without further fanfare, let’s get started:

The ‘Eyes’ Have It. . .

This one is for all you contact lens wearing travelers of a ‘certain age’ (40 is usually when the telltale signs start appearing):  the small print seems to be getting smaller and a bit more blurred each time you try to read your passport or credit card numbers and trying to read the small print on a map is more daunting than getting lost. . .could it be time
for those 'readers' on sale everywhere from grocery to book stores?


One more thing to add to that carry-on bag already is stuffed with documents, medicines, prescription glasses, contact lens case/solution and sunglasses?

I’ve worn gas permeable contact lenses for decades and in the last couple years even the ‘bi-focal’ types weren’t quite doing the job. . .that is until  my optometrist asked me if I’d try out a different type of lens. Another patient of hers, a flight attendant, had tried them and was singing their praises, so I agreed.

That was nearly a year ago.  I waited this long to write about them just to make sure they weren't too good to be true. I couldn’t believe the improved visual acuity - and comfort. (Their only drawback is that like all gas permeable/hard lenses I've worn, they do tend to dry out on long airplane flights.) The smallest of print (including those microscopic numbers on the back corner of the credit cards) are as easy to read as is seeing the far distant stuff. In fact, both of my distances are now a smidgen better than 20/20 -- a real plus when focusing the camera! 


It took a few extra visits to get the fit right because the lenses are weighted to keep the close-up at the bottom and distance at the top – so they have to fit the eye well.

If they are of interest and you are in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, I recommend my optomitrist Dr. Pamela J. Bingham at Market Optical in Seattle’s University Village.

And if you are elsewhere, talk to your eye care professional about “TruForm” rigid, gas permeable lenses.  (I read on the company web site that they even make multi-focal lenses!)


Serving up and Repacking the D2G. . .Diet to Go: 

Three years ago on TravelnWrite we sang the praises of the “Glycemic Load Diet” developed by Seattle cardiologist, Dr. Rob Thompson. We bought his book, tried out his eating recommendations and found the recipes were incredible good and it was a perfect fit for travelers.

So easy to follow when traveling that we called it the D2G; our Diet to Go. Some may even recall the guest post Dr. Thompson wrote for TravelnWrite. If you missed it, click this  link. 

My physical that year showed not only had I lost weight (13 pounds) but my bad cholesterol levels had dropped significantly, as had blood sugar and everything else that gets monitored - despite four-months of living out of a suitcase; drinking and eating on-the-road. (And I was no longer blaming cruise ship photographers for 'making me look fat!')

Fast forward. . .if you saw the post a few weeks ago, A Taste of the World, you know without me telling you that we – me, in particular – slipped off that D2G wagon. A big burger in Arizona, an Australian Pie in Sydney, a basket of bread here and a serving of French fries there and maybe just a tiny bit of dessert. . . The results of an annual physical a few weeks ago showed the bad cholesterol had skyrocketed and a few pounds had returned, despite a regular exercise program both at home and on the road.

So, the new year has begun with D2G once again, our traveling companion.

Instead of that deep fried bacon cheeseburger I told you about in December, take note of the above veggie burger on a whole grain bun with more veggies at the side and red wine (which is allowed on the D2G).  I had this at one of our favorite places, Todd English’s P.U.B. at Crystals in City Center, Las Vegas last week.


That’s it for this week’s Travel Tuesday – the day we share any  new tips related to travel.   How about you?  What new discoveries have you made for travel. . . Health and fitness?  Packing? . . .Ways to save money on travel?  Let us know in the comment section below or send us an email.

Disclosure:  We received no compensation for recommending the contact lenses, Dr. Bingham, Market Optical or the 'Glycemic Load Diet'. (Although if you order the book from Amazon using the link in the post, we make a few pennies; we'll get paid when we have $10 worth of pennies, about 2050 by my calculations.)  We simply think all are worth recommending! 

Linking up with Marcia Mayne's Inside Journeys Foodie Tuesday.

D2G loses to Spain’s Tapa Temptations

Yes, that healthy eating we’ve been touting for the last year – our Diet to Go, or D2G – met its challenge in Spain’s Tapa Temptations.

So we said “Adios” to that eating plan and each night saddled up to a tapas bar to eat our way through several of the small plates that offered a variety of meat, fish and vegetable tidbits; some of the best food we’ve had on our travels.

Potatoes and bread  – those things we’ve bragged about eliminating (or greatly reducing) in our lives this last year, were key ingredients in most of the tapas we ate. And Spain’s famous rice paella couldn’t be missed. . .

When in Spain eat as the Spanish do. . .and we did! In a manner of speaking anyway. Each night we’d wait as long as our American appetites allowed (somewhere around 7 or 7:30) and we’d go in search of a tapas bar. Tapas bars, like restaurants, don’t open their kitchens for hot dishes until 8:30 in most cases, so we’d work our way through cold dishes and wind up the feast with a couple hot dishes.

Tapas are generally inexpensive. So were the many varieties of Spanish wine we quaffed down with them.

Our best tapa dinner was eaten in Osuna, that charming small town outside Sevilla. The restaurant Meson del Duque, (Plaza de la Duquesa, 2, phone 95 481 28 45) had been recommended a couple of times so on our last evening we waited as long our our American appetites allowed and we headed out for what would be the culinary treat of the trip
.
As usual ‘los Americanos’ (us!) were unfashionably early so we had the place to ourselves. . .which gave us time to visit with Jose, the owner, left, and Paco, the bartender, to his right in this photo.

Since their tapas weren’t on display and we weren’t sure what was available, we asked Jose and Paco to select some plates for us.

They served us a mouthwatering short rib that you could cut with a fork, a fish dish, a pork dish and shrimp with a presentation resembling the horns of bulls in an unbelievably tasty sauce.

So good were the tapas that we fell further off the diet wagon and ordered dessert – again their choice. Need I say this chocolate morsel was good?

Our last night in Sevilla we dined at Casa Tomate ( on the 'tapa bar street' of Mateos Gagos 24, phone 954 220 421) and decided to try the combination plate of three hot and three cold tapas; to that we added a half racione (half order) of deep fried calimari. 

As we started to order a salad as well – thinking we’d need a bit more, our waiter politely told us we didn’t need it – we had ordered plenty.  He was right as the tapas plate alone had anchovies, meat balls, veggies, Russian salad and a potato torte (tortilla):



If you've been following the blog the last few weeks, I know you are probably thinking, "And then they got on a cruise ship for two weeks and ate some more?"  Yes we did, but I should tell you that we logged some 7 - 10 miles walking each day on land and on the ship either worked out at the gym and walked or did both.

While in Spain we marked the first anniversary of our D2G.  It has been a success despite the eating we did the last few weeks. We weighed in today and Joel weighs five pounds less than he did last year and I am down 13.5 pounds. . .and now that we are home we are back on the D2G way of eating.

Note:  The D2G is based on the Glycemic Load Diet as developed by Seattle doctor, Rob Thompson.  His book of the same title can be purchased from Amazon.com