BootsnAll Travel Community

quote:

Originally posted by Marisa:
I fixed dinner, sat at the computer, started to surf...and found a nasty toe picture...

a GIANT SIZE TOE picture you mean...

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Ehrlich:

MUST-RESIST-CHEAP-JOKE

Don't be a hater, Joe.

Although I will admit that is too cheap for me, and I hate shower shoes. Shower shoes are so cheap, the effort required in making flipflops is too high. I'm about minimal effort... so I will deal with my $3 Old Navy flipflops, and live happily.

quote:

Originally posted by Marisa:
I fixed dinner, sat at the computer, started to surf...and found a nasty toe picture...

I'm trying to think of a good side to this story; but, I don't think there is one. I'm sorry.

It could've been worse; I sat down and was about to start dinner then found that toe... On my foot!

I thought a little more about the olfactory recall trick. This is a good trick BUT has a nasty side - A half year after returning from Chile, I still got a little sick smelling pisco. Then I remebered the fun I had down there and drank it anyway. (So I guess it works there too - sortof)

Cheech

quote:

Originally posted by meagicano:

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Ehrlich:

MUST-RESIST-CHEAP-JOKE

Don't be a hater, Joe.

Although I will admit that is too cheap for me, and I hate shower shoes. Shower shoes are so cheap, the effort required in making flipflops is too high. I'm about minimal effort... so I will deal with my $3 Old Navy flipflops, and live happily.

The reason I made my own had nothing to do with price and everything to do with size. These things fold down to the size of a credit card and probably weigh less. My flipflops take up a ton more room.

I suffer from terrible blisters. But I've never taken any pictures of them so you'll just need to take my word for it.

The best way for me to deal with blisters and still be able to hike is to cover them with moleskin (or foam or something soft and cushiony) and then cover that with duct tape. The duct tape slides inside your boot, whereas the other stuff bunches up after about 50 paces.

Here's the stupid travel trick: wrap as much duct tape as you think you'll need around your water bottle.

Would anyone be kind enough to send me links for where to find these wonderful boots and socks y'all praise so much?

An old army trick that works is to wear the feet of women's stockings inside your socks to avoid blisters.

(Oh, great. Now borderland is lecturing on wearing women's clothes...)

Guys: another good trick is to wear a bra to stop chest chaffing (ahem)

quote:

Originally posted by borderland:
Guys: another good trick is to wear a bra to stop chest chaffing (ahem)

Or if your like Borderland, just cuz you like the feel of the silky fabric and you've also been kind of curious....

Well...bras aren't that comfertable and it confounds me why any man would want to wear them...but that's another story.

I once heard that if you're travelling in an area that has a lot of food/water born illnesses it helps to take a big swig of strong (very very strong) liquer after eating or drinking anything you didn't make yourself. Now this might have just been the words of an alcoholic but you never know....

Also if you know you have a long flight and layover and then it will be a while after you land before you can get to civilization, or food bring slim fast bars. They don't melt too bad and really do fill you up in a pinch. Plus if you buy them before you go you can save on food money and loose weight while you're there.

I once let a Canadian guy borrow my bra...I think he enjoyed wearing it.

zaXon, here are some sock links...
Thorlos
Wigwam

Marisa would this be the same Canadian guy we all know and love?

quote:

Marisa would this be the same Canadian guy we all know and love?

Hahaha! No, not the Dopplemeister. It was a Canadian guy named Scott that I met in New Zealand. He needed a bra for the night, so I leant him mine. He stuffed it with tissue, and kept on flashing everyone my bra that he was wearing. Strange night!

1. Those moisture wicking hiking socks DO work.

2. Gold Bond Medicated Powder. I'll say it again. Gold Bond Medicated Powder. Its like baby powder only better.

3. For nasty insect bites: Tiger Balm, oriental version. It kills the itch for at least four hours. The stuff in the USA is weak by comparison and the Venezuelan version was pitiful.


4. For the tropics: One very light cotton sheet to wear to bed. I have one from Goa which is attractive enough, and covers me in nights I only want one cover and maybe some underwear. Sweat goes into the sheet, and doesn't stick to body. Knees don't stick together. I hate that.

5. For the Tropics: Forget socks most of the time, and stick with good hiking sandals. Chaco Canyon Z2's have a vibram hiking soul and arch supports. Socks are good only when the insects are biting. Sand fleas and mosquitos can be a pain, and socks stop them, no matter how geeky they look with sandals. They like my ankles most of all, and socks are my guard.

6. To suspend a hammock, forget about the following"

Cheap nylon rope bought on the road
Parachute cord.
Flat ribbon type cord.

All have serious untying problems and most stretch like crazy. Go to a hiking store and get one to two cm climbing rope. It can hold a 300 kilo static load, is light, and unties very easily time after time. Do NOT cut it into handy 8 foot segments. Get 10-20 meters or more, its light enough, and don't ever cut it if you can help it. Then you can use it to suspend your hammock between distant trees or use it for one very effective clothes line. Yeah, you can climb down cliffs with if if you have nothing else. I wouldn't. Its a static load rope and might snap if you put enough active load on it(like falling 8 feet and being stopped)

I use the really skinny stuff for a clothesline, or hang my backpacks from the ground in ant-covered territory.

The Garrity key chain light (US$5 at Wallgreens)

It's thin as a cracker, 2 inches long and it casts a startlingly bright light. This little miracle has helped me innumerable times over the past three months (e.g. preparing for bed in a hostel dorm full of sleeping people), but it truly saved my bacon a few days ago while i was lost after dark on a highland jungle road outside Bario, in Malaysian Borneo. Next to my laptop, it is the best gadget I am carrying.

A generally good fix for food poisioning can be found in your first aid kit, or should be in there, Iodine, great for disefecting cuts and put a handful of drops in a glass of water and drink and by by bad stomach. It's also good if youre hiking to purify the water with a few drops.

Wow, registering for this forum has already "paid for itself"..

food: I have eaten these for awhile, but raw nuts are great for good quality fat and a bit of fiber, among other things. I generally eat cashews, almonds, or walnuts/pecans, but there's others as well (don't care for soynuts, etc). Extremely dense packing: a couple pounds would take you several aggressive days to get through, and takes up maybe a couple softballs' worth of volume. They don't melt and take several weeks to even start to go bad. Also, if you carefully poke holes in the cashews and thread them with dental floss, they make great impromtu anal beads. I recommend against the almonds for this practice.

food poisoning: when you get to the third or fourth or twelth violent heaving session, and it takes 5 agonizing minutes to produce about an ounce of horribly concentrated bile, i took to guzzling water. It made me sick to even think of it, and it usually came up within a minute, but the heaves were so much more pleasant and productive. And this would buy me 5 or 10 minutes of respite until the bile concentration built up again. Less burning of the nose & throat that way. It takes some willpower to pull this off, but really the overall agony is lessened.

more on food poisoning: I think that the comment about booze might be correct, just based on my own actions & experience.

Heat & sweating: I'm a sweater. At least I was there when near the tropics, may have had something to do with all of the bitters I had floating around my system from excessive Sangsom consumption. Anyway, based on what I'd heard about bikram yoga, I decided to start drinking a couple cups of hot tea at breakfast, then immediately going back to my solar-heated bungalow to do quick pushups, crunches and weightless squat-thrusts. Go 'til I'm in minor agony, swim, shower....and by god, I sweat at least 5 times less than normal for the rest of the day. Perhaps this only works for stupid people, though....