ATTENTION: NEW BLOG ADDRESS

After nearly a year blogging here on Blogger, I'm beginning an all-new and improved blog which I hope will better reflect my personal journey and personality. It's called Peace, Love, Lunges

I'll still maintain this blogsite for archival purposes, but please visit the new blog!

To visit my new blog, click here.

Peace, Love and Lunges...

SAM

Holiday Travel Tip #7: Unplug Those Ears

If you're trying to hear properly aboard an aircraft, remember that the air pressure on both sides of your eardrum should be roughly equal. The problem is, with most airplanes, the rapid changes in cabin pressure throw that balance off, resulting in less-than-optimal hearing. To fix this condition, try chewing some sugar-free gum, swallowing, or opening your mouth to help open the eustachian tube, which is connected to your middle ear. There's also a great brand of earplugs called EarPlanes (pictured above) which seem to help even out the air pressure by blocking the ear canal. I've used them many times with great success.

Holiday Travel Tip #6: Skip the Airline Food

The food served most passengers on flights these days is loaded with sugar, starch -- and you guessed it -- sodium. Sometimes you can call the airline ahead of time and request a vegetarian or kosher option, which is generally an improvement over the offerings made to the generic passenger. One quick improvement you can make is to remember to bring some fruit aboard. A little bag of raw almonds makes a healthy (and snappy!) alternative to those tiny bags of overly salted peanuts. Bring your own bottle of water as well.