TravelStream™ news feed for member psykokristin on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/psykokristin en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:47:15 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222234740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222234740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222234740/tpod.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:47:15 -0400 Central America, again...

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Boulder, Colorado, United States

Long story short, travelling back to Boulder wasn`t very smart. Boulder is at altitude (almost 6000 feet) and even though the doctor in Honduras said it'd be fine after 72 hours, it wasn't the case. Altitude spells less oxygen, oxygen is what you need when you have the bends (dcs,) so I felt some symptoms of DCS on the plane over to the States and my problems increased when I got to Boulder late last night. So... I had to visit the recompression chamber in Denver today and got another 5 hour treatment. I'll most likely not feel great until I go back to sea level. I have tickets back to Europe on Friday and if I don't need another treatment in the chamber, I'm free to go.

Apparently, the doctor in Honduras had misinterpreted my symptoms for being type 1 dcs instead of type 2 which is more serious and involves neurological symptoms. If he'd caught that, he shouldn't have enabled me to fly for much longer.

Anyway, I'm here now and I needed another treatment for my neck today (not surprising, when you consider last week's circumstances) so I feel that not much more can go wrong on this trip. Unless I get mugged or lose all my creditcards or something.

I just can't wait to go back home now, keeping my fingers crossed!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222101720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222101720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222101720/tpod.html Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:49:34 -0400 Central America, again...

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San Jose, Costa Rica

I´m not feeling much better, but I am in a better mood! Got to San Jose around midnight and chose the same hotel I´ve stayed at other times. La Guaria Inn. It´s very conveniently located 3 minutes from the airport, nothing fancy but you have everything you need.

So I´m on my way to the States, will go to the airport in just a bit.

Thought I´d share a tip with my fellow travellers though: If you like me enter Costa Rica for less than 24 hours before you leave again, tell that to immigration and you´ll have a time in your entry in your passport that will exempt you from the departure tax of around 30 US dollars. Pretty neat, huh?

Another tip is to only use licensed taxis from the airport (meaning you go to a booth at the airport, prepay for the trip and tell them the address you want to go to. It´s not more expensive than running a metre.) I´ve heard that the taxi drivers around San Jose are notorious at scams and I thought it was overrated, but all of the taxi drivers have asked me if I have a confirmed reservation at my hotel. If you say no, they might tell you that your hotel is full of cockroaches, prostitutes, burned down or simply overbooked, to try and take you to another hotel where they get commission. If you are in that situation, just insist on him taking you to your destination and say that you want to take a look yourself before you let him take you elsewhere...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222050300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222050300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1222050300/tpod.html Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:34:54 -0400 Central America, again...

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San Salvador, El Salvador

This time, I´m actually going to use the blog to vent! I´m in some serious bad mood after the day and week I´ve had.

Right now I´m stuck in San Salvador for God knows who long, (TACA doesn´t seem to grasp the concept of informing their passengers about what is going on.) Was supposed to be in San Jose, Costa Rica already, but the plane hasn´t even left San Jose yet, so I don´t know if I am going to make my connecting flight to the States tomorrow. My reservation in San Jose wasn´t on the hotel´s record when I called and informed them of my delay, so I have to find another hotel when and if I get there around midnight.. I left Roatan at 7 am this morning and it´s a ridiculously short distance to Costa Rica, so I´m not very happy being stuck in the country in the middle, having travelled for 13 hours....

Last week was bad!! Utila totally sucked, I got decompression sickness (for no apparent reason, I had a clean profile, 2 no frill dives, not very deep and not very long. Nevertheless I got bent and needed the hyperbaric chamber for 6 hours. (I´ll elaborate on Utila, diving and the treatment later.)

After that I have gotten a serious throat infection, a fever, a urinary tract infection (that might be kidney stone) and I´ve been treated with penicillin that I´m allergic to. So now I have a million red dots covering my arms and legs and an excruciating itch. The dots from the penicillin allergy is hard to differentiate from the hundreds of mosquito bites of course, so who knows what is what at this point. Just waiting to contract Malaria from my bites, which seems in tune with the trip I´ve had.

I just can´t wait to get to the States, check up on my neck and just go home! My cell phone is dead too, don´t know what happened to it, but it means that I might be without a phone connection for a week, which I find very annoying!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1221268680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1221268680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1221268680/tpod.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:29:05 -0400 Central America, again...

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Roatan, Honduras

So, my week here in Roatan has passed. I've been able to get some excellent dives here and there has still not been a single drop of rain. (Yay!) For those who wonder if there are any downsides to Roatan or going at this time of year, I have to say that there are a lot of mosquitos here, as well as sandflies and it's unbearably hot. The only place you could be is under water really, which suits me just fine of course. So if you can endure heat and mosquitos and you like your tropical diving, Roatan might be the place for you. And do remember to take anti-malaria pilles, there are 4 different strains of malaria on Roatan alone..

Here in the West End, where I stay, there is a beach, but it's not very wide. In fact if you are a beach comber, you should either go to West bay or not come here at all. There isn't a lot to do except diving on this island, so I suggest you get certified if you're already not a diver and you find yourself in the area.

As for the diving, the visibility has been great, currents are negligible, the walls aren't that deep, so the conditions for getting to learn how to dive, are excellent. And the diving community is like one big happy family. At least with Coconut tree divers. The instructors and divemasters are very experienced, they value safety and've got good equipment. In fact, an instructor is leading every dive, with at least one up to possibly four extra divemasters and DMTs (divemaster in training,) so you'll be well looked after.

I'm enjoying my last night on Roatan (I'm staying one more night on my way back, but that is a week from now.) I'll be heading for Utila tomorrow. I haven't heard many promising things about Utila this far, but I'm sure there is some inter island rivalry going on. The diving should be a little bit different, they've got Whale sharks and sea horses over there. I've seen both before, but I'd be happy to encounter them again.

Not quite sure what the internet status is over at my resort at the moment, so it might be a week until I log on again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220919840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220919840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220919840/tpod.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:35:31 -0400 Central America, again...

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Roatan, Honduras

Have just had another one of those picture perfect days in the Caribbean. You know, you dive a little, get to see some pretty amazing stuff under water and end the afternoon with chatting with travellers from all over the world, while having that ice cold post dive beer!

I am watching a beautiful sunset as I'm writing this. Have just fed the hotel's resident monkeys some bananas. One of them thanks me, by blowing me a kiss, which is pretty tacky, but he is cute enough to get away with it, and I will bring him another banana tomorrow and the day after that.

Divingwise I got impressed by the last dive today as we did a drift dive from Lighthouse to Half moon bay. There was a healthy wall sloping down to maybe 30 metres, with cascades of stuff growing on it. We also spotted an eagle ray, a turtle, some huge groupers and a few lonely Barracudas. All in all a great dive. This is what I came for!! In the Caribbean, in my view, Cuba can compete with this, Belize doesn't come even close...

My only worry is to decide which day I'm going to skip diving for going to see the butterflies in the Roatan butterfly garden and get some photos. Another worry, is that I need to decide how I want to get to the neighbour island of Utila on Saturday. (Either an inexpensive and short flight, or less expensive but long and tiresome ferry ride via mainland Honduras.) I have all these hard choices to make, Lol!

I'm pretty impressed and surprised by the quality of the food here. It's more expensive than Costa Rica, but it is waaay better. I've not eaten better Thai food out of Thailand, than what I had on Saturday. And yesterday I had some excellent pasta over at the Lighthouse.

For my family & friends who worry about my health and possible hurricanes, RELAX! This is a safe place, no hurricanes here, I feel good, and I feel stronger with every dive that I do. This was the smartest thing I could've done, given the circumstances.

I'm off to laze in my very own hammock, I've noticed that time flies whenver I sink into it. I just have to remember to get out before dinner...

(For those who are intersted in photos from my trip, check back at the very end of September, when I'm back home, I'll upload them as soon as I can.)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220841960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220841960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220841960/tpod.html Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:58:31 -0400 Central America, again...

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Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

The trip from CR to Honduras was pretty uneventful, was just surprised there were so many flights involved, for such a short distance. The return ticket from San Jose was cheap, but includes 4-5 flights each way. (San Jose-San Salvador- San Pedro Sula - La Ceiba - Roatan... phew!) The last flight was done in a very small plane, chuck full of divers and their equipment, I had to laugh at the sight of all that luggage for relatively few people.
I ended up in the West bay, (not the resort area) because accommodation is cheaper there. I've got a great place with a large bedroom, tiled bathroom, air con and my very own porch & hammock for less than 30 dollars pr. night. And yes it is the low season, but here low season doesn't mean it rains, it just means less people, yay!!!

Roatan has also caught some 'debris' from the hurricanes, which in this particular place means it gets very hot and humid. Which I felt to it's full extent yesterday, I felt as the air was sucked right out of me as I left the plane, my clothes plastered to my body, it was hard to move and impossible to think. so thank god I knew where I was going once at West end.

Found two different dive companies I'd like to try out, Coconut tree divers, who I dove with today, as well as Native sons, who I'll be diving with later this week. Both companies are friendly, with good set ups, equipment and fast boats, and literally steps away from the hotel.

Did 3 dives today, and I am happy to report that if you are a bubble blower, and find yourself in Roatan, you'll be very happy! Visibility was great, reefs were in good conditions, they've got exciting stuff, but I have to admit that I am so spoilt for diving now, that I'm not that impressed anymore. It is one of the better places of the Caribbean though, I'll admit to that. Being underwater again felt great (it's been a few months.) It may sound strange, but my neck actually feels better after diving. It might be the pressure or that I'm weightless or that I relax so much when I dive, I don't know, but no matter what the reason is, I just feel much better both during and after. Who knew that this could actually be therapeutic? My tinnitus which is bothering me at all times also disappears under water, and that is soooo great, tinnitus is really, really annoying!!

So apart from diving and relaxing in my hammock, I have no plans for the next week.



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220673480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220673480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220673480/tpod.html Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:44:56 -0400 Central America, again...

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San Jose, Costa Rica

Last night was a lot of fun. The Canadians cooked us dinner, I bought a lot of wine, and we had a blast drinking our sorrows away in the rain.

A little bit hung over today though, so slept in and rested as much as possible before the trip to San Jose. The weather was a bit better in Tamarindo today, it didn`t rain much, but it was cloudy. The trip to San Jose took over 5 hours, the roads were fine, but there are a lot of slow moving vehicles out there, so it took some time. Several areas were flooded, but apart from that I got a very good impression of Costa Rica. It´s not especially poor, the infrastructure is pretty good and they drive safely. I passed through dense rainforest on the way and I´m sorry I couldn´t spend more time here, I´ll have to come back in the dry season.

I´m currently staying at the same place I stayed at when I got here on Monday. Close to the airport and several fast food chains, it´s a good deal! Not that you should, but if you venture out at night in this area (Alajuela) please watch your step as there are several open holes in the ground and some seriously deep ditches to fall into.... However a girl's gotta eat, so I just went to McDonalds for a quick bite. (I know! It´s very sad!)

I need to get some shuteye before my morning flight tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed for less rain in Honduras!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220561100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220561100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/8/1220561100/tpod.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:15:49 -0400 Central America, again...

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Tamarindo, Costa Rica

So I'm seriously stuck in the rain in Tamarindo!! They've cancelled flights from this area because of the rain (forget about diving and surfing..) and even though it is good for my health (neck) to lie down and relax and sleep a lot, it is not good for my morale, I feel like I'm going crazy here... The sounds of the jungle is kind of soothing to go to sleep to though, I'll give them that.

I'm spending a lot of time online now to check for alternate options of getting to a beach where there's diving and some sun, that won't cost me an arm and a leg. So far, Honduras seems like the best bet, but if I am to go there, I need to be at the airport of San Jose which is far away from here. Will most likely know more tomorrow.

A bumpy bus ride will not do wonders for my neck so I'm dreading it, the road conditions around here are horrible! The roads of Belize were great compared to what I've seen around here. Have got no choice though. I've also been told that there are some river crossings involved, which can't be good, with all this precipitation...

I met some really cool Canadians yesterday. They are riding dirtbikes and have been on the road for a year, starting out in Canada and have driven through Central America, are going down to South America, possibly over to Oz and New Zealand before taking in Asia & Europe. Check out their website at: www.calalmission.blogspot.com
It's nothing less than admirable what they are doing. It must be very mentally and physically challenging doing a trip like that. Had to help Cal with disinfecting his chest after he'd branded himself with a home made tattoo...!! Luckily I'm lugging my "Florence Nightingale kit (first aid kit for those who don't know who Florence was,) and I was able to play nurse for a while today.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/6/1212011160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/6/1212011160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/6/1212011160/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:49:07 -0400 Bilbao - all about the Guggenheim

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Bilbao, Basque, Spain and Canary Islands

After a short flight from Oslo to Bilbao, we found our inexpensive Pension. (Pensione Bilbao.) This weekend was all about shopping and having fun, no use in wasting money on a fancy hotel. The bus that goes from the airport to downtown Bilbao is reliable and very cheap (appr. 1 Euro) and takes around 30 minutes to reach the city. You'll pass the famous Guggenheim museum on the way in.

This city is great if you need to stock up on clothes. It's also good for inexpensive tapas and wine and has a good relaxed feel to it.

When we were there, the shops were almost empty. My friend and I are hardcore shoppers (or browsers at least,) and we won't rest until we've been to every shop there is to visit. We walked from shop to shop from 9-10 in the morning until they closed at 9 in the evening, often skipping breakfast or dinner in order to get to yet another shop... (I know, it's sad!)

We managed to squeeze in a visit to the Guggenheim, which was well worth it. The museum is great, it's got a good permanent display as well as interesting short time exhibits.

Thumbs up for Bilbao, we'll be back!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/7/1216936440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/7/1216936440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/psykokristin/7/1216936440/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:44:27 -0400 A perfect Danish vacation island

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Læsø, Denmark

From Oslo, Norway, you can easily get to Denmark by ferries. It's a great trip down the Oslofjord before crossing the ocean to get to Frederikshavn in Denmark. The ferries are cheap too. Our destination this summer was Læsø, a small island off the coast of the northern part of Denmark. A great spot for vacationing in the summer.

My family and myself spent a week there in July this year. We rented an apartment in an old school, a 8 minute bicycle trip from the beach. There were 2-3 beaches to chose from in the area. The main one near the harbour, shops and restaurants was great if you wanted to see other people and you needed to use different facilities like shops and bathrooms. Danzigmandstrand was great if you wanted almost a whole beach to yourself.

The vibe at Laesoe was fantastic, the weather was great, and the beaches are gorgeous. Leasoe is about an hour on a ferry from Frederikshavn, and is highly reccommended for those who want to get away from it all.

If you choose accommodation close to the beach, you won't need to bring your own car as the bus on the island is free and you'll rent inexpensive bikes to get around on your own. It's a great way to vacation :)
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