by Ricardo

Last July I posted an introduction to CouchSurfing.com, an organization that connects travelers with (if only temporarily) anchored people – people with an extra room or couch to offer you while you visit their town and country. The pros to CS were pretty obvious: a free place to stay a night or two with people who share your lifestyle – not unlike staying over at a friend-of-a-friend. And for the host, it’s being able to meet others. The cons may be that two days stay isn’t enough, or that if you’re nomading you might need to take over a place, or be less sociable while you focus on your work. For the host, your hosting out of the goodness of your heart, since no money changes hands at CS.

But let’s say your travel budget isn’t so lean. Or, that you have a nice extra room you’d like to make some money on.

A friend of mine recently turned me on to Airbnb.com. Unlike CouchSurfing.com, which is a quasi-nonprofit organization, Airbnb.com is about commerce. They link people with extra rooms, bungalows and apartments, with folks who are seeking their own space – and are willing to pay for it. But unlike traditional B&Bs, which are operated as primary business, the people at Airbnb.com allow only private parties to use their services. Like CS, they act as intermediaries (or even emissaries of goodwill) between those who wish to make a little money on their guest accommodations, and those who want something more than a couch or room space. And, if you believe the well produced video introduction to Airbnb.com, you can be slumbering in anything from a well appointed penthouse to a rustic tree house, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.  As for price, it’s not always super cheap – but definitely reasonable. For example, a night in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA), a sort of well-healed destination, will run you anywhere from $35 (private room) to $400 (3 bedroom house), with most people offering their places between $80-$125.

Like CS, Airbnb.com offers a complete profile of the accommodation, the surrounding area, as well as about the host – which is very important since you’ll be staying in someone’s private residence rather than a business. There’s also a review section for you to consider the experiences of past guests. And for the host, they get to review your references. You know, to make sure you’re not a total whacko.

In this economic recession, being able to offer up your extra space for some extra cash so that others can have a bit of home comfort while they’re on the road or nomading seems like a winning combination.

Have you got some experiences to share about Airbnb.com or other similar people-hosting service?

Photo: A room at Janela de Marcia in Florianopolis, Brazil. An example of an Airbnb choice.

This post was bought to you by Flight Centre who will help you find cheap international flights out of Australia to all parts of the world.

by Ricardo

One of the real headaches before transitioning from one place – could be home – to another location is the whole upon arrival thing. Invariably the first thing a person is going to ask themself before they even purchase their airline (or train) ticket is: “I wonder if I know someone… over there?”

Yup, having someone you already know in a foreign land that you’re about to nomad in is that bridge we all hope to have. In fact, not having any contact in a far away land is one of the prime reasons travelers hesitate to go to a new place. And doesn’t it make all the difference in the world when you do have an acquaintance over there, or even a friend-of-a-friend – one who will host you for those first couple ominous nights? Someone to show you the lay of the land before you begin to finalize your living plans for that area?

We think it does. And, so do the folks at CouchSurfing.com – a nonprofit organization.

I recently became a member of CouchSurfing. Although I’ve returned home to the USA to nomad around here for the year, all the places I wish to visit are also places I know the least about. More importantly, they’re locations that I have no first-hand contacts in. (Ironically, having just spent the past ten years nomading I have far more contacts in Asia and Europe than here in my home country.) Anyway, simply relying on traditional means of accommodations (e.g. hotels, motels, inns or even hostels) are both colossally expensive here in America and, more importantly, lack the fraternity long-term travelers and nomads seek along with access to information of the town the person is hoping to base themselves in. And what makes CouchSurfing such a find is that they really offer both the host and the visitor an abundance of profile information so that a previously unknown member will seem as familiar as an old friend you’d once spent time with on the road. (If you wanna see a real life example, check out my CS profile at: http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/tatteredbackpack). Moreover, they offer both Host and Surfer references and they have a reasonably good member verification program.

So, What is CouchSurfing?

According to “Mars,” who’s on the CS Communications Team, CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. The organization has been around since 2004, with the intent of connecting people together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. They now have more than a million people on board!

The mission of CS is to create inspiring experiences: cross-cultural encounters that are fun, engaging, and illuminating. These experiences take many forms. CouchSurfing’s initial focus was on hosting and “surfing” (staying with a local as a guest in their home). Alongside these core experiences, CS now also facilitates a growing array of activities and events.

How does CouchSurfing work?

CouchSurfing members share hospitality with one another – just like most seasoned travelers are already quite used to. And Hosts benefit from the exchange as well (they’re not offering up their couch and extra bedroom simply because they’re good Samaritans.) Hosts have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world without leaving home. (And no doubt it helps to soften the re-entry shock many long term travelers go through upon returning home.) “Surfers,” or travelers, are able to participate in the local life of the places they visit. CS also gives more people the chance to become travelers, because “surfing” lowers the financial cost of exploration.

Membership Information

Simply point your mouse over to www.couchsurfing.org and sign up! But note that the process may take a couple of weeks as they complete the verification requirement. In addition, you can shoot the breeze with other NuNomad Tribe members about couchsurfing in our Tribe couchsurfing group.

Photo: Matt Braga

By Ricardo

Imagine walking across the United States (yes, I said “walking”) with only the essentials to live and get the job done, and the mission to teach others that nomading need not require an airline ticket and foreign itinerary. Having myself been involved with The Great Peace March back in 1980s, I was happy to find that some people are trying to make it easier for others to venture off by foot in the near future. Moreover, I was happy to learn that they’ve gotten on board with kickstarter.com, a project and funding showcase that many nu nomads can take advantage of as well.

Starting on July 1st, two budding nomads, Evan Burchard and Jade Applegate, are going to make walking from coast-to-coast much easier for others by blazing a trail and producing a guide book called “The Adventure Access Guide: How to Walk Across America.”

In their words, “A cross-country walk is difficult enough without having to worry about every last detail or unknown variable. The Adventure Access Trail enables adventurers to be informed about these logistical aspects so that they can focus on the fun and interesting challenges of walking across America.”

The book will be based on their 3,400-mile journey from Boston to San Francisco. They are walking an average of 20 miles per day. Along the way, they’ll blaze the trail by placing stickers every 10 miles to create checkpoints, and they’ll even rate each checkpoint based on climate, walkability, provisions, mobile phone coverage and Internet service, and how friendly the locals are.  All of these ratings will be posted online as they explore each area.

Besides typical camping and hiking gear they’ll be packing a bit of technology with them as well, namely, a laptop, a smart phone, a solar charger, and a Spot GPS emergency beacon. They will be in touch via their blog, twitter, facebook, and email whenever they have a serviceable cell phone signal. In the more remote places where they won’t, their GPS will be there to send out an SOS if they need it.

Their decision to go off the main grid for 6 months didn’t come easily. There is a lot of preparation before hand, and ensuring that you have the funds necessary is one of the hardest parts. As many nu nomads know, making money on the road can be difficult. Savings will work great for shorter trips, but if you want to do something really long term, or travel indefinitely, having a source of revenue in place before you travel is essential. This can mean establishing specific clients ahead of time or even get your project funded as you nomad (more on this is available in the Nu Nomad).

While you’re off the grid and away from home, there are many types of work that you may be able to do in a location-independent way. Writing or other artistic pursuits such as photography, et cetera are all viable choices.  If there is some possibility to create a product during your time, then you could consider crowd-funding the project ahead of time. There are a few online platforms for this, kickstarter.com, where Evan and Jade are raising funds and awareness about their project, being the most popular. These platforms are great because they genuinely attract a crowd of people who like to see amazing things happen in the world and are willing to put their own money behind it.  Through kickstarter, backers can can pre-order a signed copy of their guidebook or even lay claim to a checkpoint along the route.

For more info on Evan and Jade’s adventure across America, visit their website at http://adventureaccess.org/. For updates during their journey, follow @adventureaccess on Twitter or on facebook.

It’s for real. Local medias may not be raising the alarms, but Dengue Fever, and Chikungunya Fever (which is also a mosquito-borne virus, with similar symptoms to Dengue) prevalence is rising at an alarming rate.

In the case of Dengue, which I’ll focus more on than Chikungunya, The World Health Organization and The Centers for Disease Control—although neither seem to have current statistics for the public—are calling Dengue an epidemic and have shown the disease to have about doubled in the last decade—ending in 2007. As for Chikungunya, its impact is also hard felt, more so than Dengue in many areas. (Current public comparative data for this disease is also lacking greatly and therefore not offered.) Since a lot of people choose to nomad and live in the most affected areas of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Singapore, it’s a significant concern to us at the Nu Nomad. According to the World Health Organization’s most recent report, 75% of the reported 50 million cases are occurring in Southeast Asia.

And, yes, I’m here to see it—and feel it.

I first noticed the extreme rise in these two mosquito-borne viruses in 2008 while living on Koh Lanta. Then, many of my fellow island nomads, expats, neighbors and myself were experiencing flu-like symptoms. The first concern we usually had was that it might be Malaria. More often than not though, it was something else: like Dengue Fever. So, testing for Dengue soon became near automatic. And, yup, many of them had caught it. At least for those who contracted Dengue they now knew where they stood (err, more likely, where they curled-up into a ball and sweated for a week) and could size up the risks of remaining in that area. But, then came Chikungunya Fever. With it being a relatively new major disease, with very few hospitals even in Bangkok able to do rapid testing, people often thought that if their flu-like ailment weren’t Malaria or Dengue, then they just had the flu.  Maybe no, maybe so—who’s to know?

Since those healthier more care-free days of Koh Lanta, however, the south of Thailand has exploded in cases of both Dengue and Chikungunya. Moreover, there’s now even a significant increase in these diseases here in Bangkok—where yours truly is recovering nicely from a bout of Dengue himself.

Oh, yes, my own Dengue experience. (I’ll try to be brief.)

Well, I decided to spend December on Ko Phayam (a little-traveled island near Burma’s border) with a dozen or so friends in celebration of my 50^th birthday. (I had a great time. Thank you to all who shared it with me.) Anyway, while on Phayam it quickly became noticeable how many people were feeling sick. (In fact, many people coming over to Phayam from neighboring Ko Chang island were also complaining of unusually high levels fever-related ailment there. So, by no means is the problem just on Phayam.) Half of my friends and many people I’d met on Ko Phayam island began experiencing all sorts of ailments that included: fever, chills, loss of energy, body aches and headaches. (I, however, felt just fine.) Although the affected were concerned, they understood their options were limited to two: either leave the island for a mainland hospital for a blood test (small islands like Phayam and Ko Chang have no testing facilities), or wait a few more days to see if the symptoms go away by themselves. Of course most had chosen the later hoping to Buddha it was just the flu. And in a normal year, they would most likely have been fine to do so. Not this year though. (The unusually persistent rain this year has only exacerbated the epidemic.) Anyway, most of my friends and people I’d met there who shared similar symptoms were eventually diagnosed with either Dengue or Chikungunya. (FYI: though both Dengue and Chikungunya share very similar symptoms, Dengue tends to produce more aches to ones muscles and Chikungunya to ones joints.) I’d learned the news of my friends’ diagnosis’s not long after I’d returned just after the New Year, safe and sound (or I thought) to Bangkok—my current base.

More than a week after my return it was my turn to feel flu-like symptoms. Though not really worried about it, I thought I should still go pay Dr. Nick of Mission a visit. (“Dr. Nick” is not only my personal physician and contributor to my co-authored book, the Nu Nomad and to our blogs on Malaria prevention, but he is a tropical disease and preventive medicine specialist.) After some poking and prodding, Dr. Nick and I agreed it was most likely that: the flu. Not having many of the associated symptoms of Dengue or Chikungunya (rash, extreme muscle pain, los of appetite, to name just three) put me at ease enough to not bother to order a blood test. (Silly me.)

To make a very long story short—a story that includes a bout of acute intestinal infection severely complicated with (probably mild) food poisoning—About ten days later I paid Dr. Nick another visit to learn that, yes, I had indeed contracted Dengue—and that it was unclear if I’d contracted it on the island or here in Bangkok. Because of my recent ailments and having left the island several weeks earlier, it wasn’t all that odd that Dengue was just now being identified.

The lesson here is that one should not shy away from getting the blood tests for Dengue, Chikungunya and also Malaria if they’re experiencing flu-like symptoms, especially this year with Southeast Asia being drenched in water. The cost is not all that great and, anyway, that’s what your travel insurance is for.

Prevalence

During the hour we waited for my lab results to come back Dr. Nick and I talked about the recent surge in Dengue and Chikungunya. He was astounded by how many new patients he’s been treating in the past few months alone (Most were coming in from tourist islands. And since Dr. Nick is American, he sees a lot of the Internationals.) Where he usually sees only a few Dengue and Chikungunya cases per month this time of year—it being the so-called “dry season,”—this year the caseload has “sky-rocketed.” (He was unable to offer specific numbers.) This, naturally, made me wonder: Why aren’t there public alerts on this? The answer could be the lack of national and international funds to properly monitor and advertise the rise of these diseases, or perhaps it has something to do with not panicking the tourists in an already anemic high-season. Who knows. So, consider this such an alert.

Prevention

Both Dengue and Chikungunya are caused by the Aedes mosquito. This bad boy has black and white stripes on its legs and body. It bites during daylight hours. Since mosquitoes breed in clean, stagnant waters in shady areas, like those lush, green garden-like areas we are so fond of, it important to take extra precautions when leaving, say the hot, dry, sandy beach for the cool, shade. Wear clothing that covers your skin more completely than just shorts and short sleeve or tank tops. And use mosquito repellent; there are several natural options. (Naturapel available at REI stores is the best I’ve come across so far.) Mosquito coils are helpful, just like a fan is when in your room. When taking a nap, use that mosquito net.

Treatment*

Because Dengue and Chikungunya are caused by a virus, there are no specific medicines or antibiotics to treat them. For typical dengue, the treatment is purely concerned with relief of the symptoms. Rest and fluid intake for adequate hydration is very important. Acetaminophen/Paracetamol (Tylenol) and codeine may be given for severe headache and for the joint and muscle pain. However, Aspirin Ibuprofen, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should only be taken under a doctor’s supervision because of the possibility of worsening hemorrhagic complications.

Long Term Effects of Dengue Fever*

Usually, there are no long term serious concerns for someone who gets dengue fever. However, as with any serious virus infection, there is the possibility for a person to form a chronic fatigue-type syndrome after recovering from dengue, but this is also true for the flu and a number of other viruses, such as with mononucleosis. It is rare for it to happen, and is more often seen in people with a past history of depression, anxiety or similar mental illness. It is more common in women than men.

Dengue, unlike some kinds of malaria, has no potential for “coming back” again in the future.  If a person contracts dengue again, it is a new infection, not a reactivation of the old infection.

There are four kinds of dengue virus. Once you have had one kind, you are immune to it. However, you can still become infected with another type. A second infection with dengue tends to be more severe.

There is a higher likelihood of having a complication due to dengue with a subsequent infection, such as dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome.  Dengue hemorrhage fever is when there is bleeding and dengue shock syndrome is when the blood pressure goes down and there is leaking of fluid out of the blood vessels into other parts of the body, such as the feet or the lungs.

The majority of people who have a first episode of dengue fever can be treated as an out patient. The opposite is true with a subsequent infection where most need to be hospitalized.

The good news is the dengue will go away on its own.  The people to be most careful and concerned with when there is a dengue infection, is children.  They are much more likely to have a more severe form and many of the people who die from dengue fever are children.

Although deaths do occur with dengue, most of the younger, healthier, travelers are at very low risk for this.  People with heart disease, diabetes, immune problems, children and the elderly need to be followed closely when they have dengue and should not just try to “tough it out”. Although there is no medicine to kill the dengue virus, hospitals such as Mission do have good treatments to handle or even prevent the complications of dengue fever.

* Information and advice provided in great part by Dr. Nick Walters, MD.

Photo by: spcbrass