Howdy Shellers,

At a holiday dinner this past week, I heard something that made my ears perk
up; that there were deals to be had on flights to exotic destinations like
Fiji. Some relatives are planning a vacation to Oaxaca. It seems that
Americans are starting to travel again, but perceive Mexico to be safer than
other destinations, like Fiji, so there were deals to Fiji, not Mexico.

Shelling freak that I am, I dashed to my computer to find these deals. I
haven't yet. Airfares to the South Pacific are enough to make you fall out of
your chair. I am still looking. But as I stumbled about the web, I discovered
a cool site that could be a valuable resource to fellow shellers; Travel
Medicine, Inc. 800/872-8633  travmed.com

Years ago I took a trip with Liberty Travel to Cozumel. They plopped us into
the middle of a typhoid epidemic without a word of warning. Five of the six
of us got typhoid. Now I never trust anyone else to do my travel health
research. I'm swooning to go to Fiji, if I can figure a way to afford it, but
I do not want Dengue fever which is a SERIOUS problem there. Typhoid in
Mexico was bad enough, thank you very much. Even after all these years the
memory is quite vivid and, compared to dengue, typhoid is a walk in the park.

Travel Medicine, Inc. has the best information on travel heath issues that I
have ever seen. IMHO, it blows away the CDC and WHO pages, at least for the
lay person. Learn all the gnarly details about malaria and dengue! The report
on Vanuatu  alone, reads like the outline of one of Stephen King's grimmer
efforts.

I had sought out the site to order packets of rehydration mixtures for severe
diarrhea, what the WHO people call resurrection fluid. (Living in AZ now, I'm
determined to give Mexico another go, but this time vaccinated up the wazoo
and better prepped.). But I found much more. The up-to-date health
information on various countries was amazing. And the products offered were
pretty cool too, including a synthesized sort of pyrethrum called Permethrin
for treating clothing.

As mosquitos often bite through clothing, I've often wondered about the
effectiveness of DEET alone, which is just for skin. An insecticide on
clothing helps shore up the gaps, but as an avid snorkeler & beachcomber, I
still have problems to solve. Skeeters bite right through dive skins.
Permethrin stays on clothing for several washings, but is toxic to marine
life.

So I ask all you world travelers, how did you address these problems on Fiji
and elsewhere? My idea of a trip is not Disneyworld safe and sterile, but I
would like to shell on my adventure, not spend my time writhing in febrile
agony.

Thanks in advance,

Ellen