Kuala Lumpur is one of my top 5 cities for street food and a good place to start is Petaling Street. Just make sure when you arrive to give your searing hot food a moment to cool off, you don’t want to risk a single damaged taste bud and miss out on the wide variety of Malay flavor.
Although the answer to the question, “should you get travel insurance“, is almost always a reluctant “yes”, a lot of times providers don’t cover the scariest of situations. Countries that are considered dangerous, terrorist acts, and robbery aren’t always covered and while it’s not pleasant to think of such circumstances, for some parts of the world it is warranted.
Fortunately there are some options for you prior to leaving on a trip where you might want to be extra cautious.
What Is Dangerous?
Insurance coverage for risky locations and situations is likely less expensive than you may think but generally it isn’t cheap. Before you consider making a dent in your digital travel budget, check to see if you might be already covered and research whether or not your destination is much more dangerous in reputation than it is in reality.
Don’t assume that your regular travel insurance is going to cover you for everything, everywhere. All of the reputable companies will have a list of destinations that aren’t covered. You should also confirm what they define as acts of terror (not always as straightforward as it should be), putting yourself at risk (and out of coverage), plus any unusual circumstances.
Break Down Threats
Insurance companies typically break down what normal people consider dangerous into a few coverage categories: war, terrorism, kidnapping (plus ransom payments). You’ll need to decide or speak with a specialist to decide what coverage you need as well as how much. (It’s not easy to decide how much ransom you’re worth – or for some us – too easy.)
Having traveled to places like Iraq, followed protests in eastern Ukraine, and had dinner in remote roadside kitchen halls in Yemen, I’ve worked with a number of companies offering special security coverage. One of the easiest to work with in my opinion is Clements.
Quotes And Protection Online
Regular travel insurance is something you can purchase online but quotes on less orthodox situations typically mean a phone call. Waiting on hold isn’t fun and making calls isn’t always practical when you’re traveling around the world on a multi-city trip. Clements lets you get a full quote on coverage in case of terrorism, kidnapping, and a whole bunch of terrible events that hopefully don’t happen. Their specialists often get back within two business days – plus there’s no money you need to put down. Clements gives you a quote based on the type of specialty coverage you want for the specific country you will traveling to.
Specialty travel insurance only covers specific catastrophic events however, supplementing regular travel insurance. That means it won’t cover a sprained ankle sustained while trying to grab the best danish in Denmark or other commonplace claims like antibiotics. Additionally your electronics likely aren’t covered so make sure to check your regular travel insurance policy carefully.
Everything is bigger in Texas, even the state Capitol Building dome, which is 6.7 meters (~22 feet) taller than the Capitol in Washington D.C. Tours are free and open almost every day of the year.
Staying in shape is hard enough when you’re not traveling all over the world but there are a lot of covert exercises you can do in an airport that are challenging enough to be worthwhile.
Get Your Tracking Software Ready
Before getting started you want to make sure you’re able to keep track of the mini-workout ahead of you. Walking is an important exercise anywhere and most airports are large enough for a good 5 kilometer warm up. iOS users, here’s how you can enable the Health app on your iPhone, which will show you the number of steps you’ve taken plus distance walked. Android users, the free app Runtastic is a good choice.
Now you’ll know exactly how much walking around you’ve actually done – since we’re all terrible at estimating important things like travel budgets. Be sure also to do little speed ‘boosts’ in your walking, accelerating for intervals. In an airport you’ll blend in as another late passenger rushing for flight.
Squeeze And Flex
Fitness expert Yasmin Al-Atrache recommends incorporating glute squeezes and core flexes into your airport walk at intervals you’re comfortable with. One variation of the glute squeeze is essentially flexing your butt cheeks as hard as you can for 15-30 seconds at a time. For every 2 minutes of your walk, stop and glute squeeze, for a total of 10 times.
To extend of mix up the muscles engaged during an airport workout, incorporate core flexes. Much like glute squeezes, a core flex is tightening the muscles in your smooshy belly region as hard as you can for 15-30 seconds.
Lunges
These aren’t the most covert motions to pull off admittedly but they are effective, burning about 90 calories every 10 minutes (without a backpack on). 5 sets of 30 seconds each while maintaining correct posture as shown below will make you feel a bit less guilty about that fancy flavored latte you drank before entering the security line.
Keep Up The Burn
More conspicuous are wall push ups, which look a lot like stretching, perhaps masking any anxiety you may feel about working out in an airport.
You can mix these in with the other exercises mentioned above at 2 minute intervals of your walk, 10-20 times each should push your heart rate higher. (Heart Rate, $1.99 on iOS and Instant Heart Rate, free for Android, use your mobile phone flash to establish a pre and post-workout pulse to make sure you are pushing yourself adequately.)
Know Your Limits
Obviously an airport workout like this is more about maintenance and health, since there’s only so much strength training you can do without heavy weights or significant sweating. Don’t count on eating whatever you want after sightseeing either – wandering around tourist sites burns far fewer calories than you think. In case you won’t be training Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Rio, you can maintain intense workouts with these backpack accessories, bicep curl a backpack full of gadgets, or burn 50 calories in 5 minutes with this hotel room workout.
Taken around 8pm as Norwegians hop from bar to bar, drinking away the thought that beers are well over $10 each.
Virtual private network (VPN) software can do a lot for your digital life when traveling – like protecting your online accounts to helping you avoid regional censorship. But one of the lesser known benefits of using a VPN is finding cheaper airfare when searching for tickets online.
As Paul asked me recently on Facebook – how exactly do you use a VPN to find lower prices on airline tickets? Here’s the best way to turn your web browser into a digital travel agent with insider deals.
First, Choose A Good VPN
Most VPNs worth their 0s and 1s let you select a location where you’ll appear to physically be. So, for example, you might be traveling in Iceland but setting your VPN location in New York will make it appear to websites like Netflix, that you’re in the United States.
Start by downloading one of the 3 best VPNs for travelers or for those of you who don’t carry a laptop, check out TunnelBear.
Location Strategy
Using your everyday browser, starting looking for tickets and routes as you normally would (with VPN off). If you’re not sure where to look, one of the best flight search engines should turn up a good set of routes plus average rates.
Next, it’s time to turn on your VPN – setting its location to the home country of the airline you’re most interested in. So, if Paris is the destination and there’s a decent Air France flight, change your VPN location to somewhere in France.
Before doing anything else, you’ll want to open up a ‘private browsing’ mode window. Here’s how to do that in Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. What this does is ensures you’re IP address is stored in cache so the website you’re looking at can’t remember your real location.
Remember The Basics
For every new flight search, use a new private mode browser window. Don’t forget to use some low-airfare best practices, such as checking not only online travel agents like Kayak but also airline websites directly. Hopefully by now you’ve found a few discounts, even if small; however, in case your VPN searches aren’t turning up anything there’s one more option: use the U.S.
No matter where you’re flying, consumers in the United States are often offered lower rates on airfare, no matter the origin and destination cities. It’s worth a shot to set your VPN to any American city when all else isn’t working. For even more savings, look for multi-city flights, see if you’ve got enough frequent flyer miles for a free flight, and spread your searches out over a few days.
Hi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More 
