Joining Team Trek America

Back in October 2009 I joined my first Trek America tour, a two-week camping trek of the Western USA - Westerner 2. Here's the fast-paced video of those two weeks - enjoy!

A New York First Date

If you're joining a tour which departs from New York, make sure you make time to see the Big Apple before your tour departs. My first visit to New York was in June 2010 before joining the Atlantic Dream tour with Trek America; this tour goes south to Miami via New Orleans.

If you're looking for some inspiration on how to spend a day in New York, check out my post on my Kooky Traveller site:  A New York First Date

Frequent Trekkers Club just got better!

Hot off the press, Trek America has just announced the Frequent Trekkers Club (FTC) has been updated to provide repeat passengers (existing Trekkers) with even better discounts! To find out more, visit the Trek America FTC web page

My Cross Country Trek Across America!

I've been blogging with Tumblr to post photos from my month-long trip to the USA, which started in Boston and ended in LA and included the three-week Trek America Cross Country BLT (SNB) tour. You can see my photos on my Tumblr trip blog

I'm back home, for now but I've stil got plenty of photos to upload and remind me of the amazing time we had! :-)

My next American Adventure

I recently booked the Cross Country BLT (SNB) with Trek America. This starts in NYC and ends in LA (but also operates in reverse), with 3 weeks travelling across the USA via the Southern States. I'm taking a month off work and I might head to Boston first for a couple of days, as I've not made it there yet. The route of the trek is shown below (image courtesy of Trek America):

I've already travelled to quite a few places on this itinerary but I'm really excited to go back to those places and I've always wanted to travel coast to coast - this way I get to do it without worrying about how I'm getting from one place to the next and having already travelled with Trek America a few times, I know it's going to be so much fun! :-)

Included highlights

Some of the planned activities include:

# Evening illumination tour of Washington DC monuments
# Awesome scenic walks and hikes
# Tour of the Vegas Strip
# Sightseeing in Nashville, Memphis, Austin and San Diego
# National Parks and Monuments, including Carlsbad Caverns, Monument Valley and the good ole Grand Canyon!

Optional activities

I've already done a few of the optional activities listed on this itinerary on previous trips to the States, but there are some new experiences, including a trip to Graceland - who doesn't want to go visit the King's place?! I'm not a massive Elvis fan but there's no denying he was an absolute legend!

To read more about the Cross Country BLT (SNB) tour, visit Trek's website

75% less bites than your average Trekker :-)

I thought I should give a quick update on my Vitamin B Complex experiment to repel the Canadian mozzies! The worst encounter with mosquitoes on my Mountie trek was in Golden, near Yoho National Park. There were literally thousands of mosquitoes in the air, so the thought of camping there for two nights was not a pleasant one to say the least!

We had an indoor kitchen and dining area so we could cook and eat away from the mosquitoes, so that was great but as soon as we were outdoors, we all wore long sleeves and trousers - but we certainly didn't let the mosquitoes spoil our campfire fun! Everyone wore plenty of deet but unfortunately that doesn't prevent anyone from staying completely bite-free, not when there are so many mosquitoes around.

Thankfully, our encounters with mosquitoes weren't as bad for the rest of the trip but most people still had a lot of bites and I'm talking a LOT of bites. Myself on the other hand, I definitely had 75% less bites than most, with probably 30 bites in total for the whole trip - don't get me wrong, that's still plenty bites, but when you consider that some of the guys had about 20-30 bites on the back of their necks alone, I'd say the combination of Vitamin B Complex and deet, definitely did the trick for me. And my bite zapper certainly helped reduce the desire to scratch those itchy bites!

So if you're heading into a mosquito-infested zone, you might want to stock up on Vitamin B too, the only thing I'd recommend you do first is check with your doctor because apparently it's easy to overdose on B vitamins and there can be health risks associated with that, and if you're pregnant (or taking medication), never take any supplements without speaking to your doctor first. Since completing this experiment, I've read that B vitamins can be used to ease the symptoms of repetitive strain injuries RSI's) and also that too much of some B vitamins can cause symptoms similar to RSI (confused?!)....just check with your doctor if in doubt.

Preparing for an attack of the mosquitoes!

In less than seven weeks I'll be flying out to Seattle to meet up with my fabulous mate LJ and the rest of 'Team Mountie' to start our Trek America adventure. Although I absolutely can't wait to get out there, I have heard quite a lot about blackfly, mosquitoes and horseflies and as someone who definitely seems to have tons of 'insect-appeal', I need to think about preparing for this.

According to the 'Rough Guide to Canada', the biggest problem appears to be in Northern Canada and I won't be venturing that far north, but I'm still going to take precautions. I've previously taken Vitamin B complex for a couple of weeks before going on a trek (Atlantic Dream, last June, starting in New York and ending in Miami) and that seemed to make a big difference to the number of bites I would have expected to get with sleeping outdoors. If you're travelling at the height of the summer season in some areas, you will find it is too hot to sleep in a tent, so be prepared for this. Taking vitamin B complex is well documented as a measure to prevent mosquito bites and the 'Rough Guide to Canada' also confirms this (p.295 on the e-book version I've downloaded onto my iPhone):

'If you're planning an expedition into the wilderness, you'd be well advised to take three times the daily dosage of vitamin B complex for two weeks before you go, and take the recommended daily dose whilst you're in Canada; this cuts down bites by up to 75 percent.'

I've never experimented with taking three times the daily dose but I'm confident that it will help. Of course I will also use other preventative methods whilst I'm away:

1. Boots Soltan sun cream and after sun with insect repellant is worth using (or any other sun cream containing repellant) and I always use it unless I'm swimming and then I switch to the water resistant version. I always use high SPF to minimise the risk of skin cancers - having experienced a family member being diagnosed with malignant melanoma, I know too well, how dangerous the sun can be.
2. Insect repellant in sun cream is not sufficient alone when camping outdoors though, you really need to use repellant containing deet (this stuff is not good for you though, so you have to use it with care and always read the instructions) - I always carry repellant that contains at least 50% deet, but for this trek I think I'll take some 100% along (you can buy Life Venture 100% deet from adventure stores like Millets).
3. If you need to buy any clothes for your trek and want to keep the mozzies at bay, check-out the clothes that contains insect repellant and sun protection (it all helps and some clothing claims to reduce bites by 90%). Remember, wearing white clothing also helps.
4. Consider taking a mosquito net - I've got one you can wear over a hat, although to be honest, I've only ever needed it so far to pose for stupid photographs, but you never know. I've also got a bug sheet, that folds up tiny and is good for staying in hostels.
5. Of course other insects can bite too and if you are camping somewhere where there's a lot of dry leaves etc on the ground, it can be a good idea to sweep all of that stuff away and keep the area around your tent clear.
6. Keeping food out of your tent is obviously another way to stop insects from wanting to enter - if you're camping in bear country, you should not have any food, drinks or toiletries in your tent anyway - park rules are there for a reason!
7. Gaffa tape can be useful for blocking any holes you might find in your tent. Generally the tents I've used on Trek have been in pretty good shape, but you never know.
8. Leave the perfume and aftershave at home. We all like to smell good, right? And we certainly prefer it if our trekking buddies smell good too, but if you want to keep mosquitoes away, then it's time to eliminate using perfumed products as much as possible. Another benefit of reducing the toiletries you take is you have more space in your bag for shopping whilst you're away ;-)

What happens if they bite anyway?
For some, no matter what you do, the mosquito will find a way so I never, ever travel without my mosquito bite zapper! For me, there is nothing else more effective at killing the desire to scratch that itchy bite! I've tried 2 brands, Mosquito-Click and Boots' own version (both available from Boots). The device works by giving the bite a small electric shock (seriously, this does not hurt, although guys are always very cautious about trying it - haha!). You can find out more about Mosquito-Click here

Depending upon where you travel in the world, mosquito (and other) bites can lead to illness and even death so it is important to be careful, research the areas you are visiting (before you leave home) and identify the risks - knowing what signs to look for, if you or someone else displays symptoms, can be important. Always make sure you follow local advice too. For many, bites are just an inconvenience, an irritation which for some, can spoil a holiday.

So, if you also suffer from high 'insect-appeal' (we can't help it if we taste so good!) and follow at least a few of the above tips, hopefully you will find those darn bitey insects give you a wide berth and go pester someone else!