Take Your Best Shot: Travel Photography

From time to time, I'll offer photography tips for taking better photos. We all want to preserve the memories of a wonderful trip -- new friends, beautiful scenes and memorable places. First and foremost, take a lot of photos, especially if you are working with a digital. Unless you are a professional photographer, you can't be certain one shot will do it. At the end of each day, review photos and discard any that are out of focus and unappealing.

Landscape Mode

What It Does - Makes everything in a scenic photograph—from nearby trees to mountains in the distance—look equally sharp.

How - The size of the opening in the lens, known as the aperture, is reduced to let light into the camera from different distances. This creates an even focus across the entire image.

Tips - The setting is useful for more than just landscapes—you can also use it when photographing a large crowd of people. When switching to landscape mode, the focus is fixed at infinity. There is usually no need to check focus before taking a picture. However, if there are objects in a scene, lock focus on one that is about a third of the way between the nearest and furthest object.

An Ounce of Prevention

If you are taking medication, always carry more than you think you'll need when you travel. You never know when a flight delay or weather conditions may cause your 10-day trip to become a 12-day one. Hurricanes or even snow storms can strand travelers for days. Be prepared. Always carry your medications in their original containers. And, carry a list of your medications, including the strength (example: 100 mg. Imitrex), in a separate location. If you lose your medication, you can better communicate with foreign medical personnel about your needs if you have a list readily available.

Traveling with Food Allergies

Budget Travel had some great suggestions for those travelers with food allergies. Before you leave home, create a menu of simple—and safe—dishes you can order abroad (your favorite ethnic restaurant may be able to help you out). If you're going on a tour, ask the operator about regional differences in the food that may affect you. Chat rooms, such as chow.com, provide helpful advice from other travelers on specific dishes to avoid.

Carry a note card that clearly states, in the language of the country you're visiting, what foods you can't eat. Showing this to the wait staff at a restaurant will prevent trying to explain your restrictions. You can order the cards in about 30 languages at selectwisely.com (from $6.50) and allergytranslation.com ($7.50).

Many airlines will cater to your particular allergy needs by preparing special meals, such as ones that are gluten- or lactose-free, if you call ahead. Eating in restaurants at off times will ensure that waiters focus on your needs. Call ahead to give restaurants more time to prepare, especially if they need to make changes to a dish. And if you feel like your waiter doesn't understand, ask to speak to the people in the kitchen.

Reviews and Photos from Wolf Treks Trip to China

Our Wolf Treks China travelers had a wonderful time in 2008. Randy Ham, an Alumni Association associate executive director, hosted the trip, and he reports that lots of new friends were made as our group traversed China. In fact, the group got together in Raleigh after the trip to share a meal, memories and photos from the trip. Feedback from our travelers included these comments: "a broad exposure to China and her history and people with excellent accommodations,""covered all the places I wanted to see and allowed for some rest time without too much time on the bus," and "high quality, good price and an exciting destination." Lots of photos were snapped as our Wolf Trekkers explored Beijing. To see the photos, visit our China folder in Flickr. We will be repeating this trip in fall 2009. To receive a brochure about this trip, send an e-mail to alumni_travel@ncsu.edu.

Singing in the Airport

Houston's Bush International Airport is setting up karaoke booths for travelers, just in time for the holidays. One was to be up and running last Thursday afternoon, reports USA Today.

For the past two years, officials have invited choirs and bands from high schools and churches to perform at Bush and Hobby airports during December. Karaoke seemed the next logical step, said Caroline Schneider, assistant airport manager for customer service.

"During the holidays, we have a lot of our novice travelers," she said. "We thought while they are waiting, they can just sing a song."

Aspiring vocalists can choose from hundreds of song titles, Schneider said. Small prizes will be given to the singers.

Treatment of Altitude Sickness

The best way to prevent acute altitude sickness is to ascend slowly (over a period of several days) to higher altitudes. Limiting physical activity for the first few days may also help. Acute altitude sickness is usually not a serious condition, and it resolves on its own with rest and over-the-counter analgesics for pain control. Maintaining adequate hydration may also help reduce the symptoms of acute altitude sickness. Besides moving to a lower altitude, you can treat mild altitude sickness with rest and pain relievers. The drug acetazolamide can speed recovery. This drug balances your body chemistry and stimulates breathing. If you have symptoms of altitude sickness, avoid alcohol, sleeping pills and narcotic pain medications. All of these can slow your breathing, which is extremely dangerous in low-oxygen conditions. If the condition becomes severe, immediate descent to a lower altitude is recommended, as well as medical treatment.

Symptoms and causes of Altitude Sickness

Occasionally our NC State Wolf Treks trips take travelers to high altitudes. In locations such as Peru (we have a spring trip scheduled), Tibet or Ecuador, travelers can experience altitude sickness, which occurs when you cannot get enough oxygen from the air. This causes symptoms such as a headache and loss of appetite. It happens most often when people who are not used to high altitudes go quickly from lower altitudes to 8,000 feet or higher. You may get a headache when you drive over a high mountain pass, hike to a high altitude or arrive at a mountain resort. Mild altitude sickness is common. In the United States, more than 20 percent of the people who visit the western mountains experience it. Experts do not know who will get it and who will not. Your age, sex or physical fitness play no role in whether you get altitude sickness.

The symptoms of altitude sickness include:

• headache. The headache is usually throbbing. It gets worse during the night and when you wake up.
• loss of appetite.
• Nausea. You may vomit.
• Feeling weak and lazy. In severe cases, you do not have the energy to eat, dress yourself or do anything.
• Inability to sleep at night.
• Dizziness.

Your symptoms may be mild to severe. They may not start until a day after you have been at a high altitude. Many people say altitude sickness feels like having a hangover. Altitude sickness can affect your lungs and brain. When this happens, symptoms include being confused, not being able to walk straight (ataxia), feeling faint and having blue or gray lips or fingernails. When you breathe, you may hear a sound like a paper bag being crumpled. These symptoms mean the condition is severe, and travelers should seek immediate medical assistance. Altitude sickness be deadly.