In-Flight Excercises

During long flights I strongly recommend the following exercises to become more comfortable during flying and to avoid the dangerous adverse effects of DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis

Ankle Circles: lift your foot off the floor and draw a circle in the air with your toes pointed, altering direction. Continue for 30 seconds. Repeat with your other foot.

Foot Pumps: While keeping your heels on the floor, point your feet up as high as possible toward your head. Put both feet back flat on the floor. While keeping the balls of your feet on the floor, lift both heels high. Continue for 30 seconds.

Knee Lifts: While seated, march slowly in place by contracting each thigh muscle. Continue for 30 seconds.

Knee to Chest: hold your left knee and pull up toward your chest. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds. Slowly return to floor. Alternate legs for 10 minutes.

These exercises should not be performed if they cause pain or discomfort or if they are not recommended by your doctor.

Safe Travel with Liithium and Lithium Ion Batteries

During my travels, I have come to learn that some products used at home or at work can be dangerous when transported in an aircraft. Temperature and pressure variations can cause some items to leak, generate toxic fumes, or start a fire.

Lithium and Lithium Ion batteries are such items that may catch fire when not handled properly. First, you should not use aircraft power ports to charge these batteries. When packing, place spare lithium batteries in carry on baggage's, not in checked baggage. See battery size limitations at safetravel.dot.gov. It is preferable that you use the original packaging to store spares. If the original packaging is not available, store each one in a separate plastic bag or use electrical tape on terminals to prevent the batteries from making contact with metal objects.

Using Online Services for Last Minute Travel Needs

Throughout my 20+ years of travel with NJMET, I often found myself traveling for customer related projects at the last minute out of the state of New Jersey.  As we all well know, booking a flight,  hotel, or any type of arrangement close to the travel date increases the prices and expenses dramatically.

I found that using online services such as Expedia, Priceline, and Travelocity among others has helped me save on travel expenses by nearly 50%.  However there is a downside.

To save money at the last minute instead of taking a direct flight you may find yourself on one connecting flight and in some situations, depending on how much money you want to save, on 2 stops prior to reaching your intended destination.

I feel strongly that if you have the time and some work to do in the interim AND want to save money, using these services wisely can help you save money.

One of my most recent experiences took me on a trip to Huntsville Alabama.  I found out on a Tuesday afternoon that I needed to be at a meeting in Huntsville at 1 PM the next afternoon.   I found that a direct trip would have cost me around $700.  Instead, I used Expedia,com  and made one stop in Atlanta at 10 AM and was able to arrive in time for the 1 PM meeting with a 50% savings on airfare. 

The services that I strongly recommend are:

Priceline.com

Travelocity.com

Hotwire.com

Orbitz.com

Cheaptickets.com

Cheapseats.com

Shermanstravel.com

Lastminutetravel.com

Budgettravel.com

Tripbase.com

Onetravel.com

Hotels.com

Sidestep.com

Kayak.com

Travelzoo.com

BookingBuddy.com

Travelsites.com

Travel.Yahoo.com

Faremeasure.com

Immigration and Customs Tip

Here’s a general tip for getting through US customs and immigration: 

Carry as few packages as possible.  If you have purchased items at the airport duty free shops,  take a moment to put your packages into your carry-on luggage before you get to immigration.  The fewer packages to juggle at customs, the better!

Narita Airport tips

Last Spring 2009, during a trip to Singapore, I made a plane connection in Narita Airport in Japan. In the American Airlines terminal, there is a small shop that has the best Japanese clothing.   I bought a number of kimonos there for my kids and they loved them.  

The airport is usually busiest during the morning.  I’ve found that during the morning it usually takes around 50 minutes to get through the security check, so plan for at least that time.  (On a really bad day, it took over one and half hours.)    During the evening, I’ve been able to go through security pretty quickly – usually under 30 minutes.

Welcome to Traveling with Joe!!

One of the great parts of my job as Director of Operations at NJ Micro Electronic Testing in Clifton, NJ is that I get to travel. I have traveled to over a dozen countries on three continents during the last few years, as well as visited many cities here in the United States. I find the difference in cultures very stimulating and want to share my enthusiasm for travel with you.


This blog will give you a feel for the different places and cultures that I’ve visited and maybe encourage you to join me in exploring the world. I will write about tips for traveling – ideas on packing for various places, the low-down on different airports around the world, etc – as well as information on the cities I’ve visited. Expect to see information on places to visit in different cities, best restaurants, outstanding hotels, etc. I’m going to include anything that I think will bring you the flavor of a country or city so that if you go, you’ll feel more comfortable there.

I hope you’ll come along on my travels and learn something that will make your own easier and more fun.