The next great adventure

Some people dream death will be the next great adventure.  Where we go and what we do is not something many human beings know much about.  The desire to discuss it doesn't imply we should rush that transition.  People of different belief systems have different ideas about how to commemorate the life of a deceased friend or loved one. Some people will celebrate and others will mourn the loss.  Still others, would like no memory to be created in any shape or form.

One of the ways people can determine how well they know each other and themselves while alive is to ask people close to them to guess what they would like in an obituary, on an epitaph, in terms of a funeral or burial. These subjects aren't necessarily morbid, especially with the practicality of pre-paid funeral packages becoming increasingly popular in some countries.  In fact, the nature and depth of discussion may reveal how much or how little you really know about someone.  This realisation may prompt you to deepen relationships in the time you have.

It's interesting to notice the nature of feelings evoked inside you by the subject of such a discussion.  Do you fear bringing the topic up at all? Might you think discussing it would invite death to happen prematurely? Other people assume the practical side and early preparation makes sense.  Yet, how well do you think you know people you care about? Would your choices to commemorate their life be what these people really want? It may be good to discuss it early.   

More than just a quick fix?

Travel is not longer a dream luxury for most people as it once was. If you become tired or bored of your regular routine, then you may be apt to take steps to create happy memories through travel. You don't have to go very far from what you know, but a change of scenery is supposed to help you relax and return to your previous life refreshed.  To invest in life experiences is an accepted way to teach yourself to savor life. Does travel symbolize more to you than just a quick break from stress or an invigorating adrenalin fix?

Now, a quick survey reveals that large numbers of people do not believe they can afford to live life to the fullest because they're convinced its beyond their reach. More than half of people asked what they'd do with $15,000 replied they would spend it on a holiday rather than pay off debts or contribute it toward a mortgage. Does this mean people prefer to deny reality? I think of a magnet I've seen which reads, "life is uncertain, eat dessert first." Do you feel that way about instant gratification?

The ways people travel have changed and continue to change. We have gone from the horse and buggy to steam trains to high speed travel. When possible, people are choosing to go away more often, but for shorter breaks. More people would opt to work 4 day weeks and have longer, regular weekends. Even the Internet has significantly influenced the way people think about travel. We are all taking steps to redefine what is possible within our means or outside them.

More and more people will book and pay on-line and also arrange vacation experiences at the last minute, as opposed to planning far ahead. Does this reveal an increase in electronic customer confidence or does it reveal that people have less time in lines to see real people to book trips? The flexibility to search whenever, 24 hours per day, seven days per week, is good news for people with the impression they have less time to spare.

Booking tradtional travel has evolved to include thrill-seeker activities that become a way for weary people to get an energy boost that remidns them they're alive. Why not look up a half-day sailing trip, take a bungy plunge, short-term skydiving course, rally driving, diving experience. Even space tourism is coming to the masses which means the sky will no longer be the limit. Why not try everything at least once? Prices are often less than you think. Ask companies like Lonely Planet with over 600 destination country books alone. Where the will exists to travel, a way can be found, within almost any budget.

Healthcare tourism: more than a joyride

The Western middle class dreams of quicker access to better healthcare. This increasingly leads people to travel abroad for medical and dental treatment. Health tourism has emerged partly due to Western systems being unable to handle growing patient numbers, inflating costs and staggering insurance demands. Health tourists are drawn abroad when outdated health systems struggle to curtail expenditure and do not always offer acceptable solutions and when private medical care remains a costly alternative. Consider how key issues of a) waiting time b) procedures & prices and c) reputation & credentials, are redefining global healthcare.

Waiting Time

Serious health problems lead people to seek ways around long waits for treatment. This is a major issue in public hospitals common in Western Europe and Canada. According to the Fraser Institute, reporting results from its annual survey, the total wait time for patients in Canada between referral from a general practitioner (GP) and treatment, averaged across all 12 specialties (and 10 provinces surveyed), grew to 17.8 weeks in 2006 from 17.7 weeks observed in 2005. In 77% of  categories surveyed, the opinion was “actual wait time exceeded reasonable wait time.”

Stage one : The waiting time between referral by a GP and consultation with a specialist rose to 8.8 weeks from the 8.3 weeks recorded in 2005.

Stage two : The waiting time between specialist consultation and treatment fell to 9.0 weeks from 9.4 weeks in 2005.

Stage three : Among the various specialties, the shortest total waits (between referral by a GP and treatment) occurred in medical oncology (4.9 weeks), radiation oncology (5.0 weeks), and elective cardiovascular surgery (8.0 weeks). Patients waited longest between a GP referral and orthopaedic surgery (40.3 weeks), plastic surgery (35.4 weeks), and neurosurgery (31.7 weeks). During the interim, tumors and other problems can escalate.

People statistically seek foreign options for life-threatening cases, but also by choice to reduce discomfort and increase mobility. In some parts of Britain and Canada, elective surgeries like hip replacements, require a waiting period of nearly a year. Quicker, easier access in Bangkok (Thailand) or Bangalore (India) allows patients to get relief in the operating room the day after arrival. Convenience incentives are as appealing as the price and included vacation.

Procedures & Prices

Governments are often unwilling to pay for private, cosmetic and alternative procedures, and affordable insurance coverage has limits. Medical tourism offers procedures at 20-80% lower medical and insurance costs, including hospital stay in private room. Consider travel in Dub ai , Costa Rica, China, Cuba, India, Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa or Thailand, where Westerners can afford cosmetic or remedial surgery combined with a vacation. Available procedures are extensive. Prospective patients are encouraged to compare shop. Promotional websites outline menus of available procedures and invite contact for details.

Dental Work

A metal-free, dental bridge worth $5,500 in the U.S. costs around $500 in India. In Thailand, costs for root canal & cap front tooth: 14,000Thb/US$354/ AUD$481/EU284. The Asavanant Clinic in Bangkok offers affordable prosthodontics, restorative, orthodontics, dental surgery and even basic procedures.

Cardiology

Angioplasty runs Cdn$3,000-4,000, and in the US$1,650. Compare Pruthi Hospital in Punjab, India; where angioplasty goes for US$600. Pruthi also offers a menu of cardiac procedures (i.e., pacemakers, valve replacements, cardiology CABG) with significant discounts if you bring a companion to undergo the same procedure.

Heart Bypass

George Marshall, a 73- year old British citizen, didn’t wait 6 months for a heart bypass operation from the British National Health Service (NHS) or pay £19,000 for same operation at a private hospital. Instead, he paid £4,800 for the procedure in India, including a return flight from UK. In India, Research reveals heart bypass procedures average ~US$10,000, in Thailand ~ US$11,000, and in Singapore ~US$18,000. Back in the U.S., it often costs up to $130,000 and waiting in Canada can be disconcerting. Compare gastric bypass surgery in U.S. around $10,000 -$20,000. Abroad, it’s available under US$5,000.

Heart valve replacement & general surgery

Consider the cost of a heart-valve replacement in the U.S. is about $200,000, as compared with about US$10,000 in India (including a vacation). The cost of general surgery in India, Thailand or South Africa can be as low as one tenth cost in U.S. or Western Europe, and often less.

Radiology

Although average wait for Cat scan (CT) is 4.3 weeks in Canada, thousands of Americans go north to take advantage of a new and highly-effective treatment for prostate cancer patients. Ablatherm™ high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-surgical procedure that uses a precise ultrasound beam to safely and effectively destroy the prostate tissue. Thailand draws many tourists for many radiology procedures: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) costs 10, 000Thb, (US$200/ EU170/ AUD$265) and multi (64-slice) CT scan costs US$300-600 in Thailand and India.

Opthalmology

Lasik eye surgery may free you from glasses or contact lenses. It’s worth $3,700 in the U.S. and considered cosmetic in Canada (not payable by Medicare). Prices abroad can be as low as U.S.$730. China, Taiwan, and India, are popular destinations for various types of cosmetic eye surgery. A menu of specialty laser eye surgeries in Apollo Hospitals throughout India ranges in price from US$700-$1,900.

Organ Transplants

Need organs? The organ trade thrives in Dubai, Bombay, China, and Singapore. Costa Rica is also quite advanced, where available organ transplants include heart and kidneys as well as bone marrow, cranial sections and livers. In India, open or laproscopic kidney transplants are US$14,500 ( £ 8,400). In India, liver transplant costs are often negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Multiple transplant costs vary widely.

Orthopedics

In some cases, health tourist care is ahead of the west. At Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vijay Bose had performed more than 400 Birmingham hip resurfacings, while the state-of-the-art procedure was still in the trial stage in the U.S. The total cost of a travel package to Chennai for the operation is less than US $10,000. Back in the U.S., a similar yet, experimental Birmingham resurfacing costs up to $48,000 . Knees giving you trouble? A knee replacement in Thailand with 6 days physiotherapy costs about 1/5 of projections in the U.S. Similar replacements can be done in the Philippines by Western-trained surgeons for as little as US$6,000.

Plastic Surgery

Looking for a full facelift? In the U.S, you’ll likely pay $20,000 compared to US$5,000 in Argentina or $1,250 in South Africa with varied perks. Iranian expatriates now follow trends to flock to Tehran for nose jobs. In that city alone, they choose among over three thousand cosmetic surgeons. Australia is also a popular destination for cosmetic surgery where services can cost less and the climate more agreeable than other Western countries.

One in ten Argentinians opts for plastic surgery. The Plenitas centre offers a team of specialists and vacations which cover not only plastic surgery, but also hair transplants, dermatology, assisted fertilization, dentistry and bariatric surgery (for obese people).

Reputation & Credentials

The quality of service and client referrals, create reputations. Some of India’s most reputable hospitals are Apollo in Chennai, Escorts in New Delhi and Wockhardt in Bangalore, where the world’s first awake coronary bypass with aortic valve replacement was performed and staff experience and published papers draw from over 14,000 successful cardiac surgeries, 15,000 angioplasties and 35,000 Interventional Cardiac Procedures on foreigners . Increasing numbers of hospitals in foreign countries such as Singapore, South Africa, Iran, and throughout southern Asia, are accredited by or are seeking accreditation from the Joint Commission International, the certifying body for international medical facilities. This seal of approval establishes a standard of care that bridges East and West and redefines the global marketplace.

Reputation of overseas hospitals is reflected by the dollars spent on growing business. South Africa drew 270 million Rand (~US$37 million) to medical tourism in 2005 and this is growing. In 2005, India made US$333 million from medical tourism when it’s estimated that nearly a half million patients visited India for medical care. By 2012, India expects medical tourism will yield about $2.2 billion or more per year. Newsweek reported (October 2006) that Bumrungrad Hospital in Thailand treated 400,000 foreign patients in 2005. The Kasikorn Research Centre reported that 1.28 million expatriates visited Thai Hospitals in 2005, generating revenue for these hospitals of around 33 billion baht (U.S$926 million).

Consultant companies have sprung up in Western countries to offer medical tourist packages including details of credentials of physicians who work in foreign hospitals. Specialist in India, Thailand, South Africa, Singapore and other respected foreign hospitals have often trained in Western countries like the U.S., U.K, Canada, Germany, France, Israel, and Australia. They have either chosen to return to their home countries to practice or were unable to obtain visas and licenses to practice where they trained.

Ultimately, aging populations with savings are not the only Westerners who choose to pump money into international health tourism. T he influx of capital represents a level of confidence in the medical professionals and procedures abroad. To benefit from healing vacations, Westerners choose to withdraw money from their economies. These people spread wealth to traditionally poorer nations which have achieved or surpassed international healthcare standards. The result is boosting the economies of medical tourist destinations and reducing stress on Western healthcare practices. It’s also shifting economic power and relocation of professionals in the global picture.

Regardless of the Western country, if a health condition isn’t life-threatening, and patients are wait-listed for procedures governments will fund, patients are apt to wait for free treatment, but for how long? The flow of money and skilled healthcare professionals are redefining traditional borders, nations and cultural barriers. Your money, your health, which country? Your choice.

8 lessons learned though travel

You may dream of a more peaceful world. How can you learn to enrich your views of surroundings?  Here are 8 lessons I've learned through travel and also through the stories of other travellers:

1) Travelers learn that all people in the world are basically alike.

We all desire to eat, drink, find shelter, companionship and ultimately survive. In any country or part of town you are, you can strike up a conversation with a stranger in a bus, train, plane or in another vehicle, and you'll likely find something in common. This kind of interaction can enable you to feel more connected to people worldwide. It compels understanding and self-directed learning.

2) Travelers discover people perceive themselves as wiser or better than others.

I’ve learned just because I’ve lived in one place, this doesn’t mean my acquired know-how will be useful anywhere. I choose not to assume I know more than everyone.  Consider Sir John Franklin was a British Naval Officer and historic arctic explorer. He thought using technology of his era and taking enough supplies would guarantee success in his attempt to be first through the Northwest Passage. Lack of foresight led to the death of his crew. He felt he knew everything, based on his past experiences elsewhere. This arrogant attitude became his downfall.

3) Travel makes us care about strangers.

My own experiences of dangers and difficulties have sensitized me to other peoples’ plights. Travel enables us to learn to care more about strangers. When you notice someone needs food, shelter, you may be more likely to share. Jim Rogers and his fiancée Paige Parker describe themselves as true adventurers. From 2001-2002, they visited 116 countries. They experienced luxury all the way to "five-roach hotels.' They lived the reality of having no water, no electricity. I understand why they evolved to carry their own toilet seat. Their travels taught them that famine or crisis are no longer as distant when you visit such areas and experience hardship yourself.

4) Travel teaches not everyone shares your beliefs or ways of thinking.

My own travel has shown me many different kinds of people, belief systems and perceptions exist. Recognizing this reality at home and 'on the road' is an opportunity to develop tolerance and understanding. You learn you won't agree with everyone. Consider Marco Polo’s journey through Asia apparently lasted 24 years. He was a European who travelled further than anyone of his time, beyond Mongolia and deep into China. His books explain why listening was his best skill.

5) Travelers learn more than one solution exists to a problem.

During travel, I've learned benefits in becoming attached to people I meet as well as appropriately detached during hardship unconnected to me. I like to think solutions can always be found and at the sme time I learn other people wish to resolve their own situations.  Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He became the first man safely through the Northwest Passage and first man to reach the South Pole. His travel experience demonstrates benefits of having a focused purpose, adequate knowledge of climates and geography, careful planning, and attention to detail. His strength was openly interacting with locals to learn survival strategies. He couldn't help the inuit adapt to their changing climate or incoming Europeans, but he was their friend.

6) Travel teaches you to recognize that you’re part of a minority.

No matter who you are and what your background, gender, religion or skin color, recognize you're part of a minority somewhere. You decide whether this has advantages or not. Consider Mother Teresa, the Macedonian Saint who devoted her life to serve poor in Calcutta.  Her work taught me much about widespread perceptions in the Western world.  For example, the poor may be seen as a disadvantaged majority with respect to groups in social status and education. In developing countries, being a minority can be an advantage. It means you have food, shelter, and inner peace when a majority of people are hungry, ill and needy. Being a minority is perceived as you choose.

7) Travel teaches humility.

If you understand travel as a series of two-sided exchanges, locals may learn as much from you as you choose to learn.  Consider that no matter where the Dalai Lama goes, he remembers where he came from and that he is connected to everyone else. Travelling widely simply reinforces his ability to be humble. He holds a modest opinion of himself and estimate of his own importance. He also shows the value to be found in nurturing an observant and uncensored mind.

8) Travel enables you to make life-long friends.

If you choose to maintain contact with people you connect with during travel, you have the ability to develop enduring relationships.  I've stayed in contact with some people ~20 years or more. Staying in touch with people and remaining open to learning reminds me of Freya Stark. She was an adventure traveler who evolved to admit her standards and understanding of the world are not everyone’s standards. She learned to discriminate the values which were not her own values, but she also learned not to judge people simply because they were different.

Beyond self-discovery

If you talk to anyone about travel, you'll discover each person has a dream destination. The reasons people why come to define dream journeys vary widely. The person may have visited a special place and hopes to return, or, the person may even imagine a desirable paradise that was seen in images, heard about or simply conjured up in the mind. Don't forget travel to improve a sense of security. Some of us are forced to migrate as refugees, traveling due to events beyond our control.

People also dream of travel to leave what they know behind or as a way to courageously face uncertainty. You may think of travel as a way to avoid as the life you've known has been difficult or painful. You may not choose to pinpoint the influence of your emotions. You may also sense very strongly that any happiness you associate with visions of travel would only really be a side effect of a deeper longing to settle down or, the result of self-delusion that settling anywhere is possible. 

Whatever your particular dream destination, the journey is incentive to develop your abilities and insights into your motivation. You may assume you have the right or duty to travel to help someone other than yourself. Most physical trips require money or other means to realize them. Where will that funding come from? How long will the journey take? Do you sense your final destination? Does a strong sense of direction even matter?

You may venture from place to place because or you actively seek a sense of progress. In a brief survey, the 10 most popular reasons people said they travel were:

1) To escape fear or troubles;

2) To experience freedom & make a living;

3) To learn new things;

4) To visit friends or family;

5) To interact with honorable people (shared cause);

6) To seek self-discovery;

7) To support eco-tourism;

8) To build self-confidence;

9) To survive a crisis or disaster;

10) To relax or promote healing.

Travel is a means to learn about yourself by yourself or with others. You may have choices to travel or you may be forced to travel due to adversity. What kinds of reasons have you had for travel in the past? What about escaping the results of a hurrricane or earthquake? You may seek to find a place to build a new home.

Hope is the foundation of your personal growth. Thoughts of travel enable you to learn from what you've done and evolve to better understand why you seek new experiences. How would you like to experience future journeys? Where would you go if you had no restrictions? Why? What would you hope to gain from this travel? Determine how your emotions factor in to your perception of travel. Whether you have expectations for others during travel will influence your satisfaction.  You'll learn travel is more than a journey of self-discovery.  It prompts new understanding.