Like Snorkeling But Afraid to Scuba? Try SNUBA

Abby and I love snorkeling but have always been afraid to scuba dive, so we recently tried “SNUBA”, which is like a cross between snorkeling and scuba. 

SNUBA stands for “Surface Nexus Underwater Breathing Apparatus” and is a safe way to experience underwater breathing without all of the expense and training required for scuba. 

 In order to scuba dive, you must get PADI certified, which costs roughly $200-$500 depending on where you take the course. Getting certified takes approximately 3-4 days and typically involves book study, controlled environment diving (such as in a pool), and open water diving. 

In addition to these costs, diving involves some significant risks (e.g., decompression sickness or “the bends”, embolism, drowning) and challenges (equalizing ear pressure, mask clearing, weighting/buoyancy, and of course fears and phobias—most commonly claustrophobia or agoraphobia—which can lead to panic and/or hyperventilation).  

Because we’re not great swimmers and are nervous in the water (sometimes even while snorkeling), we decided to try SNUBA on a recent trip to Saint Martin as kind of a “pilot test” (psych nerd term) to see if we’d ever want to scuba dive someday. We love to see animals in nature while traveling, especially in the ocean, and sea turtles are our “spirit” animal.

We set off from the marina on a beautiful day with our captain (Mich) and our instructor (Kelly); luckily, no one else had signed up, so we had them all to ourselves. Mich explained that Abby and I would each be tethered with a 20-foot oxygen line connected to a tank on a floating raft that would go with us, and that Kelly would be in scuba gear nearby, guiding us around and checking on our safety. They also gave us some hand signals so we could communicate with Kelly underwater. 

Pulling out of beautiful Phillipsburg Bay

Snuba is similar to scuba in that you breathe through a regulator (which disconcertingly sounds like Darth Vader under water), but instead of carrying a tank on your back, you have an oxygen line connected to a small raft. Because of the line, you cannot go very deep (max 20’), very far, or get lost or left behind. (For one of the worst movies you’ll ever see, try “Open Water”, which tells the tale of two scuba divers whose diving boat left them stranded. You’re welcome.). 

The raft that holds the oxygen tank and lines

The most important rule, according to Mich, was never to hold your breath. He also said it was important to pressurize your ears every 3’ on the way down by pinching your nose and blowing to pop your ears. I’ll be honest: even concentrating all my energy on remembering to breathe, I still held my breath a few times. I also didn’t feel like I could pressurize my ears while remembering to breathe through my mouth, so I never did it—of course, this wasn’t a problem because I rarely went deeper than 3’ because of my nervousness. I did relax and get more comfortable over time, but for the first 15 minutes I would want to come to the surface to the raft to clear my mask or just breathe through my nose.

Abby was much more natural and ventured deeper (10-12’) and farther away from Kelly (who held my hand a lot of the time, which helped ease my anxiety and allowed me to go deeper). We saw lots of colorful fish and some wreckage of an old helicopter, airplane, and submarine, which was cool. Afterwards, they gave us rum punch (all tours on Saint Martin apparently provide free rum punch, and I’m not complaining) and told us about their backgrounds. 

Altogether our experience took just a couple hours (a 15-minute ride to the SNUBA/wreckage area, 20 minutes of instruction, and 30-45 minutes under water) and was a great way to spend a beautiful day. SNUBA can be found in many beach/resort areas, including Florida, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. We paid $104 each for our 2-hour snuba tour. 

Bottom line: We enjoyed our experience and are glad we tried it, but we both agreed that doing SNUBA only reinforced that we are definitely more “snorkeling” people than “scuba” people. It’s true that you can go deeper and see amazing things with scuba, but we feel like all things considered (e.g., expense, hassle, fear), snorkeling has a better benefit-to-cost ratio, at least for us nervous nellies. However, for anyone seriously considering scuba, SNUBA would be a great introduction. 

Snorkeling Tip: Last year we switched to full-face snorkel masks (which lets you breathe through both your nose and mouth at the same time) and absolutely love them because it’s so much easier (great for kids, especially). We’ve noticed on vacation more and more people switching to these kind of masks, although true scuba people would never be caught wearing one of these. We bought Greatever G2s from Amazon for about $40 (no, I don't get a referral fee, but I do recommend this mask!). 

Good luck, and happy travels!

What It's Like to Travel Fully Vaccinated

We just got back from our first international trip after being fully vaccinated, and the TLDR is that we found it less stressful and more relaxing knowing we have one of the most effective vaccines in history working to protect us. (Abby had Moderna and I had Pfizer). 

This past week, we spent 5 nights on the beautiful Caribbean island of Saint Martin (more on that in a future “destination spotlight” post). In full disclosure, we’d traveled several times during the pandemic (e.g., to Oregon/Washington, Mexico, and Hawaii) from July 2020 to Feb 2021, so it was easy for us to compare our experiences. 

Even early on we felt like the risk of contracting Covid via air travel was relatively low (as a scientist, I read every study available, and the combination of excellent air refreshing systems in airplanes plus the mask requirement and middle seats being open meant that airplanes were very unlikely to be super spreader events). 

We got Covid tests before and after traveling to make sure we weren’t spreading the virus others while traveling or to my sister (who’s in our family bubble) when we returned. We also followed all CDC guidelines (we wore N95 or KN95 masks with surgical masks over that and sometimes face shields), wiped down our seats and tray tables with Clorox wipes, washed our hands frequently, and refrained from eating or drinking while on the plane. 

At our destination, we wore masks and socially distanced everywhere we went, and ate only take out or at outside restaurants. We found that hotels (especially in Mexico) had really good cleaning protocols and all staff wore masks. 

But still, despite these precautions, before the vaccine we generally felt paranoid, hypervigilant, and nervous—getting spooked whenever anyone coughed (we moved several rows back on a flight once because one of the passengers coughed a few times) and obsessively checked everyone’s mask to make sure it was above their nose. (Sadly, the Austin airport was one of the worst we saw in terms of compliance). To eat in the airport, we’d find a hidden corner at any unused gate and slide our mask down to sneak quick bites of a sandwich.

Last summer, the airlines were cautious about enforcing mask requirements and getting into confrontations with passengers (my brother is a pilot and confirmed this), but once they uniformly started enforcing this in the Fall, I saw far fewer masks below the nose. Flight attendants caught onto the “I’m slowly drinking this coffee during the entire flight so I never have to have my mask on” trick, and now they explicitly tell passengers to slide the mask down temporarily while taking a bite or sip but to have it fully on otherwise. 

The flights to Saint Martin were the first in which we had a passenger (window seat) in our same row, but I felt so much better than I would have before the vaccine. We never ate or drank during the flight and neither did our row-mate, so we weren’t all that nervous. The flights home were less full, and even though there was someone assigned to our row, the flight attendant let us move to the exit row, which we had to ourselves. 

Once in Saint Martin, all the same protocols were followed (by us and by the hotel), so not much was different there. Fortunately, the views for outdoor dining were stunning.

Probably the biggest difference was when we went on tours. We took an all-day boat tour of the island with 2 other couples (one from Poland and one from Connecticut), and it came up quickly that all of us were fully vaccinated, so we felt comfortable without masks (we were also outside on a speedboat with lots of air circulation, so that factored in as well). 

I noticed immediately the difference in group bonding—it was like the old, pre-pandemic days. Given the CDC’s recommendation that fully vaccinated people can hang out safely even indoors without masks, we felt comfortable high-fiving while singing Sweet Caroline (the free-flowing rum punch probably helped), taking photos together, and even hugging briefly when we said goodbye. 

Our new (fully vaccinated) friends, Jeanie and Pauly from Connecticut

The bottom line: we felt less worried and more relaxed throughout the entire trip, even though we didn’t do much differently (other than removing masks on boat tours with other fully vaccinated people). However, everyone will have to decide for themselves what they’re comfortable with. I have plenty of friends who are fully vaccinated who still don’t feel like they want to be in public with others, and I totally respect that. I personally don’t feel comfortable eating inside a restaurant (because people are maskless and it’s not that unlikely that someone in the restaurant has Covid), but I do feel comfortable flying/traveling and hanging out with friends and family who are also fully vaccinated. 

If you’re considering traveling this summer and are fully vaccinated, the CDC has green-lighted domestic travel. If you’re itching to go international, I’d recommend Mexico or the Caribbean (but of course check the US Department of State Travel Website for country-specific recommendations). As of now, the US requires negative Covid tests (antigen or PCR) within 3 days of your return flight to the US, but many resorts offer free or reduce-priced onsite testing for their guests to make this much easier. At our hotel, the nurse had our results and paperwork done in 5 minutes (in what looked like a pregnancy test), which was really cool. 

 Good luck, and happy travels!

The Coolest Travel Site You’re Not Using

I first discovered Rome2Rio several years ago, and it’s been one of my favorite “go to” sites for travel planning ever since. 

The concept is simple: you plug in where you’re starting from and where you want to go, and it tells you all the options for how to get there (planes, trains, ferry, driving). 

It’ll also tell you how long each route takes, and if you put in a date, an estimate of how much it costs. 

 Example 1: Austin to San Juan Island 

My wife loves whales, and we heard there were orcas in the San Juan Islands, so we decided last August to go to the biggest of the islands, San Juan. I knew it was off the coast of Seattle, but wasn’t sure how to get there. 

Using Rome2Rio, we found out that it takes a combination of a flight (Aus-Sea, 4.5 hours), drive (from Seatac airport to Anacortes; you can rent a car or take a shuttle; 2 hours and 45 minutes), and ferry (1 hour from Anacortes to Friday Harbor). If you click on the individual links on Rome2Rio, it will give you flight/ferry times and cost estimates. 

We had an amazing time; the islands are beautiful and serene, and even the ferry ride was stunning. And yes, we saw orcas! Plan ahead (3-6 months) if you can, because the tourist season is really short and good accommodations (and even the ferry) can sell out. 

Example 2: Austin to Paris 

I like to use Rome2Rio to see the various ways to get to Europe and how many stops it takes to get there. For this example, because there are still Covid travel restrictions, I chose a random date in the Fall (October 27th) and found out that the cheapest one-way fare to Paris is $285 (!). It takes 19 hours and 5 minutes, with 2 stops. (In case you’re curious, you'd take Spirit airlines from Austin to Newark, United airlines from Newark to Porto, and Tap Portugal airlines from Porto to Paris). 

When I search the same date on Google Flights (one of my favorite flight search engines; more on that in a future post), the cheapest I found was a two-stop Jet Blue + Tap Portugal itinerary for $508. So Rome2Rio gives you a great place to start, as well as comparison prices. 

Example 3: Paris to London 

When I’m traveling in other countries, I like to figure out the best way to get from one city to the next so I can see what’s reasonable to add to my itinerary (spoiler alert: I cram in as many cities as I can because I figure, “I’m all the way over there already”). 

Things are wacky now because of Covid (train schedules are especially limited), but you’ll find that the train from Paris to London takes 2 hours and 36 minutes ($66 is the lowest fair on July 10th). Rome2Rio tells me that the cheapest flight on that same day is $48 on British Airways and takes 1 hour and 36 minutes. Not that you’d want to given these great prices, but you can also take a 7 ½ hour bus ride for $62. 

"Big Ben" (not Roethlisberger)

p.s. If you need help finding the best hotel room for you in any city, check out this post: https://professortraci.blogspot.com/2021/04/

 Hope you enjoy Rome2Rio as much as I do! 

 Good luck, and happy travels!

Quickly Find the BEST Hotel for You in Any City

Finding a hotel--especially in a city you’ve never been to--can be overwhelming, and many people don’t know where to start. 

Asking for recommendations can help, but if you want to make sure you get the BEST deal, here’s a trick I use. It can be done quickly, without any prior research, and has always resulted in finding the best hotel for the price I want to pay. 

Not surprisingly (because I’m a scientist & researcher), my trick relies on data--from Tripadvisor, whose traveler opinions I've found to be extremely reliable. 

The "Explora" hotel in Patagonia had an amazing view and was all-inclusive

STEP 1. Go to Tripadvisor.com & enter city in the "where to" bar. 

STEP 2. Click on the box for “hotels”. 

STEP 3. Enter your travel dates. 

• Put your dates in the "check in" and "check out" boxes

• Also enter "number of travelers" and hit "update"

STEP 4. Sort by “traveler ranked” (the default is “best value”). 

 STEP 5. Read the reviews starting at the top and moving down. 

• The first one is often “sponsored” (which means it’s an ad), so you can skip that one and start at #1. 

• If you want to use filters (e.g., property type, breakfast included, free parking), you can check the boxes to the left, but I recommend NOT limiting by price because comparing prices allows you to see how good of a value your hotel is. 

• Example: if #4 is $150/night and is between #3 at $500 and #5 at $300, you know #4 is a great deal. 

• Choose the highest rated hotel that’s in your price range. Depending on your budget, this may be #5 out of 240, or it may be #58. Once I find a high-rated hotel that looks good in my price range, I might read a few more to see if a slightly lower-ranked hotel has a better feature, but mostly I end up with the highest rated one in my price range, and this has worked out great. 

• Reading reviews can quickly tell you the important features to look for in a hotel in that city (which spares you from having to do research beforehand). 

• Example: location is often important. Is it near a metro station? Can you walk to restaurants nearby? Is it in a safe place that isn’t sketchy to walk around at night? It’s also easy to find out if the hotel is clean, has good wifi and/or AC, has free parking, good views, treats their customers well, etc. 

• Stick to hotels rated 4.5 or higher. Tripadvisor’s colored-in green circles tell you the average customer rating out of 5. As a rule, I only choose hotels that are 4.5 or higher. The reason is that 4.5s are a mix of 4 and 5 reviews, whereas 4s are a mix of 3 and 5s (3 is actually “bad” to most people, who may be too polite to put 1 or 2; 4s definitely have some flaws). My experience backs this up (especially early on, before I had this rule)—any time I’ve chosen a “4”, I’ve often been annoyed, but am rarely unhappy with something rated 4.5 or higher. 
• Tip: The 4.5 rule also works great for activities, tours, and restaurants on Tripadvisor! 

STEP 6. Find the best price for your hotel. 

• Although Tripadvisor includes price comparisons (many of which are hard to beat), it’s important to check the hotel’s own website as well. Whenever you can (e.g., if prices at the hotel’s site are equal or lower than the ones on Tripadvisor), you always want to book through the hotel directly: they appreciate it, plus it’s often easier to cancel or make changes and you might also get some perks. 

• Check Costco and/or AAA. If you have memberships to either of these, it’s worth checking them as well. 

• Costco has vacation packages (to places like Hawaii, Bora Bora, Florida, etc.) that often are at terrific prices and may include extras, such as free breakfast, resort credit, and/or a Costco “shop card” (which is essentially a rebate that you can spend like a gift card at Costco; these can be several hundred dollars and up). 
• Tip: Costco is also well known for having the best rental car and cruise prices that few competitors can match.

• If you have Triple A, it’s worth checking because their best rate is often equal to the best non-refundable rate through other sources, but with AAA that rate often has a 24-hour cancellation policy. So if you like the rate but need flexibility, it’s good to book through AAA. 

All-time favorite: Overwater bungalow at Intercontinental Thalasso Bora Bora

 Good luck, and happy travels!!