Glam globetrotting

All too often, travel - whether via plane, train, automobile, or luxury cruise liner - inevitably devolves into a week's worth of gluttonous dinners out, sub-par hotel toiletries, and the complete and utter abandonment of our otherwise unblemished gym schedules. She may not be able to prevent flight delays or snafus in the security line, but veteran local travel writer Debbi Karpowicz Kickham is completely qualified to help us ensure that, at the very least, we'll look gorgeous out on the road. Her new book, The Globetrotter's Get-Gorgeous Guide, will be available on Amazon.com this December. Between anecdotes featuring lines like "I was once in vacationing in Bora Bora in an over-water bungalow," and "That reminds me of the time I bathed in a tub of plumeria petals in Tahiti," Kickham gave us the skinny on her travel tome.

Tell us about your background. What brought you to write this book? I used to be an editor at the Robb Report magazine, and started doing a lot of travel writing. I was always going on press trips. When you're on press trips and you have all kinds of functions to go to and you have a big dinner every night, it becomes a lot harder to stay so thin, as well as to look good and to feel good. . . . It became my mission to ask flight attendants and [other] people who traveled a lot, what were some of their secrets? How do they feel good when they travel, and how do they look good?

What's the secret to a perfectly packed carry-on cosmetics bag? I think having a toner, or some Evian water, or water with which to spritz your face [is important]. The biggest problem is, you get dehydrated, no matter where you're traveling.

Besides doing step aerobics in your shower, do you have any other tips for working out on the road? I jump rope in my room, without the jump rope. I'm basically hopping up and down as if I had a jump rope, but certainly not taking up any of the space. You can really do that in very confined quarters.

I love the chapter that gets into your favorite beauty products from around the world. Any standout favorites? I love Pure Hapa; that's made in Hawaii. Those [products] are made with a lot of [ingredients] indigenous to Hawaii: the oils and macadamia nuts and plumeria. . . . I love Ahava because those are products made in Israel by the Dead Sea. I love Eminence products from Hungary because those are made with all the fruit pulps; those are beautiful products that I really love. I could just go on and on . . .

You spend much of your time traveling, but do you have any salon or spa favorites for when you're back in Boston? One of the places where I love to get my hair done is Salon Àcôté on Newbury Street. I get my hair keratined there, and I have to tell you: getting keratin in my hair has absolutely changed my life. I've had it done now for a year, and it's worth every penny. I just can't tell you how it's freed me - because I don't have to worry about blow-drying my hair. I can just go swimming; I can work out, take a shower, and go to dinner with a wet head and all my makeup on, and I'll look fabulous.

So, after all of your research, what's the most offbeat beauty tip for travelers you've come across? A woman who traveled with the rolling pin, so that she could roll out the kinks in her legs [after a flight].

Keep an eye on GorgeousGlobetrotter.com, where Kickham will be blogging and posting updates about The Globetrotter's Get-Gorgeous Guide, including the scoop on local events like her book signing in Dedham on January 15.