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How to Stay Healthy for Travel

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You’ve waited a long time for your vacation, getting sick is the last thing you need. A little bit of planning can go a long way toward ensuring that you stay healthy before and during your trip.

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Before You Leave

In the days leading up to your trip be sure to get enough sleep, eat well, and stay hydrated. Air travel is especially dehydrating and if you get dehydrated you will not feel well and your body will be more susceptible to germs.

Vaccinate

Depending on your destination, it may be advisable to get certain vaccinations over and above the normal routine vaccinations you may have already received. Visit the CDC website and click on your destination country.  The website will list which vaccines are recommended for that specific country.  Note that some vaccines need to be administered up to a month before your travel date so be sure to check this site early then schedule an appointment with your doctor to discuss your individual situation.

Pack Needed Supplies

The CDC website linked above also has a “healthy packing list” section for each country that will list any specific health-related items you should pack.  For example, if visiting South Africa, the CDC recommends packing a mosquito net to protect against insect bites while sleeping.

Hydrate

To ensure proper hydration levels, I like to add Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier Electrolyte Powder to my water both before and during my flight. The single serve packets are easy to add to a 16-ounce water bottle and are small enough to pack in your carry on. This is much better than a sports drink; it has no artificial sweeteners, colors, flavor or preservatives. It is free of gluten, dairy, and soy. Best of all it tastes great. Bumping up your electrolytes intake is especially important if your final destination includes high altitude activities.

During Your Flight

Packing a few items in your carry on bag can help ensure you do not catch any germs and arrive at your destination healthy and feeling great. For more ideas on how to be comfortable during your flight be sure to read my packing tips in the What to Pack in Your Extra Carry On Bag post.

Avoid Germs

The first thing you should do when you sit down at your seat is use a medical-grade disinfecting wipe and wipe down the armrests and tray table.  Unfortunately, the airlines do not have time to clean these areas thoroughly between flights. In reality, these areas of most planes are only cleaned once every 30 days, at best! These disinfecting wipes are packed in small travel-size packs to make it convenient to bring with you on the plane. A quick swipe with the disinfecting wipes may save you from picking up a nasty virus from the person who sat in your seat before you.

Sanitizing hand wipes help to clean your hands once you are seated.

Defeat Ear Pressure Pain

Before takeoff, insert Earplanes in your ears. These little miracles help to stop the pain of cabin air pressure changes. Preventing the build-up of ear pain will go a long way towards preventing headaches and ear pain both during and after your flight. Put these little silicone earplugs in your ears before take off if you suffer from ear discomfort caused by the change in cabin pressure.  They’re small and discreet, and they’ll make take off and landing much more comfortable. The Earplanes eliminate that horrible feeling of your ears needing to pop. The Earplanes are an all-natural way to beat the pain and popping caused by air-pressure changes while in flight. They’re sold in both disposable and reusable versions. Best of all the cost is under $7 a pair! The company also makes a kid-sized version which I used many years ago when our kids were small. The kid-sized are also good for adults with smaller ears. Using the Earplanes ear plugs stopped the kids from crying due to ear pressure when landing – a real life-saver!  

Moisturize

Pack a small nasal spray like NasoGel. A quick spray in each nostril will keep those mucous membranes hydrated which will keep them functioning properly and help to fight off any germs you encounter.

Sanitize

Bring a small bottle of hand sanitizer gel with you to use before you eat anything. Do your fellow travelers a favor and leave the highly scented hand sanitizers at home. A good hand sanitizer is Purell Advanced Hand Sanitizer Singles. These little mini, single-use packets are convenient and so small they can be tucked inside a wallet once you reach your destination. (When going through security remember to put these in your liquids quart-sized zip-top bag).

Protect Circulation

If you have circulation issues, consider packing a pair of compression socks for long flights. These help with circulation to prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis that can occur from long hours of sitting on the plane.

At Your Destination

Disinfect

When you get to your hotel put those antibacterial wipes to use again and wipe down the television remote and door handles. Depending on how susceptible you are to germs, you may want to wipe down the handles and surfaces in the bathroom as well.

Oral Hygiene

Bring along an antimicrobial travel toothbrush. I was recently offered the opportunity to try a travel toothbrush made by Doctor Plotka’s Mouthwatchers. Honestly, I was not expecting anything too special from a toothbrush but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. The soft flossing bristles really did leave my mouth feeling like I had just had a professional cleaning at the dentist! This toothbrush is infused with silver to naturally eliminate 99.9% of bacteria that grows on bristles between uses.  This makes it the perfect travel toothbrush. The travel version of the Doctor Plotka’s toothbrush folds compactly into its handle to prevent the bristles from coming into contact with the inside of your toiletries case. After use, the silver infused in the bristles leaves your toothbrush clean and ready for the next use by not reintroducing harmful bacteria into your mouth. It is lightweight and small for ease of packing. I tried the travel version of this brush but I liked it so much I purchased the standard one for use at home. Those flossing bristles work amazingly well, the inner bristles are thinner than a human hair. The bristles are made from polyester instead of nylon like most toothbrushes.  This also means that the brush will last longer than other toothbrushes. Give it a try, you will not be disappointed (they offer a no questions asked money back guarantee!)

Folding Travel Toothbrush

SPECIAL OFFER: The kind folks at Doctor Plotka’s Mouthwatchers have offered my readers a 20% discount on toothbrush purchases.  To take advantage of this offer visit Doctor Plotka’s Website and enter the code EXPLORE for your 20% savings. (One discount per customer and  discount offer only available to customers in the US)

Drink Safe Water

Back to hydration. Bring a reusable purifying water bottle with you. This will allow you to stay hydrated no matter what the condition of local water. I recently started using the Grayl Ultralight Water Purifier Bottle when traveling. Using the bottle with the orange filter will filter out contaminants from any questionable water source. This bottle with the orange filter is also great for hiking and camping.  You can literally drink water from a stream or river using this purifier! You simply fill the outer bottle with water from ANY water source, insert the inner bottle with the filter attached, and press (French-press style). The water will flow through the filter and what fills the inner bottle is safe to drink. No batteries, chemicals, sucking, or squeezing required!

Grayl filter bottle with attached blue filter

Improve Taste of Tap Water

On the other hand, if you are sure of the safety of the water source (i.e. city tap water in your home country) use the blue filter to improve the taste of the water. Water will flow through the blue filter more quickly and easier than it will flow through the denser orange filter. I drink a ton of water but I’m pretty picky about the taste.  I cannot stand the taste of highly chlorinated tap water.  Using the Grayl purifier with the optional blue filter is a quick and easy way to make any city water taste better.  Bringing this one purifying water bottle with you will prevent you from having to lug a case of water up to your hotel room. It will also save your wallet from buying overpriced single-use water bottles. Plus you’ll help the environment by reducing plastic waste. The Grayl bottle will pay for itself quickly on one trip, if you usually buy expensive bottled water when you travel.

While enjoying your vacation remember to try to get good sleep, eat a high-quality diet, and practice stress-relief such as yoga. Staying healthy will allow you to explore and experience all your destination has to offer.

Medicines and Remedies

If all your planning and prevention fails and you end up with a minor illness, having a few simple medicines along with you might save a middle of the night scramble to a pharmacy.  I routinely pack a very small, mini zipper-pouch with a couple of pills of a few common medications (non-asprin pain reliever, motion sickness medicine, allergy medicine, anti-diarrhea pills, antacid, etc.) and bring that along on every trip. This is one item that I pack that violates my packing light “don’t bring just-in-case items” rule.  I feel “better safe than sorry” is a good mantra for quickly dealing with common minor medical complaints. If you prefer a simpler solution, you could purchase a small medicine kit like this one at Amazon. Each medicine pouch is labeled with the name of the medicine, symptoms relieved, and proper dosage.  Of course, if you regularly take prescription medications, be sure to pack those as well.

What did I miss? What are your best self-care tips to stay healthy while traveling?

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