10 Travel Tips to Avoid Getting Sick When You Travel Abroad

No one wants to get sick while traveling with the objective to enjoy their holidays. It is said that traveling can make our bodies endure a lot of stress and this stress can decrease our immune system, leaving us vulnerable to sickness. With the vacation days so precious – particularly in the U.S. where people get 17 days on average per year (according to U.S Travel Association). In such a short time, getting sick can make the whole travel experience frustrated.

This blog is focused on creating the first aid kit for those who really want to learn the tactics to not get sick while making it through their holidays and when they return to their homes, they stay hale and hearty and happy.

1. Prepare your body early:

Make sure to prepare yourself 48 hours before your travel. This preparation includes 8 hours of good sleep each night and a lot of fluids. During your flight, you will get time to have some sleep but that would not be as comfortable as you might sleep in your own bedroom. Filled itineraries leave little room for self-care and do some rest. It’s important to pace yourself before a long haul flight to your destinations like San Diego, CA to Cape Town, South Africa. That’s a total cumulative 30H Hour-long flight.

2. Visit a Travel Clinic:

Before you fly, you should consider a meeting with a travel health professional or visit any travel clinic nearby. Many people contact the travel clinic in the holiday season like summer holidays at the last minute and end up in a quick short visit. If you are planning to leave for your best destination after 4 to 5 weeks later, this time is the best to visit the health professional and get the necessary medication and tips to maintain your diet and medicines if something bad happens with your health. It has been a common practice among many families that they keep in touch with their family doctors or physicians while traveling abroad and keep asking tips so that they may remain impenetrable to sickness.

3. Boost Your Immunity Before a Long Flight:

Your body needs water to keep the whole system running and hydration only gets important when you are very tired or under siege by the dangerous germs or bacteria. Hydration not only makes your body become strong against invading viruses but also helps your body to recover faster if it became infected somehow.
Point: Make sure you are not relying on drinks and alcohol because these liquids are not considered as a good choice as clean water. Always use bottled water when traveling abroad to stay safe from bacteria, germs, and stay healthy.

4. Wash Your Hands:

On a regular basis, use your hands or keep a hand sanitizer in your handbag during the journey. This sounds some basics but it is a surprising fact that many people get sick because they do not wash hands and drill their health into infectious diseases. Always wash hands after using toilets, public transport, and restaurants.

Do you know that the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom has had a huge impact recently on controlling infections in clinical settings – by reinforcing the importance of washing hands? Washing hands can help to stop the spread of infections and can also reduce the chances of food poisoning, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, vomiting, norovirus, MRSA, flu, or even hepatitis A. Isn’t that more important to keep all types of viruses and germs away during travel so that you better enjoy your adventure-filled journey.

5. Food Contaminations:

There are some serious diseases and viruses that are especially attached to food contaminations. If you are not careful with your eating, you might be exposed to Giardia, Entamoeba histolytic, Campylobacter, diarrhea, E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, Cyclosporine, cholera, and much more nastiness.

This is one of the traveler’s biggest concerns when traveling abroad. Every country has its own culture and food. Always take care of getting food from hygienic restaurants who provide fresh foods, properly cooked. If you are going to try street foods, make sure the environment is clean and food is prepared or cooked right in front of your eyes.

Raw fruits and vegetables that aren’t peeled yet, are a fine and good choice in comparison to packed or artificial foods. Do not eat food which is left open for a long time such as meat, fish or cooked rice. If you are packing some dry fruits, that will work fine during your travel journey.

6. Pack Your Medications:

If you are allergic to something like some people are allergic to dust or smoke, keep your medicines with you all the time in the bag.

Here are some medicines that you must keep in your bag: Tylenol, Ibuprofen, First-aid, first aid bands, cold cream, sun protection cream, medical tape, Neosporin, Cortisone cream, gauze pads, Imodium for an upset stomach, antibiotic such as Zithromax or Cipro and prescription of the medicine. You can also ask your doctor what’s best for you if any health problem occurs.

7. Health Risks in Your Destination – Travel Tips:

Do some Google research about your destination – Try to find if there are any health risks or common disease that you can get unintentionally by just visiting the place. Prevention is always better than cure.

8. Get Vaccination – Travel Tips:

Make sure that you get the vaccination before heading up for your destination. Some of the countries apply the rule to require vaccination before boarding for international destinations like

• Vaccination for yellow fever, meningococcal disease, and polio
• Get your proof of vaccination if you got from a local health clinic
• The proof of vaccination known as ICVP (International certificate of vaccination or prophylaxis) before entry.

9. Bug Bites during Safari Adventures:

During an adventurous Safari visit, Bugs, mosquito, and other insect bites are an absolute nightmare for any traveler. In Africa, there are beds protected by the mosquito nets which prevent them to bite the person inside the bed. This method is pretty much helpful while night camping in Africa jungles. One bite of crawly mosquitos can transmit a whole variety of diseases, such as yellow fever, Chikungunya, dengue, Japanese encephalitis and not to mention malaria. Try to cover yourself up while passing through forests if you are an adventure lover and going to explore as much area as possible. Always apply a good dose of 30–50% DEET spray, and reapply it regularly for better protection.

10. Exercise – Travel Tips:

The last and healthiest tip is to do exercise regularly. This will help your body and immune system stay active and you will be able to enjoy your Adventurous journey more deliberately. Many hotels include a fitness center and exercise programs with an attendant trainer. Instructional Yoga videos are also helpful.

Also Read: Coronavirus: How to Stay Safe on Your Travels in 2020