Home Wellness Health How to Protect Yourself From Getting Sick While Traveling

How to Protect Yourself From Getting Sick While Traveling

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How to Protect Yourself From Getting Sick While Traveling

Getting sick at home is harder to do than out in the world, especially if you have to travel in these challenging times. Not only is there COVID-19 to worry about, there are also the many forms of common travel illnesses that can be contracted when you leave your home city. In your home and local environment, your body is used to the microbes of the local ecosystem. Your immune system is resistant to the local bacteria and molds, your stomach can handle the microbes in the local food and water. Sure, you still need to be careful not to expose yourself to unnecessary germs, but you can drink tap water with confidence and trust food prepared in most local places. That all changes when you travel. This is How to Protect Yourself From Getting Sick While Traveling.

Fly or drive just a few cities over in any direction and the ecosystem of germs — viruses, microbes, and bacteria — will change. And so too will your resistance. in addition to keeping safe from COVID risk, just drinking tap water, water safe to drink for locals, can make you sick for days. So today, we’re here to offer a few tips to help you enjoy your necessary or vacation travel by avoiding the most common avenues for illness.

Wear a Cloth or Medical Mask

Wearing a mask is the number one way to protect yourself from COVID infection risk. A mask prevents airborne particles from reaching your face and helps to prevent you from touching your own face. The mask also prevents your breath particles from leaving your personal space, helping those around you not to worry.

Wear a medical-grade mask or a two-layer cloth mask. If you wear cloth masks, store them in a plastic container and launder them on sanitizing settings regularly. Switch out masks when the cloth becomes moist.

Cary Sanitizing Wet Wipes and Use Them

Pack sanitizing wipes with you wherever you go. Don’t just keep them like a totem against germs, actually use them. Casually wipe down any surface you plan to touch, especially if you know a few thousand other people have touched it. Wipe down your airplane armrests and fold-out table. Wipe down the counter in your hotel room. Why trust the cleaning thoroughness of others when a quick swipe can keep you safe?

And, of course, wipe your hands any time you’re not sure about the cleanliness of things you have touched. Sanitizing wipes can allow you to interact with the world first, and then kill the germs. This is very important to Protect Yourself From Getting Sick While Traveling.

Drink from a Filtration Water Bottle

Don’t trust the water. Even if you only travel inside the states, even if the tap water is safe for locals to drink, there are new microbes in there that your body is not ready for. If you moved here, you’d have time to adapt. But to enjoy your few days on holiday or stay effective during a business trip, avoid tap water.

Don’t want to rely on bottled water and soda? The solution is easy. Carry a filtration water bottle instead. These water bottles have a filter built in just below the mouthpiece so you can fill up and stay hydrated for free, without risking travel illness.

Don’t Let Your Flatware Touch the Table

You never know what germs are on a restaurant table. Most of the time, the wait staff barely have time to wipe the table with a cleaner-damp rag before seating the next customers. If you can, keep your flatware on a napkin or on your plate. Touchless flatware, designed with a special curve to keep the heads of each piece of flatware off the table, can also be very helpful in potentially less-than-sterile eating conditions.

Bring Your Allergy Meds

When you travel, you never know what aspect of the local ecosystem your allergies will react to. Even if you’ve never been allergic to anything in your life, travel can trigger an allergic reaction. Pollen in the air, some kind of local wildlife, even just a change in urban pollution composition can trigger sinus rebellion, postnasal drip, and itchy eyes among other symptoms. Keep your antihistamines close just in case.

Avoid Street Vendor Foods

We know, it’s tempting to dive right into the local culture and eat food from a truck or vendor stall. But don’t. It is very difficult for these vendors to keep their food prep areas completely clean and cross-contamination is common. Not to mention whatever blows in on the wind. Street food is the most likely to make you sick, while food from popular local restaurants can offer you the same cultural flavor without the same risks.

Staying safe from bacteria and unfamiliar microbes while traveling is not as easy as it sounds. But with the right preparation and routine, you can significantly increase the chances of enjoying your travel to the fullest by not getting sick. Even in these travel-restricted and virus-spreading times. Thank you for reading How to Protect Yourself From Getting Sick While Traveling!