Staying Healthy On the Road

by Carol Penn-Romine

Ah vacation . . . a break from the same ol’ same ol’, a respite from the daily grind of work and school. We need it to recharge and de-stress, to relax and recreate ourselves a bit. However, hitting the road provides stresses all its own: different food, water, routine, time zones . . . plus some dietary splurging we might not do at home.

Staying healthy on the road can be a challenge, particularly if your trip is lengthy and involves a number of destinations. How to do it? Here are some things you can do to keep yourself on an even keel.

Assemble a travel kit of sundry items you use at home: antacid, aspirin or aspirin substitute, anti-diarrheal medicine, mild laxative, antibacterial ointment, adhesive bandages and thermometer. Think about what’s in your medicine chest that you might need during a typical one- or two-week period to help you decide what to put into your kit. If you’re leaving the country, you may be unable to identify the remedies in the store, particularly if the labels are printed in a language you can’t read.

That being said, it isn’t necessary to take EVERYTHING in the medicine chest. Unless you’re climbing Everest, you’ll be close enough to a pharmacy to pop in for extra of whatever you might need. If you have a small supply of a few key sundries, you’re prepared, should you get a snootful of germs from the recycled air in the plane or if your tum takes exception to what you’ve put into it.

Also, carry along copies of any prescriptions you’re taking, including their generic names, and the prescription for glasses or contact lenses. Should you misplace your medicine, sit on your glasses or lose a contact on a hike, those things will be much easier to replace if you don’t have to phone your doctor back home. (Speaking of prescriptions, be sure to carry those medications in their original containers. Nothing deflates your vacation enthusiasm like a run-in with those unsmiling federal agents at the airport.)

If you take vitamins and nutritional supplements at home, then take them while you’re on the road. For the sake of convenience you might be tempted to forego carrying nutritional supplements when you’re traveling. This is the worst time to skip them, because your body is undergoing added stresses from everything new. Carrying along your supplements is one of the kindest and smartest things you can do for yourself.

As soon as possible after checking in, grab a map and orient yourself to the area with a walk or a run. This is a good time for this activity, because you’ve just reached open spaces after being cooped up in an airplane or car. It will give you the opportunity to get your bearings in a new place as well as stretch your legs and take in a breath of fresh air. If you’ve just crossed several time zones, this will also help get your body acclimated to the one you’ll be spending the next week or so in.

About water: In foreign countries, it goes without saying that you should always check to see if the water is safe before you drink it. At home, we take it for granted that tap water is potable. However, when you leave the country, you may even encounter restaurants in which bottled water is served because their own tap water is not fit for consumption.

Also, if you visit places where the water is unsafe, don’t forget that the ice cubes are made from the same water. So are tea, coffee and other drinks. Be sure that when you order a beverage, the bottle or can is still sealed when it arrives at your table. It is not uncommon for an open container to be filled with something other than its original contents.

Even in countries where you know the tap water is safe, Great Britain, for example, be sure you know the sources of water you may encounter elsewhere. Only in the U.S. do we tend to assume any water we can wash our hands in to be fit for drinking. Once while on a train from Edinburgh to London, a BritRail attendant noticed me filling my cup with water from the lavatory tap and stopped me, explaining that the water was for washing hands but not for drinking. I thanked her and poured it out, but I’d already consumed two cups of water from that source! By the next day, I was in bed with fever and stomach cramps, my unwelcome companions for the better part of the next week.

If anything good came out of that experience, it was finding that when the housekeeper comes into your room to make your bed and finds you laid out with fever, chances are good that she won’t just make the bed over your prone body and leave you lying there in agony. She quickly dropped the broom and dust cloth, clapped a hand to my forehead and started outlining what was to be done to help me out. Who knew angels smelled of furniture polish?!

As for diet and dieting, vacation time is the absolute WORST time to try to diet. If you can stick to your current dietary habits, however abysmal, that’s challenge enough. A great part of the travel experience is sampling the local cuisine and reveling in its unique tastes. After all, you’re in a new place, where the specialties are most likely things you can’t get at home. Enjoy new culinary treats in moderation and then get right back to what you know you should be eating when you get home. There’s no point depriving yourself—or condemning yourself if you don’t deprive yourself. It’s vacation time, so have fun!

© 2006, The Hungry Passport