My Fall 2006 outward-bound flight from the US to Taipei was not a pleasant trip. Not only did I have a half-dozen drunk college guys whooping it up couple of rows behind me about all the pussy they were going to get in Bangkok but across the aisle from me was a husband and wife with two sick kids, the three year old boy with a wracking cough that was only slowed by his bouts of projectile vomiting onto the seat in front of him every hour or so (“Sorry, he has whooping cough,” the father apologized!) and the rest of the family coughing and sneezing almost constantly throughout the 12 hour flight. The plane was full so my requests to be moved were futile. I myself was sick four days later. You do the math.
From what I’ve read over the years, the ONLY two things one can do to avoid cold and flu-like viruses is to drink plenty of water or juices – not coffee, tea or alcoholic beverages, all of which just dehydrate you more – and wash your hands frequently, especially if you have a tendency to touch your eyes, nose or mouth very often. The “waterless” hand sanitizers are also very effective when water’s not available and can be put into a small travel bottle that fits into a purse or pocket.As for airplanes, none of us probably want to know how unsanitary they are overall. It's not only the recirculated air from the hundreds of others around you; there's the low humidity, necessary cabin pressurization, higher ozone levels and other contaminants added into the mix we breathe, too. It all can pack a punch to anyone's immune system.
I’m not a “germophobe” but I’ve taken to folding up about 10 of those disinfectant pop-up wet paper towels, folding them into something the size of a playing card and putting the stack of folded wet-naps into a baggie that I put into my carry on. As soon as I sit down in my seat I take one out and wipe off anything I’m liable to touch on the flight: recline buttons, the wired remote for the movies, the touch screen (if applicable), the folding table, the window tab, everything.
I’m guessing I’m the first one to clean them since the plane was put into service. I do the same in hotels with remotes, door handles and the likes.Drink water, wash your hands, get a decent night’s sleep. That’s the best you can do. When we’re working a few sick days can be a break in and of themselves, but when we’re on vacation it’s a needless shame, at best.
6 comments:
A day or so before my flight I begin taking antibiotics primarily to prevent food poisoning and other bacterial infections.
Good if that works for you, francois. My doctor is hesitant to prescribe antibiotics as a rule (he feels they're over-used) but it certainly could help in some situations. I suppose we just don't know if it's going to be bacterial or viral, contact or food-borne. Always wise to be aware of, though!
What does he usually prescribe, if you don't mind my asking? Just curious.
Wiping down is just good sense. But taking medicine as a preventative is the worse thing you can do. Just plain stupid.
I'm not sure where you got the idea about taking medicine from this post, Anonymous, but if you mean taking a prescribed medicine as a prophylactic I tend to agree. I was referring to keeping the regular levels up in your system of normal vitamins, etc. - and perhaps higher doses of "C" and zinc for those who subscribe to those theories of prevention.
It's easy to label the beliefs of others as "stupid" (as you said), but I can't agree with that blanket comment. If there's something YOU personally do to stay healthy on holidays please share it, though - I'd be interested to hear. Thanks for the comment!
Taking a large-ish dose of vitamin D (yes, D) works well for me. 10,000 international units (IU). It's arguably more useful than C and it's more likely to be low in the bodies of us western sun-avoiding types.
The other thing I learned is to keep your nose from drying out when on board. You can get gels and sprays for this. The theory seems to be a dry nose can develop micro cracks which allow viruses and bacteria past the normally resilient top layer.
I don't know which of these two is the more important, maybe they work in harmony or maybe it's just placebo, but since employing these tricks I've not had any post plane sickness. Before, the first few days of almost every trip were spent either in bed or in a bit of a daze looking for a pharmacy.
BTW khunbaobao I only recently found your blog while planning my first trip to Thailand. It's wonderful. Moving, joyful, informative - perfect. Thank you.
, thank you for that - and welcome. I'll do some more research on that and might give it a try myself. I hope you'll enjoy looking through the other posts. If you have specific questions drop me a line through the address on the right and I'll try to provide an answer.
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