International travel can be interesting, well if you follow Don’t Stop Living you’ll know that. Nonetheless, it is crucial that you take precautionary measures in order to guarantee your safety while in a foreign country, remember the Venezuela incidents? Discussed herein, are tips and guidelines on how you can stay safe and healthy when traveling abroad for business or leisure.
Tips for staying healthy when travelling the globe!
Before setting off for your trip
Plan your trip well in advance: Find out the types of immunisation and vaccinations that you need to take before setting off your trip. Make a point of seeing a physician at least six weeks before your trip. This is because there are vaccines that take up to six weeks in order to be effective.
Go for a medical checkup: A medical checkup is essential in order to discover any underlying condition that may affect you while you may be away from home. With all these new health insurance marketplaces, a checkup should become second nature anyways. Besides, a medical checkup will enable you to identify the medicines to carry with you during the trip.
Prepare for your travel: Get to know the type of hospitals that you can visit while you are away from home and the health insurance providers that will cater for your health needs when you are away. Make certain that you have adequate medicine in addition to surplus prescriptions that you can use to obtain a refill. Do not forget to carry your eye prescription. Request your doctor to provide you with a medical bracelet with your details in it. If possible, carry a first aid kit with you.
What types of vaccines will you require?
Depending on the destination you are travelling to, you may require more than one vaccine. Plus, some of the vaccines that you may have received while you were a child might be given again since they are no longer effective. Examples of vaccines that you may receive while travelling abroad include, but not limited to hepatitis B, polio, hepatitis A, rabies, influenza, typhoid fever, Japanese encephalitis, tetanus, measles, diphtheria toxoids, mumps, meningococcal meningitis, yellow fever and chickenpox. Check out my post on Yellow Fever Certificates.
Extra information on how to safeguard yourself from diseases when traveling abroad
At times, a vaccine may not be enough to safeguard you from various ailments when traveling abroad. Therefore, you need to:
• Be careful about what you eat. Diarrhoea is one of the most common intestinal ailments that affect thousands of people who travel to foreign countries. Diarrhoea can be caused by eating food that has not been prepared well. Therefore, do not just eat in any place that offers dishes for sale. Rather, choose eateries that are well-known for hygiene and correct food preparation methods. In addition, desist from consuming half-cooked foods, undercooked sea foods, unpasteurized milk products and foods sold by street vendors. When eating fruits, make certain that you are the one who is peeling the fruits. Do not take tap water. Instead, opt for commercially produced bottled water as well as carbonated drinks. Take a look at articles about travelling in places like Laos, Caracas and Tenerife, which reveals perils for a usual tourist.
Where did it all go wrong?
• If malaria is one of the most prevalent diseases in the country you are visiting, make certain that you are equipped to deal with mosquitos. Use mosquito repellents and make certain that you are sleeping inside a treated mosquito net.
• Carry hand sanitisers. Since you are not certain about the cleanliness of the water you may be using to wash your hands, it is essential that you not only carry hand sanitisers, but hand wipes so that you can clean your hands before consuming food.
• Pack sunscreen. Do not forget to pack sunscreen especially if you are travelling to a tropical climate zone where the temperatures can get as high as 35 degrees C.
While travelling abroad can be fun, it is essential that you protect yourself from possible ailments that may prevent you from enjoying yourself to the fullest.
I’ve covered a load of these on my Tuesday’s Travel Essentials series before. Safe travels!