How You Can Avoid Having To Deal With Health Issues On Your Vacation

 

photo @RIMOWA Original Cabin in Silver

We have all waited a very long time to be able to go on holiday again, and we want to make sure that it goes off without a hitch. But if there’s one thing guaranteed to ruin a vacation, it’s an unexpected health issue. And, let’s face it, we’ve all been there. We’ve all got off a long-distance flight and found that we’ve picked up the flu from someone who wasn’t covering their mouth when they coughed. We’ve all been slipped when we’ve been walking by the pool and landed hard on our arm. And we’ve all been had the sudden jab of pain because that tooth we were trying to ignore has finally flared up.

Well, while you can never stop the truly unexpected from happening, there are some steps that you can take to try and avoid them. Here are a few tips to help you enjoy your holiday without any unwanted health issues.

photos @qantas.com

Always Check To See If You Need A Vaccine Shot

Let’s get one of the most important ones out of the way right off the bat: always check if you need a vaccine when you are travelling abroad (beyond a COVID-19 vaccine, of course). Even if you are pretty sure that you don’t need one, or you think that you’re only going to be there for a few days, the risks of what could happen if you don’t get a vaccine are always worse than the irritation and inconvenience of booking a vaccine shot. The World Health Organisation has a handy list of which countries require which vaccines, so there’s no excuse for pleading ignorance.

Get Travel Insurance

Again, this is a step that so many travellers ignore. A lot of people think that they might not need it if they’re not doing extreme sports or swimming in the ocean. Some people, again, think that it’s not worth it if their vacation is only going to last for a few days. But accidents do happen, and you don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re trying to figure out how to pay for healthcare in a foreign country. You don’t want to be calling your bank to tell them that yes, it’s you trying to pay for medicine thousands of miles away from home. Get travel insurance and let the bills be someone else’s headache.

photo @Westin Hotels

Don’t Travel With A Health Issue You’re Ignoring

Sticking with issues that people find inventive ways to ignore, there are a lot of people out there who choose to postpone getting health treatment. One of the best examples of this is dental care. Say you’ve booked a long vacation overseas, but you’re worried that one of your teeth or your gum is causing you some pain. Don’t say to yourself “I’ll take care of it when I get back.” In the best-case scenario, you will be spending the whole vacation worrying if this is the meal that is going to finally knock that filling loose, or that this is the night when your wisdom tooth pain is finally going to become unbearable.

Visit the dentist before you go and get that problem seen to. Then, you can relax, which is what a vacation should be about, right? If you’re looking for a dentist in Brisbane and you’re worried about your teeth, check out Pure Dentistry. They can get you all fixed up and let you enjoy your vacation free of tooth pain.

Keep Those Hands Clean

It feels like we’ve all had a lot of practice when it comes to washing our hands over the past year or so, doesn’t it? Well, just because you’ve had your vaccine shot, doesn’t mean that now is the time to break this good habit. There are so many germs, bacteria and viruses that are just waiting for you to stop washing your hands, and it is one of the simplest ways to avoid getting sick. We all have a pretty good supply of hand sanitiser at this point too, so make sure you take some of that with you. And while we’re talking about good habits you’ve picked up during the pandemic, take a mask with you too.

Drink Lots Of Water And Get Plenty Of Sleep

This is good advice for staying healthy even when you’re not on vacation, but these are two habits that can easily slip when you’re having a lot of fun far away from home. Staying hydrated and well-rested are two of the best ways that you can support your body’s immune system. Our immune system starts to suffer when we don’t sleep, and our white blood cells get a big boost when we do. Make sure that you are drinking bottled water if you are vacationing somewhere where the tap water isn’t safe to drink.

photo @Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore