We received several great tips which made our travel to Ireland/Scotland more pleasant and healthy. I share these with you now:
1. Dress comfortably. My girlfriend/travel buddy and I wore nice exercise/gym jogging pants, tennis shoes and layers of clothes. The only thing restricting our movement was our seat belts.
2. Wipe down your airplane dropdown tray with antiseptic wipes and use hand sanitizer before you eat. I recently read an article saying the airplane dropdown tray and pocket on seat in front of you were probably NOT wiped down after the last person sat in your seat—probably did not happen. If that person coughed and sneezed germs and/or viruses on the tray table, guess who gets exposed???
3. Move around often. Remember that deep vein thrombosis (DVT) can occur when we sit still for long periods of time. See my blog post from June 1, 2014 for more on this topic.
4. Carry eye drops in your carryon and use them. After our all-night flight to Glasgow, my eyes were dry and irritated. A few eye drops and they felt so much better.
5. Pack a toothbrush and toothpaste to freshen your mouth. It will feel so much better—and your seatmates will thank you.
6. Buy noise-cancelling headphones. Several years ago I traveled by myself to AZ to visit family. On the way home, I sat beside a woman and her small infant. That child cried and fussed from AZ to St Louis. My nerves were frazzled and I wanted to say, “do something for your child, woman!” I kept my mouth shut, but barely. I decided that noise cancelling headphones were a future purchase. I know headphones aren’t cheap (we got ours for Christmas presents one year) but they are amazingly protective to my ears—and my nerves.
Those are new suggestions for surviving travel. Do you have some you want to share?