A huge part of travelling for me involves eating weird and wonderful things in strange and exotic locations. At home my tummy is not the most well behaved creature, often giving me troubles, which is an ongoing project to work out have to tame it. So far I think I’ve knuckled down a few obscure things that anger the beast including MSG (such a cliché!).
On holiday the last thing you want to spend time on is feeling sick. Ironically the tummy beast of mine is often far more behaved on holiday, lucky me!
I take a few precautions when travelling so I don’t have to worry so much, especially when you are trying something new or eating from far more fun and exciting food stalls etc.
Number one is a really good probiotic to cultivate all the good bacteria. Lactoflora from Neways is the best one that I have found, it’s good for travelling, very effective and easy to transport. We take one each morning before breakfast to set ourselves up for the day. If you are in need of a good probiotic its obviously a great choice for daily use at home too.
Second, Travelan. Many may say that I’m over cautious but I think its worth it for the piece of mind and the freedom it grants you. Travelan is designed to reduce the risk of infection by Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), the most common cause of Travellers’ Diarrhoea. Take it just before you eat each meal, and it guards you against getting Bali/Delhi Belly etc. You can get it at any chemist.
In addition you should always “boil it, cook it, peel it” and wash your hands before eating (I carry wet wipes and that no water hand sanitiser stuff), don’t drink the tap water and avoid things like salad (washed in tap water) or ice from paces where they don’t tell you if it’s made with mineral water.
Travel “first aid kit” – paracetamol, ibuprofen, bandaids, donnatab/immodium (or equivalent), kwells/travacalm (or equivalent), travelan, lactoflora, hand sanitiser, wet wipes.
So it really doesn’t take much effort and you end up coming out with a better tummy than when you left!
Katherine Howard 