Sick on a trip - happened to you?

More than once. Germs exist.

Flu in Florence where I recall vomiting through New Year’s Eve fireworks. Hotel staff very concerned and would check on me during my stay. Never left the room for 2 days. Staff would bring me broth and crackers.

During my recent 6 week London stay got a nasal infection. Learned not all hospitals had ER’s ( known as A&E’s) Issue was resolved by getting a prescription for an acne cream to use on the outside of the nose. Got the prescription from the 2nd physician I saw. I was persistent in feeling better.

Also seems like I always catch a cold following my flight back to LAX. Imagine its because my diabetes has weakened my immune system even though I do take Vitamin C.

Planes are germ magnets.

EDIT: The OTC meds I take with are Advil and Advil PM, Eucalyptus throat lozenges, citrus Airborne Tablets, as well as heart & diabetes meds.
Before I travel make certain all meds refilled. All bottles labeled by pharmacy and all visible in a packing cube that I can easily access from my carry on. Also take vitamin C & D and Magnesium.

Always purchase a bottle of water after security. Drink from it throughout the flight. Never want to be dehydrated. This is on both domestic and international flights.

Food poisoning in Rome that knocked me out for 3 days. Since then, I always bring Cephalaxin or another antibiotic with me for bacterial infections. Unfortunately it doesn’t work on viruses.
Saline solution sprayed into the nostrils kills the airborne germs on flights for hours. Even TSA considers saline solution “medically necessary” and allows more than 3 ounces.

Ra's revenge with high fever hit us in Egypt's Soma Bay around 2010 - likely bad / infecting food. So, we stayed on the room in bed after the first days. The staff from the 5-stars hotel was very kind and brought us 2-3 times a day freshly brewed ginger tea with real fresh cut ginger and some basic food and bottled water. It really helped us. I do not see how we would be able to avoid this situation because we ate food only from high quality places - not from a market or fruit dealer from the street side.

Yes, twice and both times I was alone.
The day before I flew to Paris in Feb. 2016 , someone was coughing and sneezing very near me at work.
The day I arrived, I started to feel terrible, made it to a nearby grocery store for food and fluids then hunkered down in my warm apartment for the next three days with quite bad flu.
I was a nurse, and travel with many OTC meds for which I was thankful.
Felt well enough after 3 days of mostly sleeping to begin a week long language course.

In 2022, I contracted COVID 19 on my last day of a trip to Italy, in Florence.
I changed my flights, moved to a different hotel with a room fridge, bought some food and fluids and again holed up for four days; alternately vomiting, spiking a fever and sleeping.
Again , I had plenty OTC meds with me to manage symptoms, and the staff brought me breakfast to the room each morning.
I was very lucky not to get one respiratory symptom as I am asthmatic.

I got flu last December in Scotland, but as I was staying with friends , that was easily managed.
Spent a couple of days recovering in bed at their house snuggled up with their rather large lazy cat!

My advice is to have excellent travel medical insurance in place, bring OTC meds and enough of any prescription meds you use to last you up to at least another unplanned week’s extension of a trip.
I always have a note of where emergency rooms and English speaking doctors might be found in places I travel to, and always let folks back home know my itinerary if I am alone.
I also have a note of where Canadian Embassies and/or Consulates can be found nearby.
Carry your passport at all times, in case you fall ill or get injured when out and about.
I also carry my travel insurance info with me.

Overkill?
Not in my book.
When I travel solo, all these things are now second nature to me.

Wishing you all good health on your travels this year.

SJ being alone must have been rough, glad you faired okay. And too many times sick! You've hit your quota :)

Regarding non-prescription drugs, I carry very little, but my wife always has a little cache of various. This time around they were a big benefit. My flu was in my lungs really bad. The worst day we were calling around for an urgent care or ER. I'm not soft about being sick, but but it was getting hard to breath. Luckily my wife packed Guafensin, which along with my inhaler took the edge off enough to get through the day.

I assumed we'd be able to buy the non-prescription drugs we wanted in Japan, but their OTC cold and flu med were mostly quite odd. For instance tylenol, first gen antihistamine, opioid, caffeine, stimulant vasodilator, belladonna, gastro smooth muscle relaxant, all in the same pill. It was hard to find one or two narrowly focused drugs, rather everything was a wild cocktail seemingly meant to speedball one through a tough day at work.

Definitely I will expand my non-prescription drug program next trip, at least enough to get started if need be.

Food poisoning sucks too, sorry to those who got it. My wife got it in Austria a few years back, only one to eat sushi at an all you can eat pan Asian buffet in Krems. Very hard on her, and she kept relapsing because she wanted to eat all the nice foods she was missing out on and didn't let her system fully reset. We took our daughter to an urgent care in Tannheimtal for an unrelated issue (concussion). Doctor Erwin Pfefferkorn (great name) looked at my wife - you look dehydrated. She explained the situation, and he had a bag of saline in her arm within a few minutes.

Unfortunately, getting sick is a part of life and a part of life I've had to deal with a few times on the road.

I once had food poisoning so bad the only times I could get out of bed for two days was to use the loo. I think I slept for around 20 hours each day.

I've learned what I can eat and what I should stay away from when it comes to food. But you never know.

I've also had colds, flu and muscle strain. Once I cut my finger so badly I needed to head to the emergency room.

I try to find hotels that have kettles and at least a mini-fridge. Not just for when I get ill but to keep things on hand to eat when I don't feel like sitting in a restaurant or to make a cup of tea or coffee for that little extra comfort. I also travel with an immersion heater and a cup to heat up water for when there is no kettle or coffee maker.

I remember getting a very bad cold during my first trip to Venice over 30 years ago. My hotel couldn' supply me with a cup of hot water for tea when the bar and breakfast room were closed. Ever since then, I have the immersion heater. However, a trip to a pharmacy got me the OTC meds I needed.

I now travel with some OTC meds--at least enough to get me started.

for the next three days with quite bad flu. I was a nurse, and travel with many OTC meds for which I was thankful.

This brings me to an interesting question. In Germany we have the saying that a flu needs a week to disappear or seven days with medicine. In this saying you can see that a lot of people do not believe that the small medicine really helps to get over it faster. My question is if other countries or cultures have a similar saying / experience / wisdom?

btw: another saying is "Eine Erkältung kommt drei Tage, bleibt drei Tage und geht drei Tage.“ (A cold comes for three days, stays for three days and goes away for three days).

@Hank, I hope it is OK for you to ask this question in your thread? Otherwise I am open to delete it.

My husband and I both got a horrible case of bronchitis a week into our recent 3+ week trip to India and Nepal. We both had a horrible cough that kept us up all night so no sleep. Our supply of throat lozenges quickly ran out and we bought more but sadly not enough from a hole in the wall pharmacy in Varanasi. There was also not enough Kleenex on the planet so that was a constant search. A couple of times my tickle cough was so bad I threw up all over myself at a most in opportune time such as when I was getting ready to do a flight seeing tour of the Himalayas in Nepal. There was no time to visit a ladies room to clean up so I simply zipped up my jacket and carried on. Not fun. I am sure that the air pollution in Delhi made our lungs more susceptible to this virus. I am still recovering and gradually getting better from this virus nearly two months later. My husband and I both soldiered on through the tour masked and sitting at the back of the bus with another couple who had this bug as well. Probably tmi but since you asked.

Food poisoning, worst I've ever had, in Rome years ago. Hotel staff were helpful, I couldn't move from my bed for 3 days.

Another bad food poisoning after eating at a pub near Salisbury, England. I was 5 months pregnant with our first - scared to death! That bout took a day to clear and required rearranging itinerary and hotels as I couldn't move. Luckily we were driving, no plane or train tickets involved.

Horrific upper respiratory infection - not Covid - but occurred in 2022 on my first return to Europe post-Covid disruptions. French pharmacies don't carry my medication of choice, but pharmacist was helpful. I now double check my packed OTC meds before I leave the US.

Oh, yeah. It's not good. years ago Mary and I caught a bad cold that turned into bronchitis in Germany. We felt awful and went to a local doctor who provided us with antibiotics and didn't charge us a dime. What a nice man! We got better of course but it rather ruined a week of our trip as we felt like dog poop.

With the stress and fatigue of international travel our immune systems are suspect to viruses.

Recently on a flight to Poland the two people directly behind us were coughing and hacking and I thought, "Please, not again." We wore well-fitted N95 (or whatever) masks and did not get sick. Dumb luck I suppose.

I used to travel frequently in the winter for military duty and hated it as so many people were often sick to some degree on the plane, and yes I would occasionally suffer the consequences. No reason to be paranoid but we disinfect or wash our hands, wear a mask if necessary, and avoid touching our faces or eating until our hands are clean. This has helped.

In our Google doc about all of our Italy trips, we actually have a section called "In Sickness & in Health" (which, by the way, in our marriage vows we never promised to do). In 15 trips to Italy, totaling well over 400 days, one (or both) of us has been sick 9 times, with 3 trips to the ER. We are rarely sick at home, probably because we rarely spend time with crowds of people indoors.

For our first trip since the beginning of the pandemic in the winter of 2021, we made elaborate plans for alternate apartments and extended dog-sitting and took lots of masks and OTC medications and 4 weeks extra of prescription medications with us, but since then nothing special planned. This year, for a month in Sicily in spring with a lot of driving and a lot of different places to stay and various things like opera tickets already booked, it's really worth giving it some thought, though!

My husband has gotten quick sick on a few trips. He got some sort of flu in China once that knocked both he and his colleague out for about a month. He also caught Covid in Jan 2020 from a colleague while we were in Dresden. I have never seen my husband that sick before. Then this summer he caught Covid in Iceland, but thankfully it was at the very end of his trip.

Thankfully my only sickness on a trip was stateside. We had flown from NY to visit my parents in CA and I got food poisoning extremely bad. Hindsight, I should have gone to the hospital. I was so happy though that it hit when I was at a familiar place, and not in a hotel etc. But the flight home about 3 days later was rough.

Now don't ask about falls. I manage to do that a fair amount on travels, almost always overseas, and have the surgical scars to prove it;)

I got COVID during a short domestic trip. It was my second time so i recognized the feeling it was coming. I had brought OTC meds for treating cold/flu symptoms, that barely helped but got me home. I felt badly for my wife and two travel companions who could not avoid me at that point. One of them eventually got sick but after getting home.

I would like to know the medications that folks are bringing on their trips.
I used to get sick a lot (one winter I had 5 separate colds). However, since I have been going to Acupuncture once a month, I rarely get sick. I do believe it keeps me healthier.

While in Italy this past October started feeling bad day before flight back to the States. Headed to a pharmacist in Venice, stocked up on throat lozenge and nasal spray. I had packed plenty of other OTC meds. I did run out of Kleenex and had to buy more at the airport in Munich. They were like sand paper! It was a miserable flight home. Saw my doctor once home, tested positive for Covid and had ruptured both ear drums on the flight home. I'm pretty sure it was the man hacking/coughing right beside me on a packed vaporetto a few days before. At least I was home for most of my illness. Hope you are feeling better.

My wife and I have not had many issues with sickness on trips except for:

1) On a bus tour of Poland in 1989, we were in Warsaw and I got tired of drinking the bottled water that had a strong soda flavor. I drank some tap water. I found out that Montezuma had relatives in Poland. For 2-3 days, I didn't eat much, but survived still on the trip.
2) My wife and I have traveled extensively since I retired in 2010, sometimes taking trips of several weeks. A couple of times while on a long trip two, my wife just got worn down toward the end of the trip. This happened on a trip we made to Australia and NZ, were we were gone for almost two months. Also, happened on a long trip to South America.

Now we are in our late 70s and don't take trips longer than about 2 1/2 weeks.

I got extremely sick in India with GI symptoms. OTC meds didn’t help but we had some medical people on the tour who were able to monitor me. I just stayed and slept on the bus while we were touring and felt like I missed a full day or two I simply can’t remember much about. I recovered so the flight home was OK but others on the trip not so much. I still can’t tolerate the smell of Indian cooking.
My brother in law has caught Covid once and flu once while traveling in domestic flights in the past year. Once he knew someone around him seemed sick but the other time he can’t pinpoint.. Does anyone wear masks on flights ( especially long international ones) .

Yeah, if you travel enough, you will get sick sometime. To be honest, with being packed in with other people, exposed to new strains of bugs, different bacterial mixes, viruses, all complicated by the stress and effort of travel, I am surprised we do not get sick more often.

But you have to have the attitude to roll with the punches, if you feel a bit under the weather, feel yourself going down, then decide to have a "down" day, taking it easy (and hopefully away from others), maybe time in a park, in the Sun, or just holed up in your room. Maybe send a partner out to get some fruit, hydrating drinks, or whatever sounds good. Sometimes "nipping it in the bud", some self-care and rest, is wiser than soldiering on and being down and out for days later.

We also carry basic meds, Ibuprofen, allergy meds, for me, Mucinex DM has worked wonders, maybe some gastro meds. We do not bring a bunch, just enough until we can get to a pharmacy, or stuff not easily available there.

Speaking of Pharmacies, they are a great resource when traveling. Pharmacists can listen to your symptoms (most speak very good English) and suggest something to help, including the odd item that may be "prescription only" here in the US.

If seriously ill, do not hesitate to head to a Doctor. Your hotel or a pharmacy will know one, most are excellent Doctors, and the cost will be way less than what you experience here in the US (think tens of Dollars, not hundreds).

Oh, about that doctor in Leimen, Germany. He was from Egypt and spoke German and English fluently. (I think he spoke English better than I did lol.) A very pleasant, outgoing, and kind man with a sense of humor. He truly embraced German culture and spoke of his enjoyment of Christmas and other markets, volksmarches, and wine and beer fests. He joked about needing the long walks to burn off the calories and had some mugs and other souvenirs from volksmarches in his office. A great memory.

On another note norovirus has been surging on cruises and is at a ten-year high.

During military deployments we usually got little or poor quality sleep initially, or during missions, and everyone got sick. You just had to deal with it. Our immune systems were almost zero at times. I remember sleeping nearly for 24 hours once we got back to our base. Not fun.

I forgot about my trip to Iceland and Amsterdam last February. I thought I had a cold there, but turns out it was Covid. I had no idea until we got home and I tested positive. With the timing, I am sure I caught it at my mother's services, but then the symptoms showed up a few days later on that trip. Thankfully it was very mild.

We are going to up our game regarding OTC meds for our next trip. The medical stash used to just include ibuprofen, acetaminophen, nasal spray and Dramamine. After the last couple trips we are adding allergy meds, Benadryl, and lots of Zicam (both lozenges and nasal swabs). Twice we’ve used pharmacies and ended up with what the pharmacist felt we needed; some were more effective than others. It helps to have the basics that we know work for us. One thing we are going to add that is not meds are socks that dry quickly.

Does anyone wear masks on flights ( especially long international ones)

Yes, I do. Not so much against COVID any more as just against the general petri dishes that airplane economy sections are. I figure whatever I can do to protect myself against those bugs is worth a little hassle (and I have no delusions that I am 100% protected by wearing a mask - I just figure it is worth the effort.)

Also when I flew home to the States last week, I wore one in part because I had been sick a week prior to flying, so I didn't want to pass on my germs to fellow travelers in case I was still contagious.

I have a delicate stomach and have gotten food poisoning of some sort on several trips, despite being careful, most recently in South Africa, Disneyworld and Buenos Aires — so it’s not just a third world problem. It forces me to take a day off traveling and then I can’t eat normally for anywhere from 3-6 days. It’s a drag but not catastrophic. In the past two years, I’ve started taking Pepto Bismal at any sign of a rumbly stomach and it seems to help enormously.

If you're in (or near) Canada, they have a OTC medication for E. coli (one of the food poisoning causes) the pharmacist can give you. It's a refrigerated liquid so you cant buy in advance of a trip. I forget the name - maybe someone will come up with it. Not available in the US.

My standard cache of OTC meds to bring on a trip: pepto (bismuth), Imodium (diarrhea), pepcid (heartburn), aspirin (no tylenol for me) mucinex (for cough & congestion), cough lozenges, anti-itch cream, foot powder. Not a whole box of each, just some.

Actually, I like to shop locally in Europe for some of those things just to see what different products they might have there.

Yes, I do still wear a KN95 mask on planes and buses and trains when traveling.
I wear one here at home on public transport now that it’s winter and damp and bug-y in close quarters.

In my first aid travel kit, which is packed into one of those small zip up bags that new pillowcases are sold in:

A few days worth of each:

Extra strength Acetaminophen
Extra strength Ibufrofen
Dimenhydrinate( Gravol)
Anti-diarrhea tablets
Sinus night/day capsules
Allergy tablets
My usual daily vitamins that I take at home

A tiny bag of table salt for gargling for a sore throat.
Two Ace bandages.
A few bandaids.
A couple of packets of sterile gauze dressings and a little roll of surgical tape.
A tiny amount of Polysporin ointment.
A tiny amount of Vick’s Vaporub….good for insect bites!

I’ve used all of these items on trips and don’t travel without them.
No one wants to have to find a pharmacy when not feeling well!

Stan: I haven’t heard of the Canadian med you mentioned for E. Coli?

In Germany we have the saying that a flu needs a week to disappear or seven days with medicine. In this saying you can see that a lot of people do not believe that the small medicine really helps to get over it faster. My question is if other countries or cultures have a similar saying / experience / wisdom?

Around here we say " get a cold and it will last 7 days. Treat a cold and it will go away in a week". But the point of using cold meds isn't to shorten the illness, but to manage (hopefully minimize) the symptoms.

As an asthmatic, I'm vulnerable to respiratory infections. Bronchitis laid me flat out for about 3 days in Disney world one year. I stayed in our room except for meals in the hotel, but bounced back after that. On a 3 weel trip that took us from London to Florence, with several stops in between, i came down with flu in Munich. It sent my asthma into overdrive, and my usual inhaler and OTC meds werent helping. Spent 2 days in our hotel room, and the staff were great , making sure that DH could bring me soup and hot drinks . We made it to Oberammergau for a planned visit with good friends. She took one look at me when she met us at the train station and called her GP for an appointment. Bless him, he saw me right away and prescribed some much stronger meds and a steroid inhaler that made a huge difference within a day. Paid cash for the office visit, which wasnt much. In fact IIRC the prescriptions cost about twice as much. Our insurance paid out quickly after we submitted the claim. Caught COVID just before the big shut down - symptoms started a day or so after returning home from a 2 week cruise. Ended up with long COVID- it was almost 2 years before I was fully back to normal. But that's life. Stuff happens.

Stan: I haven’t heard of the Canadian med you mentioned for E. Coli?

SJ I wonder if he misunderstood its purpose and was referring to Dukerol? But it's an oral vaccine preventative against 'travellers diarrhea ', and not a treatment.

Regarding the assertion that non-prescription drug don't make a virus pass faster, of course true.

And many non-prescription drugs have fairly minimal effects on symptoms.

But with this flu, I had a lot of chest congestion. Non-prescription chest mucus thinner was a god send. When I used it I coughed half as often, and less harshly, Made it possible to rest better.

Also took a lot of hot showers to steam my lungs/sinuses. In this regard glad I was in Japan, where they don't restrict shower flow and favor scorching hot water.

Did they really name a diarrhea vaccine Dukerol? In my next life I want be on the marketing committee that names prescription drugs. :)

CJean sorry about the long Covid, such a bummer Glad you are finally better :)

My bad. I misspelled it. The name is Dukoral.

Yes I meant to say it was a preventive, not a treatment for it. Hence it is to be taken before a trip. But as I recall its to be taken within a week prior to travel, so if you're visiting from the US, you can't stockpile it and take it home to use before a trip unless you can keep it refrigerated. And it's for cholera, not E. coli. Sorry for twisting it around, but it's still worth looking into.

Interesting thread. I tend to take relatively minimal "just in case" medications with me, but I tend to be in the "tough it out" school of thought for most minor maladies:

I've always believed (whether at home or on the road) that for a simple cold or similar bug, over-the-counter medications may give you a little relief from some symptoms, but for me, that just changes (and deepens) my symptoms, making them different and actually lasting twice as long (eg relieving a stuffy head cold a bit, but turning it into a deeper chest cold with a nasty cough). I figure I can either rest up for a couple days (lots of hot tea, soup, bed rest) and I'll feel a lot better pretty quickly, or take the decongestant or some strange Chinese herbal mystery tablet my wife swears by, and my head may clear a bit but I feel like crap for two weeks. So I try to let my body heal itself if I can. My spouse usually gets whatever I get and vice-versa so we have a controlled experiment and I watch as she suffers for many days longer than me after she reaches for all the symptomatic-relief over-the-counter meds and unlabeled Chinese/Japanese/Korean powders and pills. Maybe there's something to my theory, maybe it's just we are all built different.

Of course, for a serious illness, infection or other condition, I'll seek out professionals.

The one thing I always bring a large supply of on our trips, and that I have relied on several times, is herbal tea. It's light, reasonably compact, and makes my luggage smell good (like licorice or fennel).

But now I'm thinking I need to make a run for the border some dark night and sneak in some of those bootleg Canadian drugs mentioned repeatedly upthread.

Vancouver and Tim Hortons is calling...

To the point above about Dukoral, we took it before going to China and were the only ones who didn't get sick. Taking it again before Asia in February.

As mentioned, it's an oral vaccine that doesn't require a prescription.

David, I don't think I've ever taken anything for a cold that made much if any difference. Maybe something for a headache. I took Nyquil and slept OK once but it was probably the alcohol lol.

As for masks I don't think the blue or loose-fitting ones do anything to keep viruses out. As mentioned a well-fitted N95 is better at keeping viruses from getting into your nose or mouth.

Dear Canadian friends: Can anyone tell me a couple critical details about Dukoral?

1. Apparently, one takes it (it's an oral vaccine) roughly 10 days before your trip. It apparently needs to be refrigerated...is a standard home kitchen fridge adequate, or does it need to be super cold? (some vaccines require special refrigeration)
2. Does it have a very limited shelf-life? If I'm gonna be visiting Vancouver for a weekend, does that have to be 11 days before my trip to China/Egypt/India, or is it OK in my fridge for a few months?

(Yes, I did Google Dukoral and found many useful facts, but not the above practical questions...I suspect these questions are less critical for those who have a Canadian pharmacy just down the street, and the next time I'm near one I will ask, but those who have used it before might know the answers).

It seems my spouse also has a potential non-Canadian source (it appears common, just not so common in the USA) and she almost certainly could score some and bring for us, but when she comes to visit she will be on 20 hours of airline flights to get here, and in that case refrigeration is not fully predictable (though probably more than adequate if in checked bags - it's usually really cold down in the baggage level). I'm also thinking about future trips when it might need to sit in our fridge for months.

PMs welcome, and thank you from BC (Baja Columbia).

Stan: Dukoral is for both cholera AND enterotoxigenic e coli prevention.

David : I found this link about shelf life and storage- https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/11/11-0822-t1

TLDR: this vaccine requires 2 doses, not 1, taken at least 1 week apart and starting at least 2 weeks before travelling. Subsequent boosters if needed within 5 years is only a single dose.

The unopened box is stable for 3 years refrigerated (regular fridge) or 30 days unrefrigerated at temps under 37C.

@ CJean - Awesome, thank you! All good news - those details should make it quite straightforward for us.

And FWIW, my spouse actually is a medical professional, just not one whose specialty is travel medicine. She does work with (and is friendly with) other docs who probably would be pretty knowledgeable about this vaccine (some of whom are either from, or go to visit developing countries on medical missions). I'll have her check with them, and I'll ask my own GP just to be sure there are no contraindications for me (don't think there should be any - my doc usually shugs and takes a common-sense approach to most things). Of course, goes without saying, anyone self-prescribing meds should do their homework and proceed with care.

The 3-year shelf life and relatively simple/modest refrigeration requirements are exactly the kind of details I had been hoping for. We have one trip later this year to an area where this would probably provide some useful protection (Mexico), plus another trip early next year where it'll also apply (Philippines and Thailand). Our upcoming trips to Shetland and Puglia should be fine without. I do tend to be very careful about what I eat abroad (my spouse is much more wiling to take food-borne risks IMHO) and I will continue my usual regimen - but this seems like a good extra layer of protection to add.

Big thanks!

Yes, I do still wear a KN95 mask on planes and buses and trains when traveling.

We do the same, were in Paris recently, and we wore masks on Metro, plus any other crowded interior spaces (museums, etc). Not even particularly concerned about Covid anymore, we do it more to guard against the many other viruses in circulation: flu, RSV, etc...knock on wood, we came home with no sickness...

However, we were not as lucky in an October trip to London where we caught "something" - maybe RSV but we had had the vaccination so it wasn't too bad? - but lingering cough and congestion. And we wore masks on that trip, too, on the plane, the Tube, in crowded spaces, but not in restaurants which is likely where we encountered the bug we caught, but who knows? It is a crapshoot traveling in the fall and winter, we take simple precautions like wearing a mask, wash our hands, etc., but it is pretty hard to completely avoid the bugs in circulation.

Wow, I don’t know to feel lucky or doomed after reading this thread! Lucky because I’ve never had anything like what has been described on my frequently solo travels, or filled with dread because surely the odds must be going to catch up with me and I have 3 European trips lined up this year!!

I did have a spectacular fall as I was hurrying to make it to Mass in Aix this past Oct. I went horizontal and airborne and slammed down smacking my right cheekbone to the point of bleeding. A nice 30 something young man helped me up and as I gathered myself I realized how lucky I was that, except for my face, I was really ok. Since I’m 74 it could have been soooo much worse. I came home with an impressive bruise but all bones and joints ok.

We get sick to some degree EVERY time we take a trip, stateside or overseas. We take OTC meds (which are MUCH better in
Europe), get plenty of sleep, fluids, and wear masks. It sucks, but we persevere.

Scary spill Lyndash, hopefully a one off :)

Travelling in winter, I suppose, comes with the potential downside of cold and flu season, more time in stale indoor environments, etc. Japan was at the very height of a bad flu season when we got sick. Maybe more reason to choose shoulder season ....

There's some really good information in this thread; thanks, all! I've been fortunate in that the worst I've had to deal with while traveling has been a bad cold. Had a nasty fall with annoying results, but aside from ibuprofen (much more difficult to obtain in Europe) to reduce inflammation, nothing really to be done.

In Germany we have the saying that a flu needs a week to disappear or seven days with medicine.

You Germans are an intelligent bunch. In the US, most doctors remain besieged in the winter months by patients seeking antibiotics for viral infections.

Re antibiotic use, Germany reasonable rates (and almost identical to Canada). But many Western European countries significantly outdo the United States per capita in antibiotic use.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/04/02/antibiotic-use-is-rapidly-increasing-in-developing-countries

Eastern European countries aren't listed here, but a lot of those use a ton of antibiotics to.

East Asian countries seem to use the least.

Lots of factors go into these stats of course! My conservative Canadian friends would surely say that Canadian usage is low because by the time you see the doctor you are already better.

Also, jphbucks sorry about another darn fall! We need a "Rick Steves Forum Stays Upright Overseas" initiative :).

No doubt in 50 years of traveling in Europe I have been ill, mostly summer colds since I go only in the summer. In the trips of the 1970s and '80s, six of them, most often if anything was to hamper my well-being, it was the runs.

I noticed that only happened in Germany, digestion problems but never in France, not even in Paris in 1973 when the steak I ordered was red ca. 1/4 inch in the center. . Seeing that shocked me and I wanted to send it back. My girl-friend then would have none of this, saying due to the total lack in language skills, I would be causing a scene, told me to eat it, so I did. Nothing happened.

In July 1999 I got pretty ill having caught a summer chill, was cooking a fever up to 102 , was taken to a French doctor in Toulon. My friend did all the talking to the doc in French, ended up getting pills and an anti-biotic liquid med to be taken which lasted to the end of the week. The doc did speak some English but obviously preferred explaining everything about me in French.

I used to take OTC meds, Pepto tablets, Bufferin (no longer exists), but no more. Do I still get summer cold over there, got ill in Berlin a couple of times, bad cream with the coffee, yes but a lot less. Not really enviable to be in that state, energy level is pretty well zapped.

I don't take anything, basically rot it out over the expected course of days. , ie 7-10 days.

Bottom line: no fun at all getting sick in Europe especially when you're on the go. Take measures to avoid getting sick.

I wore the mask in 2023 going over SFO to FRA but not this summer flying the same number of hours , eleven non-stop, going over nor returning. Hardly anyone did...too bad.

Fred, as far as you know did the masking help? If it was a form-fitting mask I'd imagine so.

I'm surprised I haven't been sick more often but other than a bad cold in Germany around 15 years ago, I've managed to stay healthy abroad (knock on wood). I remember wandering the streets of Munich in the evening looking for a pharmacy for some cold relief.

I figure one thing that helps is that because I usually travel solo, I'm not in such close contact with other people, so maybe my exposure to germs is limited?

By the way, Hank, that bug you got is running rampant over here, too. I picked it up 2 days after Christmas, and 10 days late I'm still coughing. The bitter cold doesn't help—every time I go outside, I have a coughing fit. That's the sickest I've felt in a while.

Also, jphbucks sorry about another darn fall! We need a "Rick Steves Forum Stays Upright Overseas" initiative :).

Hank: Word. My fall was occasioned by bicycle traffic in the Sint-Annatunnel in Antwerp, and my wife was hit by a cyclist in "pedestrian-friendly" Amsterdam. We became very wary of bicyclists in the low countries.

We’ve been taking more OTC cold, sinus and pain/fever meds with us when we travel. This includes our annual winter trip to Hawaii. As much as we are outdoors one of us usually gets a head cold or sinus infection while there and last year we both got Covid for the first time. UGH

Spent 8 days in hospital in Sorrento with a case of diverticulitis (with complications) in March 2023.

It was awful, and my lack of Italian language skills proved to be a huge problem in that setting. It's so hard to tell a doctor what's wrong or how you feel through Google Translate.

Many local people in Sorrento were so nice to my family when they found out as we had our trip plans disrupted. The generosity they received certainly helped ease the disappointment of having a trip ruined with a medical issue.

Good news is that by June of that year I was fine and felt comfortable going on a trip with the family to Belgium/Netherlands, which we enjoyed without incident.

Just finished traveling domestically and I was disgusted by the poor public hygiene so many people have. So much open air coughing! Yikes. I even saw a woman wearing a mask take it off to cough into the airport lounge air and then replace her mask. I wear a mask in crowded places and while flying, try not to travel in winter, and don't plan back-to-back trips so that if I do get sick from one trip I can recover before the next one. I also tend to avoid crowds before leaving on a trip so I don't get sick just prior. And beyond that, I travel, eat the food, take Peptobismol with me and use as needed, and hope for the best.

@ gregbrady on did the masking help? I suppose so, hard to say. I did not have any symptoms, felt fine / normal on this 9 week trip. It was not, however, a KN-95 or whatever that is, don't know exactly.

All I noticed on that packed May flight in 2023 was wearing it interfered with my ability to fall asleep plus the cramped leg space since all the overhead bins were packed too. As far as flights going over go, the whole thing was pretty unsatisfactory, ie couldn't wait for it to end. Yes, it cut into the time length I usually sleep on a non-stop 11 hour flight. This time with the mask I probably slept 3 hrs max by the time the flight ended at FRA, if that.

The mask I used was one available at Kaiser when one enters the building.

If we can help it, please let's not drift into the "do masks work" polarized misinformation morass. Won't do anything except close this interesting thread.

Thanks very much!

Hank

One of the wonders of European Union is the European Health Insurance Card: when you belong to a EU national health system, you belong for up to 30 travel days to all of them, at the same conditions of locals. So when I got the worst sciatica of my life in Innsbruck, I managed to get with my Italian card two free medical visits and two painkilling shots for a small co-payment. As the local system is geared to locals, it helps to understand the local language to navigate it; but as my English is better than my German, the visits were in English.

Got horrible (probably viral) diarrhea in Paris once. Unfortunately the rehydration salts I swear by in Britain are prescription-only in France, and the doctor near the hotel I saw told me to eat pasta without sauce instead. Felt better after three days or so, but I ended up throwing away a load of food I got at the market in my first day.

Also once had a really bad attack of lower back pain in Liepzig, which pretty well confined me to the hotel room for a couple of days.

After my husband and I were both sick in Europe last spring, my daughter gifted me a tiny travel med kit she found on etsy with compartments for all of the essentials. She was able to have it customized for meds we use. So cute and helpful. We found on that trip that no over the counter lozenges we could get in Belgium touched our sore throat and cough. When we got home, gargling with salt water provided the best relief, so salt is going into my toiletries kit.

Once in London a pharmacist introduced us to Night Nurse and we have had fun with the name of that ever since... It was actually helpful, unlike the thyme infused lozenges...

We found on that trip that no over the counter lozenges we could get in Belgium touched our sore throat and cough

I experienced the same thing in Paris some years ago, since then I go abroad loaded for bear...

Hank, having worked in healthcare here for 35 years I can tell you that there is a concerted effort to reduce the prescribing of antibiotics unless they really are needed. Antibiotics are generally not needed for the more basic viruses but in the spirit of wanting to get well asap, many folks see it as a silver bullet. In my work, much education of staff and patients was done regarding the likes of MRSA (a staph bacteria resistant to antibiotics in part because of historical over prescribing of antibiotics). So the stats for Canada reflect a preventative effort re: misuse of antibiotics.

Claire good to know, thanks. I think the US has similar initiatives, but maybe also a more consumer-focused system.

Spain and France are a bit of a mystery to me, double or more Canada's antibiotic use rate, and significantly more than the USA. I wonder why ....

Fred, appreciate your answer. From what I can gather a well-fitted mask is better at keeping viruses out, which makes sense to me. I play it by ear. If people nearby are coughing and hacking I'll put on the mask. Since I can't sleep on a plane and arrival day in Europe I'm the walking dead so maybe masking doesn't matter.

I hope I'm not paranoid but a bad cold can really take away from the pleasure of travel.

I get sick almost every time I go to overseas. Usually it only lasts a couple of days. The worst one was in Taiwan, I caught a cold right before we had to fly home, and the combination of the plane flight and mucus production caused me to lose my hearing for a month.

I have no tips for coping or being prepared, other than to try to stay healthy by eating fruits and vegetables and drinking plenty of water. Other than that, I got nothin'.

A trip to Paris we both got sick a day in. BAD SICK. It really pissed me off to lose three days of a two week vacation. And it got difficult to explain the situation to the hotel. As in, we can't go any where else. Extend the room for an extra day and we don't want room cleaning service cause we are just snot monsters, barely able to get out of bed. And they were not happy about it either. But what are you to do, a side from leaving a big tip.

Got food poisoning in Sicily which came on very strong a few days later in London. The LHR Sofitel staff were extra kind to me, sending me crackers and tea and other foods I could try to tolerate. They called a doctor to come see me who confirmed that my dh was coming down with it too. The constant kindness they showed me has made me an even bigger fan of Sofitels. They charged us a 50% off rate for several days, cancelled and rebooked our flights. They went way beyond what we expected.

Does speak well of Sofitel Suki, nice they took care of you.

In 1978 I went to New Zealand solo and hitchhiked around the country for a month. When I took the ferry from Wellington to Blenheim on the South Island, I got very sick. A B&B had been recommended to me. I showed up at the door and the older English couple (they seemed older because I was a naive 23 year old) brought me into their home and tucked me into bed. They looked after me for 5 days. They took me to their doctor, who apologized for having to charge me $20, brought me to their pharmacy, and once I was feeling better took me on a tour of their lovely town. They invited me to join them for breakfast and supper every day and I had to fight hard to make them take any money from me.

Lot of good people in this world, thank goodness.