sinus nasal irrigation

I use a neti pot every day particularly when I travel. I bring the single size salt packets from home, counting out enough for twice a day plus some. I have seen the same brand of Neil Med salt packets in London at Boots brand pharmacies. As close as TSA is looking at powders etc, I’d just purchase the packets. At home I use a bulk preparation but I’d never take that on a trip.

I generally just purchase bottled drinking water and use that. I just use it room temp. It can be a little chilly but I can tolerate it. I don’t bother with sterile water but you can probably find it at a pharmacy wherever you are.

I’ve never had a microwave in a European hotel room. I have had a tea kettle, particularly in London which you could use to boil water.

BTW I try to use the neti pot as soon as I can check in to my hotel room after the international flight. I feel like I stay healthier if I can get the airplane air out of my nose, haha!!

most hotels I have stayed have electric water heater to make instant tea and coffee. of course you can buy bottled anywhere different sizes in Europe. you do not really see the gallon size in grocery stores like you do here,

Are the pressurized sterile saline cans like you can buy at Walgreens (I can’t remember the product name) available in Europe, particularly Italy? They are a lot more convenient than a neti pot and carrying distilled water when traveling.
Good idea to get the airplane air out of the sinuses. Something else I had not thought of.

As suggested, the saline spray cans are available at drugstores there and may be more convenient. Also, when I use the netipot here at home I just use warm tap water, never distilled or sterile and I’ve never had problems. May I ask why you use those? If you tell me that’s what the directions say, I would feel so silly not following them. I’m pretty sure I read the directions on mixing those salt packets.

Electric water heater? Kettle!!!😀

Yes. It's easy to distinguish British reviews from American/Canadian based on whether there's a reference to the presence or absence of a kettle.

As Pam mentioned, you'll likely have to use bottled water - easily found in small quantities all over Europe. Depending on the quality of your hotel it is unlikely you will have any device to get water hot enough to sufficiently kill any bacteria. Practice using room temp water at home to get used to the feel. Taking packets for convenience sake is probably wise (they're labeled so airport security can scan them easily) but personally I use just salt, no soda, and have had no trouble taking salt in a small container many times.

Gallon (or mult-liter) distilled water is available in most medium sized and larger cities. I carry a small hot-pot (ten years) with a voltage switch. If I were stuck with cool water, I would certainly want the manufactured mix that I use all the time. Bottled drinking water is not sterile and I also think home packed salt is a risky economy. If you are a budget traveler you should not count on a free tea kettle. Surely you will want to occasionally soap wash or steaming-rinse the pot during your trip.

My travel neti pot is plastic so no steaming rinse for it! I generally don't wash it until I get back home. Really, only the tip is touching your nose so it doesn't seem all that contaminated to me?

Claudette, I do use tap water at home as well. I have read that people have gotten fungal infections from using tap water for nasal irrigation altho the item I read was specifically talking about cases in Louisiana. I'm reluctant to use tap water in Europe NOT because I don't think the tap water is clean but because I generally stay in Rick-type hotels with old plumbing, lol. I am also sure when I first started doing lavage (at least 10 years ago) that the instructions were for tap water or I would have started with something else.

I do understand bottled drinking water is not sterile.

Horsewoofie, I am not sure if rinsing right after a flight is really useful or if it's mental...but it always seems like I don't pick up a cold when I rinse right away. I've justified it in my mind as not giving the cold virus time to settle in and attach but I have NO scientific backing for that and it could be coincidence! I'll continue to do it! I also feel like I didn't have as much problem with allergies this last trip to England and Scotland during pollen season because of the neti pot usage.

Now, if I could only figure out how to transport my Alkalol additive I'd be really happy but it's liquid and no way do I want to haul enough of that around in a carry-on size suitcase even if I check it on the way over!

Thank you all for the education.
I had never heard of a Neti pot. After seeing what it is and how it is used I am happy for those of you who use and apparently enjoy it.

For me it looks like a violation of my Constitutional rights regarding "cruel and unusual" punishment or a left over from the Spanish Inquisition.

Well, joe, I'm not trying to convert anyone. But I can say that, after three different sinus surgeries, two with anesthesia, this procedure changed my life. Last winter, I did not have a single cold. And I go to museums and the theater every week. And it feels good, after it's over!

It is much easier to learn if you have had a PRESCRIPTION to apply an antibiotic or a fungicide with a bulb, for ten days. That's all I'll say here.

Admittedly I have no experience with this, but could you boil enough water with an immersion heater/ cup (like those recommended by Sarah) ?

I believe it’s only Americans who use microwaves for boiling water - every other nation uses an electric kettle!

I may be exaggerating slightly. However if the London hotel doesn’t have an electric kettle it would be a national outrage. I’ve had electric kettles in most othe European hotels too.

It’s one of the abiding mysteries of life why our North American cousins haven’t adopted them.

I have found the aerosol nasal rinse at Boots in the UK and at various pharmacies in Germany and France. Much easier to use than the neti pot or nasal rinse bottles. I do pack my bottle and the little premixed packs as well.

I believe it’s only Americans who use microwaves for boiling water - every other nation uses an electric kettle

It’s one of the abiding mysteries of life why our North American cousins haven’t adopted them.

Microwaves are in just about every US household. No need to get a single purpose kettle to boil water when one can do it in the multi-tasking microwave already there. One less piece of clutter in the kitchen

Ever since sinus surgery, I have been using the NeilMed squeeze bottle twice daily, with the little saline packets & other prescribed additives. My surgeon advised me to never use tap water. At home I use distilled water, which I add to my bottle and warm briefly in the microwave just to take the chill off. In Sicily last April I bought bottled drinking water which I used only for the nasal rinse, and stored it at room temp. If there was no microwave I sometimes ran hot water over the filled bottle to warm it a bit.

I believe it’s only Americans who use microwaves for boiling water - every other nation uses an electric kettle
It’s one of the abiding mysteries of life why our North American cousins haven’t adopted them.

Why??? "Because electric kettles are crap!", says this Bostonian who uses her grandmother's Revere Ware whistling tea kettle that heats up on top of the stove and signals (in a far more pleasing manner than the silence of an electric kettle or the boring 'ding' of a microwave) when water for her cuppa is ready.

To OP, most of your stops appear to involve major cities - there are pharmacies all over (a simple Google maps search will show those closest to your intended lodging). I even recall seeing some distilled water in a few grocery stores.