Don’t be caught out by the lesser illnesses

Linked to my previous entry, relating to safety while travelling, my current head cold and runny nose has me holed up in my bedroom, craving sleep, but pondering health abroad.

As with most topics involving travelling, for the most part keeping healthy is down to common sense. Get your jabs, eat cooked-through food, keep clean – you know the sort of thing. Although diseases such as malaria get the top billing when it comes to contracting illness, I think that bugs such as the common cold and other flu’s, although not deadly, can cause a real headache (excuse the pun!) when it comes to vagabonding.

For one, I won’t be claiming any medical expenses for a man-cold on my travel insurance. I’ll save that for (God forbid) a broken leg, or the aforementioned malaria, thanks.

When you are merely repeating on yourself, or as red-nosed as Rudolph from all your sniffling, or suffering from migraines that register on the Richter scale, free clinics are the way to go. In most Western countries you can find these. There may be line-ups around the block to get in, but at least you won’t be losing out on your insurance.

As for the more developing nations, preparation is the key. If you know you are going to be away from civilization for a while, make sure you pack necessary ingredients such as aspirin, or decongestant. They don’t take up much space, and should be easy enough to get when you pass through cities on your way into the wilderness.

Right-travel.com gives some great advice for health in Africa and Europe. As ever, the key word is preparation. Know the risks and diseases of where you are going – even that common cold can have a huge impact on your vagabonding.