The clam condition
IT’S funny how something can start off wonderfully, and in an instant, turn into a full blown nightmare. Those were my thoughts as I hauled my heavy backpack during a freezing night in Kyoto, trying not to miss my flight to Manila while also struggling to refrain from throwing up for the umpteenth time that day.
It was my last day in Japan after what had been an amazing couple of weeks of travel, and as luck would have it, I managed to get food poisoning as the grand finale.
The night before, my friends and I, exhausted from a day of hiking, and on our last night in Kyoto, decided to have a quick fix — a cheap sushi dinner (this was the last day after all, and we were short of cash). A quick Google search pointed us to a nearby place with a good price range, and we soon found ourselves enjoying amazing sushi on an upper floor of a building.
For good measure, I also decided to order clam miso soup. Clams and I have a pretty dark history. I absolutely adore seafood, but there have been times where I experienced indigestion after consumption, especially with shellfish.
But I was not reminded of this as I slurped away that night, thinking that this was Japan, after all, where food is superior and nothing could possibly go wrong with indulging in some clammy goodness.
I woke up the next morning to a day filled with vomitting, headache and heady waves of nausea. To make matters worse, I had no choice but to be functional that day as we had to take the train back to Osaka and board a flight to Manila for the last leg of our travel adventure.
SICK WHILE TRAVELLING
If you travel often, it’s probably a matter of time before you experience at least one episode of getting sick abroad. It’s all down to probability, folks. Feeling unwell at home is bad enough but imagine nursing a fever, coping with diarrhoea or being down with the flu while you are on the move and far away from familiar comforts.
It’s not an ideal situation, but these things really do happen more often than we think. With that in mind, here are some tips I’ve learnt along the way that may help you manage the situation if it should ever occur to you.
Firstly, preparation is key. Regardless of your health status, no one is completely immune from suddenly catching something.
That said, pack the essentials for common travel illnesses, such as medications for colds, headaches and digestion issues.
Even if I’m backpacking with limited luglots gage space, I consider these necessary and don’t travel without them. Furthermore, I have found that in some countries these basic medications can be expensive, or worse, not exactly compatible with your body (some painkillers can irritate your stomach if you’re not used to them, for example).
The next important point to remember is that prevention is always better than cure. In my case, I should’ve probably reminded myself that although I was feeling adventurous, my digestive system might not share the same sentiment.
Research is helpful, and reading reviews of restaurants in new places will identify possible risks. If you know you are allergic or sensitive to certain things, consuming them while travelling is a bad idea. The same could be said of things such as not staying out too late if your body is not used to it, or reducing exposure to certain weather conditions (rain, too much sun etc.) if you are prone to get ill from such situations.
And of course, if by some unfortunate chance you still get sick, there is no choice but to plough through it. If it’s serious then you would have to seek medical assistance, but if it’s a common illness that is bearable or manageable, take a few recommended steps to promote faster recovery. Drink of water. Although this is pretty much common sense, most of us tend to forget this especially while travelling. Stick to only “safe” foods, and this means neutral, nonirritating menus. Foods that are too spicy or raw may encourage stomach upsets.
Consider taking a day off from visiting public places or being too adventurous — your body could benefit from the extra rest, so just chill at the hotel for the day. This is especially true if you’ve been out and about for days on end, and your body is lacking the rest it needs.
UNFORTUNATE EPISODES DO HAPPEN
The bad news is, travel, like life, doesn’t always go as planned. As much as we hope we don’t fall ill, we sometimes do and it can happen in the worst of places. I had a friend who caught a bad case of scabies while on a month-long Trans-Siberian train adventure, and she described it as an itchy nightmare while being confined in the coach for days — just when you thought travelling would be as picture perfect as the documentaries you saw on the Discovery Channel.
But hopefully, the next time you go on an adventure across the globe, you’d be better prepared for any health failings and hopefully, avoid an episode of barfing your guts out like me.