Guest post contributed by Ollie Birk
Your child’s health is probably top of your list of priorities…And rightly so. Today, in part 2, I will be discussing some tips so you can optimize your child’s health when traveling.
HEALTH
SANITIZERS
Airplanes are dirty, and this has even been admitted by air stewards! Bring sanitizer products such as antibacterial wipes to ensure your child’s surroundings are clean and safe. This can prevent any illnesses while on holiday and make your time away a lot easier for yourself.
MEDICINE
Medicine is arguably the most important thing to take with you on holiday and is equally easy to forget. Ensure to bring an off-the-shelf painkiller such as calpol or ibuprofen. You will also need medicine for mosquito bites and remember there are hand luggage restrictions for medicines and liquids. You’re allowed to carry essential medicines of more than 100ml in your hand luggage, including liquid dietary foodstuffs and inhalers. You’ll need supporting documentation from a relevant medical professional (for example a letter from your doctor or a copy of your prescription). The same applies for gel packs.
ALLERGY UK TRANSLATION CARDS
A set of three plastic cards are provided, each about the size of a credit card. The cards feature an allergy alert message, an emergency message and a message for use in restaurants to ensure that your food order is free from the particular allergen that causes your reaction. The cards are printed in English on one side and the language of the country you are visiting on the reverse side. Cards for over 70 different allergens are available in 36 languages:
Balinese, Bengali, Bulgarian, Cambodian (Khmer), Chinese (Simplified), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Lao, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.
SEE DOCTOR BEFORE TRAVEL
This may seem obvious but this is often brushed aside. Seeing a doctor is essential before travel (around 2 months before) as traveling abroad exposes you and your children to different diseases and environments. Check online to see if a vaccination is recommended for the country you’re visiting and research into what diseases are being spread there currently.
BRING PLENTY OF DRINKS
Of course, you cannot take drinks through security. However, be sure to purchase plenty of water from the duty-free as you need to keep your child hydrated… especially on a plane with that hard-to-breathe recycled air!
MOSQUITO REPELLENT PATCHES
If you are visiting any hot country, you need to be well prepared. As well as vaccinations and medicines, you need to bring along these patches to repel mosquitos away in the first place!
PORTABLE CHILDPROOFING KIT
You can’t plan for emergencies, unfortunately. So, your best option is to bring this child-proof first aid kit so your child can stay safe and fix any disasters quick and easy! The kit is also child proof so it is safe around children. What more could you ask for?!
When traveling with children, anything can happen at any moment. What would be the perfect thing to top off your journey? A flight delay!… Not. If you have been delayed, here is how to make a claim so you can be compensated the money you deserve.
If you haven’t already, read part 1 where we discuss traveling with children who are disabled or has special needs. Check out part 3 for some precautions so you are all set and ready to go before your journey!
