A sudden illness in an unfamiliar place has always been a risk for business travellers. This risk has also become a growing pain for many businesses as they expand into new overseas markets. And now, with business travel becoming critical and the flu season just getting underway, the perils of the road are reaching a peak once again, as experts say
“Folks who go through jets and airports do have a little higher risk of infectious things, including head colds and influenza, and the reason is just exposure to more people,” said Catherine Forest, a family medicine doctor at Stanford Health Care. “Just as people who work at daycares get head colds more often, people who go through crowds get coughed on more and are at slightly higher risk,” Forest added.
If you are about to go on a business trip soon, how are you going to nurse yourself back to health when you have a plethora of meetings and dealings to attend?
In this article, we’ll present you with tips for planning ahead; things you should do in the case takes a turn for the worse,
- Consult a Doctor Before Your Trip
As soon as you know that you will be flying sick, visit your doctor and explain your symptoms.
Even if you would typically tend to see out this type of illness, you should ask if there’s any advice or medication the doctor can suggest to help you make it through the trip without experiencing the entirety of the unpleasant symptoms.
If you decide on a medicinal remedy, make sure you select a non-drowsy variation to ensure that you will still be able to work during daytime.
- Bring a Medicine Kit
While the doctor may have provided a few specific medications, bringing other essentials from the medicine cabinet can prove to be helpful when the worst thing happens.
Not only are band-aids and antiseptic ointment always a good idea, but you may also benefit from a few things like over-the-counter antihistamines, ibuprofen, paracetamol, antacids, and so on just in case they are needed later.
If you’re the travel risk manager, you can put together a little medicine kit for each of your travelling employees to make sure that will have what they need on their upcoming trip.
- Prevent Illness While Abroad
As the old adage goes, “Prevention is better than cure.” While you can’t do much to protect yourself from a future accident, you can certainly plan ahead for potential trip illness through some prevention tactics. Here are some tips that will help you avoid get sick when you travel abroad:
- Wash your hands – Proper hand hygiene is essential to stop the spread of infection and can dramatically reduce your chances of diarrhea, vomiting, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, flu, norovirus, MRSA, or even hepatitis A.
- Drink bottled water– If you’re not sure of the purity of the local water, then it’s better to purchase and drink bottled water to stay hydrated than to risk your health to save a few bucks which may end up costing you thousands or even 10’s of thousands of hospital bills.
- Be careful of food contamination – If you’re staying in a hotel for the first time, You should always ensure — as much as is practicably possible — that any food you eat is fresh and cooked thoroughly.
- Stay active – Staying fit and active is an effective way to improve your immune system and boost your overall well-being despite the stress that business travel might bring with it.
- Carry around your own pen – Avoid germ contamination by bringing your own pen as you will probably need to it several times during your trip.
- Get vaccinated – If your company has a resident doctor, ask for professional advice about the vaccination required for the trip. This is because vaccinations depends on what vaccinations you already have, what country or region you are visiting, and other factors such as your medical history, how long you will be travelling, and what activities you will be doing.
- Prioritize Comfort
Last but not the least, if you start feeling unwell, then you should make rest and comfort your priority. If you decide that your illness does not warrant a bed rest, make sure to at least stay comfortable throughout the trip – especially when travelling on the ground. It would be a bad idea to get behind the wheels when you’re sick or plain tired and sluggish. Your situation could also elevate from bad to worse quickly if you push yourself to take public transport abroad.
To avoid making things worse, or all of that from happening, it’s best that you book a chauffeured ground transportation to take you to places where you need to be – on time and in a comfortable manner. By hiring a professional chauffeured service such as Hyryde, you will be able to arrive at your destination as snuggly as possible, all while you slowly nurse yourself back to your optimum condition on the road.
Contact Hyryde today to learn more about our premium chauffeured service.