Every single trip usually involves nothing less than an hour to a couple of hours of patiently sitting till you finally arrive at your destination. Whether it’s by land, water, or air, you most likely would have to sit for a period of time before getting to your destination. Imagine being in discomfort, having a stomach upset, or feeling nauseous and having to vomit all the way.
This is exactly what happened to me and it remains my worst travel experience ever. I was on my way to Imo state for my sister’s traditional wedding.
The night before my trip, I went to bed early right after having a nice bowl of spicy goat meat pepper soup. The next morning I was up before dawn and left for the bus terminal to kick start my journey. Once we hit the road for the long trip, my mind wandered to how I would sit for almost 8 hours before I got to my destination.
A few hours later, I began to feel a discomforting cramp-like pain and a burning sensation in my stomach. It was an unusual feeling, my tummy kept rumbling and I had to use the restroom immediately or else I would have had an unpleasant accident.
I basically had to plead with the driver to pull over at every fuel station that came in sight and he pulled over many times. That goes to show how many times I had to make these embarrassing stops to use the restroom
Finally, we pulled over to a pharmacy along the expressway and I was able to get anti-diarrhea medication and regain my sanity. At this point, other passengers on the bus began saying sorry for my sudden health condition and asking me what I had eaten. Then it clicked in my mind, the spicy goat pepper soup must have caused my stomach upset.
Plan your pre-travel meal
One amazing fact I learned the hard way is what to eat and not eat before a trip. Meals like beans, moi-moi, carbonated drinks, alcohol, spicy food, and fried food should be avoided before travel trips. It’s better to stick with water, bananas, greek yogurt, sandwiches, and salad. Be mindful of what you eat and drink a day before your travel. This will enable you to be in the best of shapes for anything your journey may present.
Professional dietitian Edwina Clark says that bringing a water bottle is a great way to guarantee you’re staying hydrated while travelling.
Medical Travel Kit
Always have a mini first aid kit with you for emergency medication, while travelling which should contain pain relief pills, aspirin, anti-diarrhea, bandages,inhalers, spirit, cotton wool, etc. It’s better to prevent certain unpleasant events from occurring while travelling. However, in cases, you cannot do so, be prepared for the outcome. It’s always great to be few steps ahead and planning for the unforeseen always comes in handy.
Comfortable clothing
Always make it a point of duty to dress comfortably in loose clothing while travelling. This is to ensure you are well relaxed, blood circulates freely without undue pressure from tight waistlines, belts, or too clingy outfits. Take for example if I was wearing a clingy play/jumpsuit that I need help to remove, then it would be extremely hard for me to relax plus an emergency visit to the rest room could end in disaster.
Back up for phones
This is to avoid touching stories, you never know how pressing this is until you are in a dilemma. Always travel with your own charger and probably a power bank if you live in Nigeria! This is to ensure you are always connected during the trip and prevents being stranded especially if you need to reach out to a contact person on arrival.
Little Cash
As much as society continues to go cashless we always need to have some amount of cash on us while we travel, not necessarily for spending but for unplanned situations that may need us to spend additional money.
For instance, on a road trip what if the vehicle you are in breaks down on the way and you have to board another vehicle or lodge in a hotel overnight? That why it’s advisable to have cash on you, as ATM Cards, cheques, and banking transfers may not work in all situations.
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