Traveling abroad is always a taxing experience, and the stress is only increased should find yourself leaving the country with a stuffy nose or, sometimes even worse, developing one unexpectedly once you’ve hit the ground running. Even if a stuffy nose cannot be completely mitigated while traveling in a foreign country, it can certainly be managed well. By thinking ahead and doing a bit of research on what you can bring, what you can purchase when you arrive, and just where you must look to buy it, you can be prepared for an unexpected rise in allergy symptoms or an untimely cold.
Know Any Regulations
While prescriptions should present no problem and over-the-counter medications are typically benign in terms of regulation, it is best to ascertain if your destination country has any rules regarding medications. This can vary, so be particularly cautious if you are traveling through multiple countries. If you have booked through a travel agency or are on a tour, you may be able to obtain information from those sources.
Know Future Sources
It being so easy to run into a convenience store to purchase a package of decongestants, antihistamines, and other quick remedies in the United States, it is sometimes easy to forget that such medicines may not be so simple to procure in another country, or possibly not available at all. And just as certain drugs are available in the US which are not abroad, the situation is true in reverse. While planning can solve this problem if you suffer from allergies, it’s difficult to plan for what you don’t know will happen. It is a wise move to research what sort of storefront can sell you a simple medication for a stuffy nose. In many foreign countries, medications are available only in pharmacies, regardless of their prescription status. So researching ahead of time is particularly if you do not speak the country’s language well, whether you did not need the medication when you left or simply ran out of product partway through the trip.
In many foreign countries, pharmacies may be the only source of even basic medications (by Nina-no)
Getting There By Way of Plane
If you board the plane already a bit under the weather or with a nose full of cotton because of allergies, one of your first considerations should be of your fellow travelers. Noise bounces around the cabin simply due to the structure of the airplane, but the main health problem is recirculating air. When suffering from a cold, one of the primary concerns is to do whatever possible to prevent it from spreading to others. Coughing or sneezing into your elbow rather than your hand or the air is an excellent idea whether the source of the sneeze is a cold or allergies. However, it is difficult to find enough room to do so in one of the increasingly cramped seats on commercial airliners. Hand sanitizer—preferably alcohol-free to avoid drying your skin more than necessary in the dry plane atmosphere—is an excellent solution, along with some paper towels to then dry them.
If you cannot find hand sanitizer which fits the TSA’s requirements, pack some hand wipes in your carry-on bag along with a plastic bag in which to store those you have used, as well as any tissues. Do your best to establish a quarantine zone for anything which may have traces of a cold virus. Doing so even when you are sneezing because of an allergy will likely earn you a bit of gratitude from the person sitting next to you.
Try to fit any medications into allowed quart-sized bag to prevent any problems
Though the ban on excessive amounts of liquids still remains in force, over-the-counter or prescription medications are permissible on board a plane. Solid tablets present no problem, and any liquid or gel medications need not be included in the permitted quart-sized bag if they are declared at the security check-point, though it is best to stash them there just to be certain. There will be no required sampling or other contamination of the medication to be certain of its nature. Therefore, if your condition requires a prescription or if you respond particularly well to a certain medication, you can take it in your carry-on luggage to be certain it cannot be lost in transit.
While suffering from any malady is unfortunate while on a trip anywhere, being abroad complicates the matter somewhat. But when you take the time to pack appropriately or to know how to take care of yourself when you land, the clogged nose of a cold or an allergy can be managed as well as possible.
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