Travel Tip #2: Sh*t Happens!
Shit happens. Diarrhea is one of those inevitable parts of travel that effect even the most seasoned of adventurers. While abroad, we’re more likely to ingest things we would never consider eating at home. This is sometimes precipitated by drinking a lot of booze.
The drinking is what gets most of us in trouble. Alcohol inevitably leads down a path of purchasing an assortments of greasy, battered foods being pushed by locals stationed outside whatever bar we’ve wandered into on a particular night. Within a few hours of ingesting what basically amounts to pure cholesterol, our stomachs happily remind us why we of shouldn’t have taken that first bite of deep fried earthworms.
So with that being said, here are a couple of easy tips to help you avoid a day or two on the shitter.
1. Imodium is your friend. I’ve only suffered from an upset stomach once in my travels, and that was on a flight back home from Mexico City. Still, I always pack a few tablets of Imodium in my backpack for emergencies. You can buy a bottle from a drug store for a couple bucks. You’ll thank me later after that brain taco you wanted to try doesn’t agree with anything happening inside your body.
2. Don’t Drink The Water. Unless you’re traveling in a country/city with a water system deemed safe for human consumption, you should not be drinking any water unless it is bottled. In fact, you shouldn’t even be brushing your teeth with faucet water. Again, not to rag on my neighbor to the South, but drinking water in Mexico is a definite NO-NO. My friend made the mistake of having a sip in the middle of the night and spent the next day in the hospital. Buy several bottles of water and keep them stashed in your room and in your backpack.
3. Do Eat Street Food. Just be cautious about what you’re eating and where you’re eating. That’s easier said than done, I know. But there are just some sketchy ass places you know you aren’t adhering to ethical codes, let alone health codes. I love eating abroad just as much as that Bizarre Foods guy, but I also know my limitations. Know yours.
