With a few holidays and press trips coming up, there are a whole heap of super fun and wanderlusty posts coming your way over the next few months. But until then, I thought I'd tell you about the important stuff. The stuff that people forget about or don't really think about when travelling until the last minute.
When I went to Cuba last year I went into panic mode and realised that I had no idea whether I needed any vaccinations. I looked online and it said I might need a couple, so I had to take a morning off work to go to the doctor and ask him, then I had to get a separate appointment with the nurse, and then after all of that I didn't even need any as they were all up-to-date! It was a total waste of time, and when you have a full-time job the last thing you want is having to take an entire morning off work for no reason!
If I'd known earlier that Boots has a team of travel health Pharmacists, I could have just used their quick online check tool to find out whether vaccinations should be considered. Then instead of taking two mornings off work to discover that I didn't need them, I could have just made an appointment with a Boots pharmacist and run across the road during my lunch hour and found out without wasting too much time with the back and forth.
As well as the vaccinations for Cuba I also went crazy with stocking up on travel medication. I'd heard that it's super difficult to get normal things like tissues and wet wipes in Cuba, so I went to the Boots across the road from my work, and stocked up on everything. I got bumper packed of tissues, wet wipes, toilet wipes, bandages, plasters, anti-bac, painkillers, anti-allergy tablets, anti-diarrhea tables, anti-sickness tablets, water purifiers, antihistamine, and savlon amongst a whole host of other things. The girls were mighty impressed with my organization skills, and you know what? The only things we actually used were the tissues, wet wipes, anti-bac, and savlon.
Apparently you can get sick from eating the ice-cream (helado) ^^ in Cuba as they often use unpasteurized milk, so I took plenty of anti-diarrhea and anti-sickness tablets just in case! Thankfully we didn't need them as the ice-cream was fine (and delicious!), but better to be safe than sorry, especially in a country where you can't buy those tablets if you did get sick!
I'm off to St Vincent and The Grenadines in September so I've already checked vaccinations for that and as far as I can tell I'm all fine! You can find out more on the Boots UK website.
If you're flying really soon and haven't thought about vaccinations yet, it's OK, it's not too late. There are last minute treatment options available; it’s better to be protected, even at the very last minute, than to not have any protection at all. Whilst it’s always better to be prepared, if you have a last minute opportunity to travel don’t forego any preventative treatment believing it’s too late and you don’t have time. Boots UK can provide you with protection options; for example, some malaria prevention medication can be started one to two days before departure.
So kids, stay safe when travelling, and be prepared! Everyone thinks 'it won't happen to me', but it might be you who needs that Malaria medication, or who is glad you had that tetanus shot.
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*This post is in association with Boots, however all opinions are my own.