After spending a lot of money on a lovely vacation, the last thing you need is to fall ill. Unfortunately, this happens way more often than we’d like. Dealing with sickness while you’re at home is bad enough, but it’s even worse when you’re abroad in a foreign country.
What should you do? How should you react? Here are some top tips that’ll help you cope when sick while traveling:
Pack an emergency kit
This is something every single traveler should pack whenever they go traveling. You might think it’s a bit too much, but you never know when an emergency could happen. Inside your kit, you need some basic medical supplies. We’re talking about medication, a thermometer to check your temperature, and so on.
Having this kit will help you deal with any symptoms while you’re sick. If you have a common cold, some medication may help ease things and ensure you recover quickly. In this day and age, it’s good to add some COVID tests to the kit, just in case you come down with it.
Check your insurance
If you have health insurance, be sure to check if the provider covers you while you’re abroad. Some do and some don’t – it depends on what you’re paying for. Don’t worry if you’re not covered; you can get temporary insurance to cover you instead.
It’s always important to have the right insurance in place to cover the cost of any overseas medical bills. Hopefully, things never get serious enough for you to need medical treatment. But, you never know! It’s better to be safe and get the protection requires just in case you need it.
Contact the nearest embassy or consulate
Wherever you’re going, there should be an embassy or consulate that you can ring to ask for assistance. If you’re from the US, contact the nearest US embassy. This is important as they can direct you toward local healthcare providers that will take you as a patient. You may think you can figure this out by yourself, but contacting the embassy ensures you won’t run into any admin issues.
It’s especially crucial in countries where English isn’t the first language. The embassy should be able to find facilities with medical interpreting services, so there’s a translator helping you understand what’s going on. There are few things worse than being abroad and seeking medical help when you haven’t got a clue what the doctor is saying. It makes the whole experience more nerve-wracking and scary!
That’s really all there is to it! Dealing with sickness while abroad is as simple as preparing an emergency kit to treat any symptoms as soon as they arise, getting the right insurance, and contacting the nearest embassy for directions to a trusted medical facility.
Also, as a final little note, you should look into vaccines. Depending on where you’re going, you may need certain vaccines to avoid specific illnesses that are common in that country. It’s usually the case when traveling to South America, Asia, or some areas of Africa.
