There are so many things I wish I'd known before I started travelling (top of the list being how much of a horrible impact the British Empire have had on the planet and other cultures in the past / now). But perhaps first aid should have been top of my list, after all, safety should come first, right?
Ever one to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted (cause like, free horses and get rid of stables) here I am now, telling you about some of the medical accidents that happened to me when I was abroad and the first aid I wish I'd known before. I hope you find it useful!
As a disclaimer, I am (clearly) not a medical professional, just a professional traveller who has been ill a lot (a professional idiot, if you will). This is certainly not a substitute for, say, medical travel insurance which you absolutely also need, but more on that later. (Also, I wrote these first aid tips with the idea that you'd be travelling whilst these little accidents happen, of course the tips would work at home too, but this is a travel blog not a home blog, so, yeah... let's start already! :)
The year was 2016, my ex (Tom) and I were on a Jungle Safari, Crystal Pool and Hot Spring Tour in Krabi, Thailand. We visited a temple and had to walk up like a billion steps, but because it was a temple we covered our shoulders (#respect). The problem was, we were cheap and instead of investing in a 20 THB light shawl, we brought towels from our hotel for said shoulder coverings. Lol. We got about half way up the billion steps, in the humid heat, and Tom looked really ill, really white and (in retrospect) just like someone who was about to faint. Luckily a dentist was there (#random) and he told us what to do if someone is feeling faint:
Apparently you can't faint like that. So Tom got down on the steps and did these two steps and he felt a lot better. So that time we didn't need an ambulance or a hospital stay.
First Aid to Know Before Travelling
As a disclaimer, I am (clearly) not a medical professional, just a professional traveller who has been ill a lot (a professional idiot, if you will). This is certainly not a substitute for, say, medical travel insurance which you absolutely also need, but more on that later. (Also, I wrote these first aid tips with the idea that you'd be travelling whilst these little accidents happen, of course the tips would work at home too, but this is a travel blog not a home blog, so, yeah... let's start already! :)
What to Do If Someone Faints (Whilst Travelling)
The year was 2016, my ex (Tom) and I were on a Jungle Safari, Crystal Pool and Hot Spring Tour in Krabi, Thailand. We visited a temple and had to walk up like a billion steps, but because it was a temple we covered our shoulders (#respect). The problem was, we were cheap and instead of investing in a 20 THB light shawl, we brought towels from our hotel for said shoulder coverings. Lol. We got about half way up the billion steps, in the humid heat, and Tom looked really ill, really white and (in retrospect) just like someone who was about to faint. Luckily a dentist was there (#random) and he told us what to do if someone is feeling faint:
- Lie down
- Put your legs up
Apparently you can't faint like that. So Tom got down on the steps and did these two steps and he felt a lot better. So that time we didn't need an ambulance or a hospital stay.
In general when it comes to fainting, I would recommend that your best bet is to try to avoid fainting in the first place by:
In retrospect, Tom and I should have been respectful to the temple with that cheap light shawl on our shoulders, not a heavy towel. Tom was lucky that there was a medical expert around who was used to seeing people faint, and he lucky that he didn't wack his head on the hard steps - which can easily happen when you faint. This is an example of why it's so important to have medical travel insurance - no we didn't need it in this case, but yes we easily could have. Broken heads are problematic for obvious reasons, but having to pay for them adds a whole extra nightmare to a nightmare - don't add the extra nightmare, do yourself a favour and get that insurance.
I cut my finger a fair few times whilst cooking on my travels. I freaked out each time and had no idea what to do, but for some reason I never learnt what to do. One time, in Italy, the cut was so bad I had to go to A & E and get stitches. But I still didn't learn. It wasn't until I moved to Hungary and found Hungarian husband (Tamás) that I finally was taught what to do with finger cuts:
If you're out and about travelling far away from everything and everyone, a really good tip on how to clean wounds (which I learnt from Instagram), is to cut a tiny hole in the lid of a plastic water bottle. You can then spray your finger with pressurised water. It will sting, but it is much more effective at getting out the nasties than just running it under water.
Make sure you cover the wound with something clean - preferably a bandage or a plaster, but failing that a clean cloth or bit of t-shirt will do.
Apply pressure like parents who put all their hopes and dreams into their child - you want to try and help that wound close.
And finally, you elevate the wound to slow the rate the blood is arriving. Let gravity do what you say for once.
There might well be cases where your wound is too much for your body (and gravity), to handle - which was the case for me in Italy. Covering and elevation were key, but my finger was too messed up to clean and it was too painful to put pressure on. So in this case I had to go to A and E. And I was so grateful that I had travel insurance to look after me here because I had no idea how much it was going to cost. I didn't know if I was going to lose the tip of my finger or not.
- staying hydrated
- and keeping the clothes to a minimum
In retrospect, Tom and I should have been respectful to the temple with that cheap light shawl on our shoulders, not a heavy towel. Tom was lucky that there was a medical expert around who was used to seeing people faint, and he lucky that he didn't wack his head on the hard steps - which can easily happen when you faint. This is an example of why it's so important to have medical travel insurance - no we didn't need it in this case, but yes we easily could have. Broken heads are problematic for obvious reasons, but having to pay for them adds a whole extra nightmare to a nightmare - don't add the extra nightmare, do yourself a favour and get that insurance.
What to Do if You Cut Your Finger (Whilst Travelling)
I cut my finger a fair few times whilst cooking on my travels. I freaked out each time and had no idea what to do, but for some reason I never learnt what to do. One time, in Italy, the cut was so bad I had to go to A & E and get stitches. But I still didn't learn. It wasn't until I moved to Hungary and found Hungarian husband (Tamás) that I finally was taught what to do with finger cuts:
1. Cleaning the wound
If you're out and about travelling far away from everything and everyone, a really good tip on how to clean wounds (which I learnt from Instagram), is to cut a tiny hole in the lid of a plastic water bottle. You can then spray your finger with pressurised water. It will sting, but it is much more effective at getting out the nasties than just running it under water.
2. Covering the wound
Make sure you cover the wound with something clean - preferably a bandage or a plaster, but failing that a clean cloth or bit of t-shirt will do.
3. Applying pressure
Apply pressure like parents who put all their hopes and dreams into their child - you want to try and help that wound close.
4. Elevating the finger (or any other limb)
And finally, you elevate the wound to slow the rate the blood is arriving. Let gravity do what you say for once.
There might well be cases where your wound is too much for your body (and gravity), to handle - which was the case for me in Italy. Covering and elevation were key, but my finger was too messed up to clean and it was too painful to put pressure on. So in this case I had to go to A and E. And I was so grateful that I had travel insurance to look after me here because I had no idea how much it was going to cost. I didn't know if I was going to lose the tip of my finger or not.
Without travel insurance I would have hesitated before going to the hospital, but with it I knew they would foot whatever crazy bill came my way. My Italian friend (at the insistence of my Italian doctor) signed for my prescription of antibiotics because we all thought he (being Italian) would get it for free and I (being not Italian) would not. It turned out though that I would have ended up being reimbursed for it because that is one of the (many) things that my insurance (SafetyWing) covers.
Long story short, learning how to look after a cut finger is as easy as ABC. But for the cases where you can't fix it yourself, you need A and E and for that you need insurance. And considering that you can't see the future (I'm assuming), you don't know what kind of cut your next cut will be, so get travel medical insurance, baby.
Traveller's diarrhoea is kinda inevitable if you have a weak lil Western European (or USAmerican) stomach. So inevitable that I even recommend that you set aside some money for a nice hotel that you can go and suffer in for a few days when it happens. Other than wait for it to stop here are some other tips you can do:
Mostly, you will be fine within 24 hours or max 72 hours, but if you're unlucky - like Tom and I were, it will last longer and you will need to call in a doctor. This happened to us in the Philippines and again we were happy we had travel insurance on call to (financially) look after us. Again, like cutting your finger, you never know which diarrhoea you'll be able to deal with alone and which you'll need professional care for, so please get insurance.
I first heard about ticks when I was a kid, and my parents were all about 'don't walk through woods without long socks' but by the time I reached adulthood and had never came across ticks, I kind of stopped caring about them, (even though I did take a tick off a dog's ear when I was house sitting). Then I met Tamas who was very hyper-aware of ticks - having known someone who got really ill from a tick. Still, I didn't think that much of ticks. Then we went to Ireland. It was summer, but it was Ireland so it was cold. We were in the hot tub warming up when I noticed something gross on my upper thigh - a tick! What's worse is I'm not sure how long it was there - it was so cold I hadn't been naked much. My friend Jess tweezed the tick off and no rash occurred so I'm presumably fine.
Long story short, learning how to look after a cut finger is as easy as ABC. But for the cases where you can't fix it yourself, you need A and E and for that you need insurance. And considering that you can't see the future (I'm assuming), you don't know what kind of cut your next cut will be, so get travel medical insurance, baby.
How to Treat Traveller’s Diarrhoea While Abroad
Traveller's diarrhoea is kinda inevitable if you have a weak lil Western European (or USAmerican) stomach. So inevitable that I even recommend that you set aside some money for a nice hotel that you can go and suffer in for a few days when it happens. Other than wait for it to stop here are some other tips you can do:
- Drink lots of water or some other kind of non-alcoholic liquid that doesn't make you feel nauseous (peppermint tea is great!)
- Eat BRAT (bananas, rice, apples, toast - apples can be a bit too acidy so I recommend swapping those for raw carrots)
Mostly, you will be fine within 24 hours or max 72 hours, but if you're unlucky - like Tom and I were, it will last longer and you will need to call in a doctor. This happened to us in the Philippines and again we were happy we had travel insurance on call to (financially) look after us. Again, like cutting your finger, you never know which diarrhoea you'll be able to deal with alone and which you'll need professional care for, so please get insurance.
How to take out a tick
I first heard about ticks when I was a kid, and my parents were all about 'don't walk through woods without long socks' but by the time I reached adulthood and had never came across ticks, I kind of stopped caring about them, (even though I did take a tick off a dog's ear when I was house sitting). Then I met Tamas who was very hyper-aware of ticks - having known someone who got really ill from a tick. Still, I didn't think that much of ticks. Then we went to Ireland. It was summer, but it was Ireland so it was cold. We were in the hot tub warming up when I noticed something gross on my upper thigh - a tick! What's worse is I'm not sure how long it was there - it was so cold I hadn't been naked much. My friend Jess tweezed the tick off and no rash occurred so I'm presumably fine.
You can get a special tick removal tweezer - which is what I used on the dog, but you're probably not going to use it often enough to justify carrying it around - luckily tweezers work fine too, and these I do carry around because they're useful for other things (like splinters). I could never remember whether you should take the tick off counter clockwise or clockwise, but it turns out it doesn't matter, they're not screws, the point is to twist them one of the ways rather than pulling them. Pulling them can make them clamp on and leave their poison in you. But twisting generally ensures that they don't. So all in all: take tweezers, twist, and make sure you get it all out!
I have experience second hand with fractured wrists and sprained ankles - Tom fractured his wrist when I was with him in Australia and Tamas sprained his ankle in Greece (maybe I'm the problem). In both cases, this is where limited first aid taps out and hospital visits tap in. With Tom's fractured wrist we took a trip in an expensive ambulance to the hospital where he was expensively x-rayed and bandaged up, given an expensive tetanus injection and painkillers and stayed for two expensive nights. Without travel insurance it would have cost tens of thousands of pounds in Australia. With it we just had to pay for the deductible, SafetyWing covered the rest.
What to do if you fracture or sprain an ankle or wrist abroad
I have experience second hand with fractured wrists and sprained ankles - Tom fractured his wrist when I was with him in Australia and Tamas sprained his ankle in Greece (maybe I'm the problem). In both cases, this is where limited first aid taps out and hospital visits tap in. With Tom's fractured wrist we took a trip in an expensive ambulance to the hospital where he was expensively x-rayed and bandaged up, given an expensive tetanus injection and painkillers and stayed for two expensive nights. Without travel insurance it would have cost tens of thousands of pounds in Australia. With it we just had to pay for the deductible, SafetyWing covered the rest.
With Tamas's fractured wrist, we took two expensive taxis to the hospital where he was x-rayed and bandaged up, we were there for a total of two hours and took a taxi back. That time our insurance also covered everything (including the taxi rides!) Both times we were using SafetyWing so you can understand why I'm so crazy about them - they paid the big fat medical bills abroad so we didn't have to.
On that note, it's probably a good place to make a note about the first aid things that you need whilst travelling. I've been travelling for ten years, so I consider myself experienced, and mainly with just a carry-on backpack, so I consider myself minimalist. I generally travel near cities or at least near towns, I'm not a wilderness traveller (as much as I aspire to be so). So bearing all this in mind I recommend you take some or all of these:
In the past I've carried antiseptic wipes too which seem like a great idea, but in reality have always just dried out before I've got around to using them (and of course there were occasions before they dried out when I could have used them but I forgot I had them). Everyone's personal first aid kit will look a little different depending on their first aid skills and what they plan on doing, but I honestly think everyone deserves to take tweezers with them. Key takeaway: tailor your kit based on your destination and activities planned, aight?
I hope this post has given you an idea of what kind of first aid tips are commonly used whilst travelling. I also hope that you've got my many hints that whilst first aid knowledge is important, it can only go so far, and the longer you travel the more inevitable it is that you will need to go to the doctor or the hospital and for that you need travel insurance. I recommend SafetyWing (because they're the ones I use).
First Aid Stuff to Take Travelling
On that note, it's probably a good place to make a note about the first aid things that you need whilst travelling. I've been travelling for ten years, so I consider myself experienced, and mainly with just a carry-on backpack, so I consider myself minimalist. I generally travel near cities or at least near towns, I'm not a wilderness traveller (as much as I aspire to be so). So bearing all this in mind I recommend you take some or all of these:
- tweezers for splinters and ticks
- a reusable water bottle: you're more likely to always have water with you if you have a reusable water bottle, than if you just buy one-use ones
- a pack of tissues: if you're travelling to countries where toilet paper isn't a given, and you like to use toilet paper, you're going to want to travel with a roll of tp
- a couple of plasters and adhesive bandages: great for blisters! make sure to get various sizes for minor cuts & scrapes.
- anti-nausea medicine and peppermint tea
- anti-histamines & whatever allergy medication you need
- antiseptic wipes or solution: to clean wounds, prevent infection or just wipe your hands clean when there's no running water and soap (if you haven't got either of these salt can work wonders on wounds... it sure hurts but disinfects the wound relatively well)
- pain killers & pain relievers: ibuprofen, paracetamol, aspirin, just in case. Not a big fan, but just in case.
- thermometer: to check for fever when
- first aid manual: just in case
- a pair of scissors: to cut tape, gauze, or clothing if necessary
- pregnancy test: a must have for women, cause you know... gotta know!
In the past I've carried antiseptic wipes too which seem like a great idea, but in reality have always just dried out before I've got around to using them (and of course there were occasions before they dried out when I could have used them but I forgot I had them). Everyone's personal first aid kit will look a little different depending on their first aid skills and what they plan on doing, but I honestly think everyone deserves to take tweezers with them. Key takeaway: tailor your kit based on your destination and activities planned, aight?
Wrap Up: First Aid to Know When Travelling And Travel Insurance
I hope this post has given you an idea of what kind of first aid tips are commonly used whilst travelling. I also hope that you've got my many hints that whilst first aid knowledge is important, it can only go so far, and the longer you travel the more inevitable it is that you will need to go to the doctor or the hospital and for that you need travel insurance. I recommend SafetyWing (because they're the ones I use).
P.S.: If you're interested in a way of travelling and getting accommodation cheaply, you might wanna check out house sitting. Trustedhousesitters.com was kind enough to provide us and our readers with a 10% discount, feel free to click on the link to use it! (Image sources: Pixabay and Unsplash)
