Hi Reader,

I’m writing this to you horizontally, tissues within reach, on what my body has decided is a soup-and-loungewear kind of day. I just got back from a cruise, and I did the exact thing everyone swears happens on a cruise: I came home sick. We still can’t tell if it’s a bad cold or COVID, but I’ve been in and out of bed since the gangway.

Here’s the part that’s almost funny. I have a whole system for not getting sick when I travel, and (almost) all of the time it works. This was not one of those times. So while I wait it out under a blanket, let me hand you the system anyway. It’s saved far more of my trips than it’s cost me.

Most of it happens before you leave

I always try to go in healthy. Get some real rest beforehand, nothing that leaves me run-down at the gate. On the road, I’m a little obsessive about my hands. I carry aloe-based wipes (the moisturizing kind, not the ones that are basically rubbing alcohol; I use ALOH) and a small alcohol spray for the surfaces everyone forgets... the tray table, the remote, the armrest.

And I try, truly, not to touch my face. I know it’s something we all learned in 2020 and quietly stopped doing.

The feel-better kit

When something slips through anyway, I want to be comfortable, not white-knuckling it in a strange hotel room. My kit is simple: NyQuil and DayQuil, zinc lozenges, vitamin C, and electrolytes, because the fastest way to feel worse is to get dehydrated on top of being sick. I pack real loungewear too, because there’s a difference between resting and just being stuck.

I learned that the hard way, flat on my back for a few days in Gstaad on a trip to Switzerland a few years back. Then the good stuff: a guilty-pleasure Millennial rewatch (Friends or Seinfeld, nothing I have to concentrate on) and an easy read. This trip, it was Book Lovers by Emily Henry, the kind you can set down for a nap and pick right back up.

If you’re in Europe, walk into the pharmacy

Here’s the tip I wish more travelers knew. In France, Italy, Spain, and most of the EU, the pharmacy is your first stop, not the doctor. Walk in, describe your symptoms, and the pharmacist (who in bigger cities very often speaks English) hands you exactly what you need over the counter. Nine times out of ten, they sort you out in five minutes. No appointment, no copay, no drama.

When it’s more than a cold

Then there’s the other category, the one that isn’t a lozenge-and-a-nap situation. A few years ago, someone on our team had their appendix burst while traveling in Norway. That’s the scenario you can’t pack for, and it’s why we recommend travel insurance for any trip, no exceptions. We’re not brokers, but here are a few things we’ve learned...

• If you travel more than a couple of times a year, an annual policy usually pencils out
• Make sure it covers what your health insurance won’t once you’re abroad
• And if your trip involves anything adventurous (heli-skiing, zip-lining, dirt biking), splurge to add on medical evacuation.

Check out our site for a few more of our practical travel tips.

What’s actually getting me through

The one upside of coming home sick is permission to make exactly what your body is asking for. The minute we were home, I started cooking to feel human again.

Two things are on repeat this week: our miso chicken noodle soup, the grown-up, brothy, ginger-and-mushroom version of the classic, and our homemade citrus coconut electrolyte drink, which does more for me than anything neon from a bottle. Bookmark both.

Now, back to my blanket.

P.S. Got a big fall trip on the horizon and want a second set of eyes on coverage or the whole itinerary? That's what we're here for. Tell us what you're dreaming up!​