When you fly to the mainland, does your nose dry out, do your eyes get red, and hurt? You start coughing because your throat is dry? Even catch a cold every time you travel?
Traveling to the US Mainland from Hawaii, many of us need to make the adjustment to a climate with much less humidity. Our eyes and noses especially, suffer from drying air. Also the air in the plane cabin is very dry and re-circulated (no such thing as fresh air up there). Dry eyes and noses are perfect places for cold bacteria and viruses to enter your body. This is because the nasal passages dry out and can crack (slight nosebleeds?) and you rub your eyes because it feels itchy or gritty and your hands have touched so many surfaces; who knows what’s on there?
As a former business traveler, I had to arrive fresh and ready to work so I created this and also made myself as comfortable as possible for those 8 hours to Tokyo.
My cousin’s family hates traveling because they are so uncomfortable and always come home with a cold. They refuse to go on vacations that require air travel. Rather difficult to avoid air travel when you live in Hawaii. So, I made up a little kit for her.
The solution was given to me by a couple of Doctors:
Carry a small Prevention Kit with you on the plane.
Saline nasal spray, Bacitracin or Neosporin or any other clear antibiotic ointment, moisturizing eye drops (not allergy drops), lip balm, & optional soft foam ear plugs. All are available at any drugstore. If traveling as a family, each person should have their own for hygienic reasons.
How to use:
Use saline spray often throughout the flight. Keep your nose hydrated. Saline spray is not a decongestant and can be used as often as needed.
Same with eye drops; use often to keep your eyes hydrated. If your nose feels ticklish, use the eye drops, yes, the eye drops. You’ll feel a difference in your nose!
The lip balm also keeps you comfortable.
The ear plugs are use-as-needed. I love them because they shut out the plane’s engine noise and other cabin chatter. This allows me to read and listen to music in peace.
Upon arriving, leave this Kit on the nightstand in your room.
At night, before going to sleep, dab a bit of the antibiotic ointment into your nose. As it melts with your body heat, it will bathe your nasal passages and keep them moist. You will avoid the dry-nose irritation. Also keep a bottle of water near you, drink as needed. The heated room air is very dry.
Also, this kit is not just for the winter time. Air conditioned hotel rooms in the summer also cause dryness.
For additional comfort:
I have always traveled with a small cold vapor humidifier, on ski trips. It makes sleeping a lot easier and you don’t wake feeling like the Mojave desert.
The cold vapor is safe because it’s not heated so will not burn. Even the small travel size ones will run about 8 hours on a single fill.
Where to find a Humidifier in Hawaii? Not usually found in stores so plan ahead and check out QVC.com, Walmart.com, or websites catering to allergy suffers.
Happy traveling!
