Ok, before you get all excited, we’re not talking about cocktails.

In fact, this is a serious topic: Tips on safely drinking water when you’re travelling.

We’ve all probably been there – on the floor of a strange hotel room, feeling close to death and wishing we were back home.

As parents, nothing scares us more than the kids getting sick OR mum and dad being sick at the same time on a family holiday!

So, we’ve put together some do’s and dont’s when travelling to your palm tree, coconut-sunscreen destinations.

 

Ask the locals, don’t simply follow them.

While you will see locals drinking the water, travellers often become ill because our immune system is not used to the foreign pathogens.

So, what to do? Always, check the status of the drinking water when doing your research on your destination. 

And, ask the locals too. That includes guides and the front desk at the hotel. The locals will know if they have water safe for travellers or not, and most of the time, the country you are visiting needs the tourism dollars, so they don’t want to see you get sick.

 

No ice ice baby.

If you can’t drink the water, you can’t have a mojito on ice… I’m sorry, there are alternatives, you’ll be ok.

Beer and Sodas should also be drunk straight from the bottle, as often hotels and restaurants will chill their glasses in ice.

Avoid sodas from fountains too. They’re made by carbonating water and mixing it with flavored syrup. Since the water most likely came from the tap, these sodas are best avoided. Similarly, juice from a fountain is most likely juice concentrate mixed with tap water and should be avoided too. 

 

Whaddaya mean no salad?

You should also avoid the salad option. Any fruit or veg that isn’t protected by it’s own skin and needs to be washed, is best left untouched for this one week. Time to indulge.

 

Don’t drink and bathe.

Little kids going through the drinking bath water phase need to be watched very carefully. If it simply can’t be stopped then you may need to look at buying a packet of Miltons Tablets . Drop a few tablets depending on the amount of water into your bath.

 http://www.miltonbaby.com.au/our-products/antibacterial-tablets-30-pack/

Milton’s tablets are in our opinion, essential to take away with you for sterilising. Anything from toothbrushes, toys, maybe even the cups in your room. Anything questionable and entering your mouth = “Milton it”.

 

Get a SteriPEN 

What’s a SteriPEN I hear you ask? These are a brilliant purification tool for traveling. The SteriPEN uses ultraviolet light to sterilise the water so that the bacteria is unable to multiply thus making the tap water safe to drink. You can use the SteriPEN Freedom for 45 seconds to sterilise up to half a litre of water.

The SteriPEN destroys more than 99.9 percent of bacteria, viruses and protozoan cysts such as giardia and cryptosporidia.

Hooray for the SteriPEN I hear you say!

http://www.steripen.com

 

Boil it baby!

This one’s simple: Boil all water before you drink it.

This is even better for those of us with a bit of a green footprint. So boil the water in your room with the kettle and keep water stored in an aluminium bottle (from home) to take out to with you for the day rather than buying hundreds of bottles of water.

 

 

...The bottom line is that we want you to love travelling the world, exploring, talking to locals, introducing your family to the weird and wonderful in the world.

But do it safely, and spend your time outdoors and not locked away in your hotel room.

We wish you happy and healthy travels!