Tuesday Travel Tip - Travel Health and Safety for Teens and Adults:

Every traveler seeks to avoid violent revolutions and health emergencies while adventuring abroad. But somehow even thinking about the possibilities makes humans feel superstitious and uneasy, as if planning for the “what-ifs” will illogically manifest the unlikeliest outcomes. Navigating the travel vaccinations process with our Byzantine U.S. healthcare system seems almost as daunting as the acquiring the diseases themselves. How do we distinguish between travel health “requirements” and “recommendations?” How to assess the subtle nuances between government reports: “notices” “advisories,” “warnings,” and “prohibitions?” Safety and health preparedness for educational global travel can be addressed rationally.  Teach yourself about the risks, preventative measures and smart traveling practices in your destination.

What’s REALLY a risk in that place? Consult the Center for Disease Control “Destinations” page  with your written itinerary.   Familiarize yourself with the advisories listed therein, and cross-evaluate with other websites. Read travel blogs from people on the ground in your destination. The Lonely Planet Thorntree Forum and TripAdvisor.com are great places to pose questions: “How are the hospitals in Yangon?” “Did you see more tourists than mosquitoes in Luang Prabang?” The World Health Organization is essential reading for the rogue backpacker traveler. Conde Nast’s medical editor provides some basic vaccine suggestions for the “Urban and Upscale” itineraries.

The Peace Works Travel Health & Safety advice continues next week on our blog: One size fits a few, but not you…