Some people think that frequent travellers are fortunate and that their constant globe trekking is one endless holiday. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy travel. If I didn’t enjoy it I’d find ways to avoid it. Most of the “road warriors” I know have a love hate relationship with travel. Sure, travel means that you get to see new and interesting places and people some of the time, but it also means that you often spend a lot of time away from family and friends. And no matter which class cabin you are flying in, spending 8+ hours at a time cooped up on planes isn’t that much fun. The novelty wears off pretty quickly!
But what about the physical toll that travel has on your body? An Australian travel insurance company put together this rather disturbing graphic to highlight the impact that flying can have on you. Of course it’s not all doom and gloom, but it’s still an eye opener:
A lot of these issues are well known.
Taste: No matter how good the food is, airline food will never taste as good in the air as it does on the ground. The menus served by many airlines are designed to compensate for the issues with people’s taste buds when they’re flying. Of course the “simpler” option is to avoid eating on shorter flights. If you’re getting a “red eye” eating before the flight either at the airport, or before heading to it, will mean that you’ll have more time to sleep during the flight.
Dehydration: Drink lots of water. If you’re worried about not getting enough on the plane itself you can always grab a bottle or two airside before boarding.
There are other tips in the graphic above.