GretaBfit

The Hazards of Air Travel & Safety Tips to Keep You Well

Terrific video from Dr. Ron Klatz, who is one of the founders of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.  Do yourself a big favor--watch this before taking your next flight!

My Health-Related Pet Peeves of Traveling

I’m all about health and wellness and age management.

I’m also all about travel. I am on the go-whether for business or pleasure- MUCH of the time.

People always ask me “How do you do it” Don’t you get jet lag? Don’t you get tired of it?”

I must say that jet lag is rarely an issue for  me and for whatever reasons (genetics, proper exercise, good luck) I have a tremendous supply of energy.

What I like least about travel are the little annoyances that crop up all too regularly and threaten my sense of sanitation. Herewith, my personal pet peeves that occur while on the road. Not that anyone asked, but here they are:

• Toilet seat cover failure. Why is it that the toilet seat covers on airplanes NEVER stay put? Rather, they slide off onto the floor immediately and are of zero practical use.
  

I don’t know about you but my idea of staying germ free while in flight does not include fishing around for a flimsy piece of tissue on the always wet floor of an airplane bathroom floor.

We all know that every surface of a bathroom is a treasure trove of germs and cooties of all sorts even on our own home turf. One can only imagine what lurks in the lower regions of a frequently trafficked spot like an airplane lounge.

• A Pyrrhic Victory.  The only thing worse than a toilet seat cover tissue sliding off the minute you place it is the toilet seat is when the cover of the person before you is still clinging to the seat.
  

First of all, how the heck did they get the dang thing to stay in place? Next, why is it that they think it perfectly OK for ME to have to deal with the paper aftermath of their visit to the john?

I still have not found a method  for pulling off clingy tissue left behind that doesn’t give me the willies. I’m thinking the airlines need to supply rubber tissue removal gloves for such instances.

• Airport sink survival. With every airport and with changing technology come a wealth of faucet styles that require an PhD in plumbing. Most  airport faucets now feature automated water dispensing. The problem is that I never know where to wave my hand to get the water to come out or if I even need to do so.
  

Once I figure out the perfect technique to get the water started the secret is in discovering how to keep it going long enough to get a good wash. Some have automatic timers that allow about 5 seconds of water before you have to start waving your hands around again. Others do not and seem to NEVER stop flowing.

In the case of the former, I am frustrated because I know that to really rid hands of bacteria one has to scrub for a good solid  minute in fairly warm, sudsy  water. 

In the case of the latter I have nearly missed flights because my sense of guilt and fear of wasting water force me to stand by until the faucet stops flowing in order that it not run all day, unattended if I leave too early.

And let’s not even get started on how to achieve the right temperature out of the newer faucets. Can you say,  “SCALDING OR FREEZING AND NOTHING IN BETWEEN?”

• Hot air hand drying hell. Studies say that those hot air hand dryers are the most sanitary way to dry one’s hands. I don’t care. I don’t like ‘em. My hands never get dry and those blowers are noisy. The problem is that there are not always options and hot air is the only means offered. That’s when you’ll see me slip back into a stall and grab a handful of toilet paper to dry my hands and that is a clingy mess at best. But I prefer that to the air method.

• End run fever. I probably should have listed this pet peeve first because it happens pretty early on in the travel process. Security check-in is no one’s idea of a good time. But nothing gets my dander up faster than someone who impatiently stands right behind me in the  line as I unload my laptop and take off my shoes before going though the scanner.
  

You know the type: they get right up next to you and breath down your neck, nudging your bags with theirs, as though somehow such pressure will actually SPEED YOU UP.

Nuh uh. doesn’t work that way. That is when my little baggy full of liquids invariably tumbles to the ground, (spilling its contents) or my metal belt gets stuck on my waistband and requires even more time to dislodge before I slowly remove it.

That’s when the eyes on the person behind me begin to roll back in their head or they cluck their tongue in disapproval.  I want to say, “Stress kills, my friend, and you have just aged me five years.  Back off, fellow traveler, and gimme space!"