Avoid Sickness on the Road: Be Safe in Planes, Trains and Hotels

By SusanC HERWriter Guide

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Avoid Sickness on the Road: Be Safe on Planes, Trains and Hotels

Danil Roudenko/PhotoSpin

I might look a little crazy on a plane when I sit down but no matter. I bring on my big, sanitizing wipes and get to work on the remote control, tray table, arms, seat belt and, generally, every inch around me.

I do less in hotels rooms and holiday rentals but I’m still pretty vigilant. Germs are a part of life and they can help to strengthen our immune systems but when it comes to travel — better to be safe than sorry.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, there are no regulations on airplane cleanliness. Each airline has its own standards. They generally contract out to cleaning companies with a set of rules on how they want their planes cleaned. And this cleaning essentially comes down to their cleaners themselves and their supervisors.

“Medical studies have shown that air travelers face higher rates of infection: One study pegged the increased risk of catching a cold at 20%. Much of the danger comes from the people within two rows around you,” The WSJ article said.

“Seat-back pockets, which get stuffed with used tissues, soiled napkins, dirty diapers and trash, can be particularly scuzzy. It's also difficult to know which germs are lurking in an airline's pillows and blankets, which sometimes don't get sent to the laundry until the end of a day's flights.”

Another issue on flights, especially international flights, is that passengers may have infections or diseases from other continents that others may not be used to and have difficulty fighting against. This is why diseases like SARS and the Ebola virus are very dangerous on flights that often have stuffy air and unavoidable close contact, as well as shared bathroom facilities.

To guard against this, use the provided toilet seat cover and use an elbow to turn on faucets. Use paper towel to press the toilet flusher and to open the bathroom doors. Wash well with warm, soapy water. Use sanitizing wipes on the areas around you and don’t fly sick — you’ll run the risk of infecting others.

These tips can be used for train travel, too. Car rentals are clean and tidy, but a quick wipe down wouldn’t do any harm.

Hotels can also be a bastion of germs. A huge outbreak of bed bug infestation occurred throughout the United States in hotels and motels a few years back. They spread quickly and can land in your clothes for the journey home. An inspection of hotel beds and sofas can eliminate these fears, and reading recent hotel reviews is a good way to check on general cleanliness.

CBC News ran an article on the germiest areas of hotel rooms in Canada, so all of North America can take note. Their show, Marketplace, tested hotel rooms using black lights, cameras and labs to identify worrisome spots.

To gauge cleanliness, CBC reported that they used “an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measuring device, which helps detect potential germ hotspots. The higher the number, the more likely the object is to be contaminated with bacteria or other biological material. For this test, anything below a 300 ATP reading gets a passing grade, and anything above 1,000 fails our cleanliness test.”

CBC found that the remote control is the dirtiest object, since it’s hard to clean, almost always used by guests, and not something that maid service pay much attention to. In fact, hotel remote controls were the dirtiest part of hotel rooms overall. The article recommended bagging the remote. You can also give it a thorough cleaning using sanitizing wipes.

Phones are also dirty items to avoid. Consider sticking to your cell phone.

Other areas of concern are bedding, including decorative pillows and throws. If you can control your room temperature, consider ridding yourself of any blankets and pillows for the duration of your stay.

Ice containers and coffee makers were seen to have harbored plenty of germs in Marketplace's evaluation. Bathrooms didn’t fare that well either.

Some hotels had numbers as high as 30,000 and some of the cleanest were budget hotels. To see which hotels did well and which ones did not, click here.

Using common sense is the best way to avoid germs while traveling. If something looks dirty, don’t use it. If it’s an unnecessary item (say, a coffee machine when there is already coffee served in your hotel) then don’t use it. And any kind of obvious dirt, bugs or mold should be reported.

Doing your own quick checks and wipe downs with sanitary wipes can help ensure your travels aren’t met with unnecessary illnesses and infections.

Travel well this summer!

Sources:

The Wall Street Journal. The Middle Seat. “The Trouble With Keeping Commercial Flights Clean.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trouble-with-keeping-commercial-flights-...

CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company). News. “Dirty hotels: 6 germ hotspots to worry about”. Web. Retrieved July 11th 2015.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/dirty-hotels-6-germ-hotspots-to-worry-about-1.210...

Reviewed July 14, 2015
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.