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Welcome to this month's Travel Tip post: "It's All About the Water".
Because travelers know that using clean, safe water is the best travel decision you'll ever make.
Travel Tip: It’s All About the Water
You’ve probably heard or read somewhere that you should always use bottled water for drinking and for toothbrushing when you travel to a developing country. Absolutely true!
But smart, experienced travelers take that a step further: they use bottled water for every destination they visit, regardless of the type of country, and the perceived risk. Why?
“It eliminates the guesswork of which country has a safe water supply, and it’s easier to remember,” said an experienced traveler to me, “especially if I’m traveling in and out of multiple countries”.
Using the same approach for all countries makes a lot of sense, because it's easy to either underestimate or overestimate the risk of contaminated water for specific countries.
Travelers tend to be extremely careful in African countries or Southeast Asia (where the perceived risk is high), but then they relax and let down their guard in Mexico (where the perceived risk is low: “it’s so close to the U.S.!”). Yet many travelers get sick with gastrointestinal illness in Mexico because they brush their teeth with tap water, add ice to their drinks, or listen to the upscale resorts telling them their water supply is perfectly safe (it’s not).
So, what should you do when you travel? First, you should use bottled water for every destination, whether it's Germany or Ghana.
- Get your bottled water only from major airports, hotels, and supermarkets in any country. Not from the sweet-looking child on the street trying to sell it to you. (Several years ago, street kids in India were caught re-bottling tap water and selling it on the street).
- No ice in your drinks!
- Easy tip to remember to brush your teeth with bottled water: Take your toothbrush and a rubber band, and wrap them both around a water bottle. Place the wrapped bottle on the bathroom sink in the hotel room; when you pick up your toothbrush, the bottle is attached.
- Don’t rinse your mouth out in the shower (some people like to do this); otherwise, taking a shower is fine.
- Any hot drink from a restaurant or vendor should be piping hot. Don’t accept lukewarm drinks. On a related note, hot food should be very hot, and cold food should be very cold, not tepid or lukewarm.
- Make sure that any water you use to make your own coffee or tea has come to a full boil for one minute (three minutes if you’re above 6,500 feet elevation).
- Be cautious and be vigilant: if something doesn’t look safe, it probably isn’t. Trust your gut.