Travel sickness, whether brought on when travelling by air, sea
or car is a nightmare. If you are unprepared then the resulting
mess and smell can affect other people, spreading almost like a
virulent virus. On a plane or in the car the smell can take ages
to disappear - not ideal if you are at the start of a touring
holiday.
Travel sickness and in particular car sickness is often thought
to affect mostly children, however medical opinion estimates
that 80% of the population suffer from motion sickness at some
point in their lives. My daughter was fine until the age of 6,
when we discovered that the delay between announcing feeling
sick and actually vomiting is so small as to be insignificant.
Now 10, she only reads on a motorway or dual carriageway.
Motion sickness occurs when the brain can’t match the
information it is receiving from: 1) Inner ears, which sense in
which directions you are moving 2) Eyes, which see what
direction you are moving 3) Skin receptors, which detect which
parts of your body are touching the ground 4) Muscles and joint
sensory receptors, which tell you if you are moving muscles and
what position you are in
For example, if you are reading in a moving car, your inner ears
and skin receptors are telling your brain that you are moving
forward, but your eyes are on a stationary book and your muscle
receptors reporting that you are sitting still. For some people
this is OK, but for others some form of motion sickness will
start to build up.
Motion sickness can take the form of dizziness, fatigue, and
nausea which may progress to vomiting. Fear of motion sickness
can make these feelings a lot worse.
So what can be done to avoid motion sickness? When I was
involved in rallying 15 years ago I was fine driving, but
navigating was a real problem. I loved it dearly but suffered
dreadfully with motion sickness. It got so bad on one event that
I could hardly walk when I finally got out of the car. Whilst I
was never actually sick, the only way I could stop the nausea
was not to eat from getting up in the morning to the event,
which generally started in the early evening. I think you will
agree this is a bit extreme!
If you often suffer from motion sickness there are a few things
to try to make a journey more comfortable. 1) Avoid heavy meals
for two hours before the journey. Eat small amounts of something
dry such as crackers, crisps or biscuits before the journey,
don’t eat any dairy products and avoid salad and fruit as it can
be acidic. If possible don’t eat whilst on the trip. 2) Drink
small amounts of non natural drinks. Don’t drink milk or any
natural juices such as orange juice and others with citric acid.
Avoid alcohol. 3) Try anti motion sickness pills, either from
you doctor or homeopath. 4) Acupressure bands work well for some
people. 5) Studies have shown ginger root can be effective
against motion sickness. Ginger capsules are available or you
can try a dose of about 1/2 teaspoon of dry powdered ginger,
which is equivalent to approximately 1/3 ounce of fresh ginger
root, which is roughly a 1/4-inch slice. 6) Avoid staring out
the window for long periods of time as this can create motion
sickness. 7) Keep still and move gently. If possible stay where
there is the least movement. 
Don’t read 9) Alternative
remedies such as EFT (or tapping), hypnosis or acupuncture may
help.
There are also a few things you can do to reduce the sensation
of motion sickness, even when it has started. 1) Move to the
point of least movement. Try and sit in the centre of the plane
or in the middle of the boat. On boats it often helps to lie
down, although it might feel like the last thing you want to do.
2) Sit facing forward. 3) Look at the distant scenery. 4) Get
some fresh air, but keep warm. 5) Avoid talking but try not
think about your motion sickness. 6) Move gently, don’t stand up
or move suddenly.
Sometimes the preventatives don’t work, so, particularly with
children in your nice clean car, it’s worth being prepared.
Having been car sick into my grandmother’s hat at a young age,
as a child I was used to travelling with a quite frankly
grotesque pink potty. Whilst this would catch the offending
substance, it didn’t contain it particularly well, meaning
having to stop the car to remove the contents and smell.
This wasn’t too difficult in the 60s and 70s, but with so much
traffic now it’s not always easy or safe to do. Plastic shopping
bags offer little help. Designed to just about hold together for
the trip home, they have holes in them, which prevent
suffocation but reduce the ability to hold liquid. Another
favourite, ice cream tubs work better than the pink potty, but
rely on the child to get the lid on without spilling.
Unfortunately they are wide but not very deep making spillage a
distinct possibility. The best option is the sick bag, as used
by airlines and ferries for many years. Sick bags work
brilliantly. They are simple for children to use, they are deep
so reduce spillage and the top can be rolled down, retaining the
contents and the smell. Some sick bags have a clip securing the
rolled down top and a flat bottom, meaning they can stand up on
the floor of the car, further reducing the risk of spillage.
As companies fight to bring costs of air and ferry travel down
sick bags are handed out almost on an as needed basis. The days
of accumulating a stock of sick bags from an air flight seem to
be over.