International travel is one of the greatest experiences that anyone can have. People save up for years to get one special trip outside of their national experience. We prepare a lot of ways for a trip overseas. But one way we forget about quite often is to prepare for our health. In some situations, it is required that you get certain immunizations before crossing borders, in order to protect you from diseases that may be lurking in other countries. You may also consider ways to keep yourself safe from robbery or injury while traveling. You’ll read up about how to navigate dense crowds and use public transportation without knowing the language. You’ll review laws that are foreign to your way of life in order to avoid arrest, misunderstanding, or prosecution.

 

So what happens when the worst happens? What happens if you become gravely ill or badly injured while overseas? What happens if you are injured in a nation with an inferior medical system or with no nearby hospitals? Lucky for you, air medical transport is an industry that is really taking off. One company, Medjet, can get you back to the United States and to a hospital of your choice, if you should get sick or injured while you’re in another country. That’s air medical transportation taken to the next level. Here are two ways to avoid getting sick or injured in the first place.

 

• Don’t Drink the Water. This one may be obvious, but it’s really easy to forget. Following this rule isn’t as simple as not taking a drink of water that comes out of the tap. You’ve got to be vigilant about water that comes from every source - even ice cubes. How vigilant you have to be depends entirely on the nation you are staying in. But in the places with the worst water, you should really be conscious about time in the shower, time spent swimming, the water that is used to rinse salads and vegetables, and any beverage at all that isn’t sealed or bottled. You’d have to get pretty ill to require air medical transportation, but you can still give yourself a nasty bug resulting in time lost for better activities and a lot of vomiting and dehydration. You may even pick up a bug that stays with you through your time back in the states. Much better to avoid the water or perform necessary water preparation techniques.
• Avoid Unfamiliar Places After Dark. They say that 90% of crimes occur between 3-6 PM. But that’s because people are outside during those hours! This stat seems to communicate that it’s safe to go out at night. But that’s not true everywhere. If you are unfamiliar with a foreign locale, it’s best not to go out alone after dark. Simply by being in an unfamiliar place looking like you belong somewhere else, you may make yourself a target for those who would take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. So do yourself a favor and stay inside if you don’t know the terrain or it’s dark outside. Otherwise, you may earn yourself a trip courtesy of air medical transportation.

 

There are plenty of other ways to get injured or sick overseas, maybe even sick enough to require air medical transportation. But it’s also fairly easy to avoid these unfortunate scenarios. So stay safe and secure. Don’t perform any risks whatsoever. This way you’ll be safe and happy forever. And you’ll never have to use air medical transportation to get yourself out an uncomfortable bind. That’s my advice for traveling internationally.