Top tips to avoid travel sickness on your Christmas holidays
Many of us will be driving – or flying, travelling by rail or even sailing – ho, ho, home for Christmas!
Some of us will choose to spend it elsewhere in the UK, in a cosy cottage with a roaring fire maybe, or head aboard for some winter sun or snowy mountains.
Whatever your destination, Christmas is a time of coming together with family and friends and there’s excitement in the chilly air as we make our travel plans.
Not only is it a good idea to get the preparation out of the way before you get bogged down in the general festive frenzy, it’s also one of the busiest travel periods of the year so if you’re booking rail or flight tickets it makes sense to do it as far in advance as possible.
Unlike the summer travel season, which spans several months, the Christmas holidays are crammed into two weeks which signals busier roads and competition for seats on transport.
Getting organised and everything in order early doors will help to eliminate some of the pressure ahead of your journey.
As well as knowing a thing or two about travel sickness we’ve amassed rather a lot of Christmas travel experience over the years and we’re pleased to share!
And it’s not just honed from learning from our mistakes!
There’s some good advice from the more practical and prepared among us too, so here are some tinselly tips to help you travel happy over the festive season.
6 tips to avoid travel sickness for road and rail travel
It’s safe to say if you’re travelling in the run up to Christmas Day the roads will be as packed as Santa’s sleigh and rail travel will be much busier too. Rail services are quite often reduced over the Christmas period while operators take the opportunity to carry out maintenance when there’s less passenger demand so bear that in mind too.
With some foresight and forward planning you can minimise any disruption to your journey and keep Christmas spirits high – cranking up a festive playlist is a must!
- Firstly, a list of what you’re planning to take – including presents – and a ‘to do’ list can help lighten the load amid the Christmas chaos. If you’re going by train, travelling light goes without saying. Forcing your way down a train laden with luggage and gifts will be tricky!
- You could also jot down the things you’ll need for your journey, especially if there’s children on board; snacks and refreshments, pillows and blankets for napping in the car if it’s a longer trip, and if travel sickness is likely, a handy grab bag of essentials such as sick bags, wipes, paper towels, hand sanitiser and a disinfectant cleaning aid will give you peace of mind.
- Plan ahead if you’re driving – check out your route for any roadworks and try to plan around them. Stuck in a traffic jam listening to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree for the 10th time would tip anyone over the edge.
- If you can avoid peak travel times do. Fridays are always busy, particularly leading up to a Christmas weekend so if you can go the day before or early on a Saturday morning. If you’re visiting family or friends maybe travel the day before and stay over. If you’re booking train tickets, off-peak times are usually cheaper and quieter.
- Keep an eye on the weather and check right up to travelling. Wintry weather can be unpredictable so be prepared to factor in additional time and potentially rethink your plans if you have to.
- In the midst of remembering everything you need to take it’s easy to forget about the car you’re travelling in – the last thing you need is a breakdown on your Christmas mission so make sure everything is running as it should be in the colder weather and keep de-icer handy.
6 tips for travel sickness ahead of traveling abroad
Whether you’re breaking from tradition and escaping to sunnier climes or you truly want to embrace Christmas in a magical winter wonderland, there’s plenty to think about.
Hopefully with this advice the excitement can start as soon as the journey begins, tis the season to be jolly after all!
- Avoid peak travel periods when booking if you can. Work schedules can make this tricky but it can save the stress of long queues and waiting times. It can also save you money too. Christmas Day itself is usually the cheapest time to fly followed by Christmas Eve. Prices tend to go up just before and after Christmas.
- It sounds obvious but check your passport is still in date before you book your trip.
- Don’t forget travel insurance and once everything is booked store all your travel documents in a handy folder or on your mobile – having something on paper can give you peace of mind in case you forget to charge your phone!
- Make a list of everything you need to pack, including presents! You can also make lists of what you need to do such as booking airport parking, arranging taxis, who’s looking after the dog and so on. – Maybe add ‘charge phone’ to that list too!
- When it comes to packing presents remember your baggage allowance. You could try having a word with Santa to see if he’ll deliver them for you but it’s advisable to just take the main gifts on the Christmas list. And there’s little point in gift wrapping before you leave otherwise you could find yourself delayed at airport security! And don’t forget if you’ll be receiving gifts, you’ll need suitcase space to bring them home.
- On the day of travel allow yourself plenty of time to get to the airport, especially if it’s close to Christmas Day. Lots of other people will be heading off too so setting off earlier will help to account for any traffic delays or bad weather.
Cross travel sickness off your Christmas list
If anyone in your Christmas travel party is prone to travel sickness, try not to get too anxious about it and don’t let it put a damper on the excitement of the journey.
There are things you can do to minimise the risk of it occurring such as having a light carb-based meal such as cereal an hour or two before you set off and if you’re travelling by car plan in time for a few stops to get a little exercise, refreshment and fresh air.1
You’ll find lots of handy hints and advice, plus an insight into what causes the condition, including car sickness and child travel sickness in our blog.
If you find self-help methods aren’t effective and you need further help, speak to your pharmacist for travel sickness advice and suitable over-the-counter travel sickness remedies.
We provide travel sickness tablets for adults and kids travel sickness tablets. Kwells Adults Travel Sickness 300 microgram tablets or Kwells Kids Travel Sickness 150 microgram tablets can be used on short or longer journeys and taken every six hours – no more than three times in 24 hours.
Because Kwells travel sickness tablets melt in the mouth, absorption into the bloodstream is very rapid and they can be taken up to 20–30 minutes before travelling or at the onset of sickness.
You can browse our products here.
If you have any doubts about using Kwells tablets correctly, seek the advice of your pharmacist or doctor.
Kwells 300 microgram tablets. For the prevention of travel sickness, suitable for adults and children aged 10+. Contains Hyoscine Hydrobromide 300 microgram. Kwells Kids 150 microgram tablets. For the prevention of travel sickness, suitable for children aged 4+. Contains Hyoscine Hydrobromide 150 microgram. Always read the label.
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Kwells 300 microgram tablets and Kwells Kids 150 microgram tablets are used for the fast and effective prevention and control of travel sickness.
- Contains Hyoscine Hydrobromide
- Helps prevent travel sickness
- 12 tablets
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Kwells 300 microgram tablets. For the prevention of travel sickness, suitable for adults and children aged 10+. Contains Hyoscine Hydrobromide 300 microgram. Kwells Kids 150 microgram tablets. For the prevention of travel sickness, suitable for children aged 4+. Contains Hyoscine Hydrobromide 150 microgram. Always read the label