Choosing a travel destination
Because you’re traveling with a child, safety should be your top priority. Before buying plane tickets or booking hotels, consider the local security and hygiene conditions. Traveling within Taiwan is generally safe, but when going abroad, check the local security situation and whether there have been any recent protests or unrest. Never choose an unsafe country. Even so, it’s not advisable to take children out late at night — try to stay in the hotel and rest.
In terms of hygiene and disease prevention, parents should also pay attention. For example, on September 17, 2013, the Philippines reported a measles outbreak — avoid the Philippines and Boracay for the time being. Other examples include post-tsunami South Asia, where hygiene may not be ideal until rebuilding is complete, or areas near Fukushima after the nuclear disaster, which should still be avoided for the time being.
Another factor to consider when choosing a destination is flight duration. If your child is under 5 years old, they’ll find everything on the plane interesting at first, enjoy the novel in-flight meals after takeoff, maybe take a nap, but their patience will likely run out afterward. So choose destinations that can be reached within a total flight time of 4 hours.
What if someone gets sick?
If your child regularly takes certain medications, such as long-term asthma maintenance drugs, make sure you bring enough of them before traveling. If your child is usually healthy, the common symptoms encountered during travel are coughing, runny nose, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. You can discuss with your pediatrician in advance and bring relief medications for these five symptoms to prepare for situations where medical help might not be readily available. Even if backup medications come in handy in emergencies, it’s still best to seek professional medical assistance afterward.
1. Coughing
Even with backup medication, parents should still pay attention to some details. Coughing itself isn’t a bad thing — it’s the body’s way of clearing secretions from the respiratory tract. However, you must ensure there’s no wheezing. Some children’s coughs aren’t caused by colds but by allergens in the hotel irritating the respiratory tract, leading to coughing followed by wheezing. In this case, seek emergency medical care locally.
2. Vomiting and Diarrhea
Vomiting and diarrhea are mostly due to gastrointestinal inflammation. Prevention methods include paying attention to food cleanliness and prioritizing bottled water. Backup medications for vomiting and diarrhea can only ease symptoms — recovery depends on eating light foods to let the stomach rest. But don’t forget hydration. If your child is vomiting, having diarrhea, and not drinking water, seek emergency medical care locally and get an IV drip to replenish fluids if needed.
3. Fever
Fever is the body’s natural immune response. Aside from causing discomfort, it doesn’t lead to any long-term aftereffects. But parents must carefully observe your child’s energy and appetite after the fever subsides, because there are many possible causes of fever. If it’s caused by pneumonia or meningitis, the child will usually also show signs of lethargy and a significant loss of appetite. So don’t worry too much about the fever itself, but do seek emergency medical care if the child is listless or has a poor appetite.
Since Taiwan has National Health Insurance, bring your child’s health insurance card. Medical care in many places in Taiwan is quite affordable. If you seek treatment abroad, keep the original medical expense receipts or detailed bills, and ask the doctor for a diagnosis certificate or discharge summary to keep. When you return to Taiwan, you can apply for partial medical expense reimbursement.
After reading all these precautions, some parents might think: This is too troublesome — maybe we shouldn’t bring our child on trips. In reality, many parents who travel with their children never encounter these issues, and plenty don’t even use their backup medications. The reminders above are just meant to help ensure a safer, happier trip.
Whenever I recall my child playing in the water with a floatie at 7 months old in Bali, or running around under the blue sky and white clouds in Okinawa at 1.5 years old — that sweet feeling is something parents will never forget.