“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comforts of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things — air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky. All things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”—Cesare Pavese
“Why do you go away?” asked English author Terry Pratchett. “So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
That’s what traveling to another country is all about. “Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life,” said British actor and comedian Michael Palin.
But traveling, particularly by air, is not always fun. As American chef and author Anthony Bourdain put it: “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
Most travelers encounter a few inconveniences or negative health effects associated with air travel, aside from the occasional late arrival or lost luggage. Nevertheless, certain health risks do exist for those who travel by air.
Beyond the hassles of an occasional late arrival or lost luggage, most travelers encounter a few inconveniences associated with air travel. Nevertheless, certain risks, mostly pertaining to health, do exist for those who travel by air.
“All individuals planning travel should seek information or advice on potential health risks before they travel,” the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests. “It is important for travelers to understand how best to avoid or minimize these risks, take appropriate preventive measures, and exercise necessary precautions before, during and after travel.”
