The apple didn't fall far from the tree when it came to my son Jet. Like mother like son, Jet is my more sensitive and nervous traveler, so I always make sure to pack him with a travel apothecary kit that fixes whatever ails him while away from home. This insurance policy puts both mother and son at ease when separation becomes necessary. Which, incidentally, is the absolute worst time to feel lousy. This past Christmas break, Jet went on a trip to Mexico with a friend and thankfully, I packed his emergency travel kit. He ended up calling me in the middle of the night, heaving, after having consumed what we will simply call a ‘problem meal’. Who knows what triggered it? Perhaps too much cheese, too much sauce, that it was in town and not at the hotel, or maybe just the Mexican flu. What we do know is how quickly this can be remedied with the correct protocol on hand.
Even my daughter Paris, who is a sturdier traveler than both Jet and I, was afflicted late one night with a very painful double-ear infection. As she screamed in pain, the friends we were with stared at me and asked, “Well, what are you going to do now, Miss Healer?” They were all offering up their stashes of antibiotics. These I refused, in much the same way I had for the previous 18 and 19 years of my kids’ lives, respectively. Instead, I promptly called room service to order up whole garlic cloves sautéed in olive oil. I used a straw as a dropper, and dropped 6 drops into each ear. Viola! Within five minutes, the inflammation was down and she’d fallen asleep peacefully with ears less inflamed. Only five minutes!
So what’s in your travel apothecary kit? I will help you with a starter kit of your very own. I promise that you too will never leave home without it.
I don’t really care if I forget my bathing suit, a toothbrush or even my panties - those things can be replaced quite easily. What I can’t immediately replace are the things I need to ‘fix’ whatever might come my way. So I will share my travel secrets, with the hope that when you are on a vacation, far away from home (whether it be at Disney World, a beach, on the slopes or at sea), you’ll have the feeling of security that comes from knowing that you too can ‘fix’ whatever ails you and your family.