So, you’ve saved up for a trip to wine country and made it to your destination - only to be stricken by seasonal allergies or a cold, leaving you with a stuffy nose and a limited (or no!) ability to smell and taste food or wine.
Here are a few of our favorite travel tips, having fallen prey to the impact of recirculated air, traveling during cold and flu season, and also having lifelong issues with hay fever.
Packing medicine for smarter getaways
It’s a good idea to pack some basic over-the-counter medicines for trips to prevent time wasted driving to a store during your stay. Also, if your wine travels take you to Europe, you’ll find that most stores are closed on Sunday, or the dosage is in a language you can’t read.
Start with this re-usable TSA Approved Transparent Waterproof Cosmetic Bag with Zipper for storing medicines
We like this three-pack as you can use one for liquids, one for dry goods, and the third for electrical adaptors and chargers. We try to minimize the liquid medicines we take on a trip or place them in our checked luggage.
OTC Medicines and supplies to make travel easier
To prevent potential overdose and to treat only the symptoms we have, we prefer to shy away from all-in-one “cold and flu” or “allergy” medicine and purchase independent components separately.
Pain Reliever
All over-the-counter pain relievers are not created equal. While these products are available without a prescription, they are still medicine. By avoiding combination products, you reduce the chance that you take the same active ingredient twice when combining medications. If you aren’t sure which OTC pain killer is best to have with you for travel, check with a pharmacist or your doctor for a recommendation.
Our personal favorite pain killer is Advil. Available in travel sized two-packs, these travel packages slip easily into your carry-on or checked bag, and you don’t need to carry a bottle around.
Facial Tissues
Hotel facial tissues (unless you are staying at a 4-star resort) are just a step above sandpaper. Don’t forget to pack facial tissues like these.
Eye Mask
If you are a seasonal allergy sufferer, remember to pack one of these warm eye masks that helps in reducing swelling due to hay fever. This type of eye mask requires a microwave for activation, so if there is no microwave in your room, check with the front desk. Many heatable eye masks don’t have washable covers. While these may look less fashionable than velour eye masks, these eye masks are re-usable and washable.
Bkr Water Bottle
If you don’t travel a lot, you might not know that it is just fine to take an empty water bottle on the plane with you. Simply fill it up once you pass through security.
We like this Bkr bottle since it has a screw-on top, making it perfectly safe to throw in your favorite handbag without worrying about leakage. We also like that it is dishwasher safe. And since Jolene’s day job is a scientist, she thinks the whole “beaker” thing is kind of cool!
Why can’t I taste or smell anything when I’m sick?
Temporarily losing your sense of smell or taste is normal when one has hay fever (seasonal allergies) or the common cold. Nasal passages become congested with mucus or are inflamed. These symptoms may be accompanied by pain behind or below the eyes. Removing the mucus and reducing inflammation is key to getting your nose back in tip-top wine tasting shape. If you are experiencing more than a temporary loss of your sense of smell, then see a physician as this might be a sign of something more serious.
Mucus relief for wine tasters
If you have a wine tasting coming up that you can’t reschedule or you have a blind tasting exam as a student of wine, having a cold or allergies is going to be stressful! Your primary objective is to get that gunk out of your nose and chest and to get the Eustachian tube cleared up and draining properly so that you can get back to smelling and tasting wines as soon as possible. You may be tempted to run directly to the box of drugs with the most active ingredients. However, there are a number of home treatment options that you can try instead of (or along with) OTC drugs.
Our recommendations below are for home (or on-the-road) treatment of sinus congestion due to cold or allergy. As always, if you suspect that you have something more serious, call a physician. The front desk of your hotel is a great place to check for medical options and hours. If you are not at a hotel, send a message to your AirBnB or HomeAway host for a recommendation.
Hot Shower For Cold or Allergy Relief
Your first line of relief is a long hot shower. Your stuffy nose from cold or allergies is due to inflammation and swollen blood vessels. The steam from the shower helps open up the nasal passages to make it easier to expel mucus. Ten to 15 minutes should be enough to yield some relief, and this treatment can be repeated up to 3 times per day. Though a hot shower won’t cure the underlying cause of illness (cold virus, allergen, irritant), it will provide relief. Don’t make the shower too hot or you may scald yourself.
Get a Steam Inhaler
If a hot shower is not available, or you are in an area where water use is restricted, there are a few tools available for intense steam therapy.
First is a steam room, which may be available in resort-type areas. If traveling, ask if there is a steam room available at your hotel or gym. As with the hot shower, a steam room can be used 2-3 times per day, 15 to 20 minutes maximum per visit.
Staying somewhere less plush? If your accommodations are AirBnB or HomeAway, there might be a pot available to heat water in the kitchen. Simply heat the water and then turn off the heating source. Lean over the pot, and cover your head with a towel. It will take a little figuring out to find the best combination of face distance to pot and percent of towel coverage. Keep in mind that when utilizing this method there is some risk of scalding yourself. Be careful!
Whether you are at home or traveling, check to see if a humidifier is available to borrow. There are some travel humidifiers on the market, however, I’ve not found one yet that disperses a steady stream of fine mist. When traveling domestically (say, in California’s wine country), consider taking one of these personal steam inhalers along if you are prone to congestion while traveling. It is TSA compliant. These value electronics often work only on 110 V, so they are not worth the hassle to take overseas.
Drink More! (Water, That Is!)
The wine can come later (once you can smell it again). It is important to drink a lot of water and other liquids including soup and decaffeinated tea, to help reduce inflammation and replace liquids lost during coughing and sneezing.
Best Saline Nasal Spray
Traveling with a Neti-pot can be cumbersome, so leave it at home. While congested in Europe, we came across this product called Sterimar. It is now our pick for best nasal spray! We love it’s angled applicator, the fact that it is all natural salt water from France, and that is has a super cute dolphin on the front. This product is available online and is widely distributed in Europe.
How to Use a Nasal Spray
If you’ve had poor experiences using saline nasal sprays (or OTC or prescription sprays), check out this short video explaining how to position your head to receive the spray.
Best Expectorant if Stuffiness Comes With a Cough
While many “cold and cough” multi-purpose products contain guaifenesin, we prefer to take it by itself and add in other medications (only if needed!), reducing the likelihood that you overdose on OTC cold medicines. How does guaifenesin work? By thinning the mucus making it easier to get it out of your system by coughing.
Is it even possible to sleep with a stuffy nose?
You’ve made some progress against the gunk in your sinuses and lungs the night before your tasting or special meal. Now, it’s time for some sleep. In fact, rest is one of the best ways to get back into the tasting action. But nothing is as frustrating to wake up to an even stuffier head in the morning! During the day, we are typically walking or sitting upright, and any post nasal drip gets swallowed (I know, gross!). Well at night, that swallowing is minimal, leaving one with typically a very stuffy head and bad cough in the morning. To reduce the chances of this happening, collect as many pillows as possible to prop your head upright. If you sleep well in a recliner, this could be another option. If you experience ear pain in the evening or at night due to blockages in the ear’s Eustachian tube, sleep on your side with the painful ear “up” to promote drainage.
How do I cancel my reservation if I just can’t make it to the tasting?
We’ve been in your shoes. You’ve done all you can to increase the likelihood of success so that you can show up with a cleared out nose and ready for a day of tasting. Still, sometimes the allergies or cold virus gets the best of us and we should not be out in public spreading our germs.
If you paid a deposit, call the winery, restaurant, or host where your tasting is taking place and inform them that you are not feeling well. Most often, they understand and can rebook you. You may not get a refund though they will often transfer your deposit to the new date of your rebooking, frequently within a year.
If you are a student of wine sitting for a tasting exam, call the instructor or test auditor and let them know that you are unwell. There may be options to re-sit the exam at a later date.
In all these instances where a deposit has been made, check with your credit card company (if you used a credit card to hold a reservation). The card may have insurance for travel disruption as part of your annual fee. It is worth a call to check it out!
Finally, if you get sick on your trip and end up not being able to taste any wine at all (so sad!), consider getting recommendations from a winemaker or travel companion for a few great wines to take home with you. Here’s our guide for checking wine when you fly.
What are home remedies for when the nose goes?
If you travel to taste wines or are in the wine trade, what other tips or tricks do you have to share regarding unplugging the nose? Let us know in the comments below!
Here’s to healthy travels! Cheers, from KnowWines!