Motion Sickness, whether its buses through the winding hills of Italy,  small planes over Livingstone, Zambia or boats in the Galapagos…motion sickness happens!  We have a 4 pronged attack to prevent and treat motion sickness. (as with all things medical, these are our experiences, of course you and your travel medical professional will know what works best for you! For our post about how to prepare a travel medical kit see our post Expecting the Best, Preparing for the Worst here)

Step 1 I bring along nuts or hard cheese, any protein really- this isn’t in my travel kits, but if we are allowed to carry food, I bring small packs of nuts. (on the Galapagos islands or touring in proximity to aggressive wildlife, like bears, this may not be allowed!)  At the first sign of queasiness…we go for putting some protein in our tummies. 

Step 2 I carry a few pieces of ginger gum with me everywhere, if we’ve been fed and still feeling the motion, we chew this gum, which can be found in the motion sickness aisle.  Ginger candy and ginger ale will do the same, except today most ginger ale is not made with real ginger anymore and both can be bulky to take with you, and count as “food” rather than medicine in food restricted places.

Step 3 If 1 and 2 aren’t working, especially when we expect the motion to be sustained, such as on a cruise ship on a rough night, we go to meclazine (Bonine), a chewable pill that usually works best if taken in advance.  It can cause some drowsiness, but usually less than…

Step 4 If it’s rough enough and we are feeling lousy enough to call it a night we will take dimenhydrinate, (Dramamine)  and settle in for the night!

Additional Steps Some people find 2 other remedies that work on either end of my spectrum- one is sea bands an acupressure method worn on the wrist (which has never worked for us) and the other is the “patch” which can only be prescribed by a physician in the US and results in a continuously medicated state, we don’t prefer.