Enjoy Spring Break–Safely |
| This safety information was written by Dr. Daniel Y.C. Fung, Kansas State University Professor of Food Science. This information does not necessarily reflect the professional opinion of the Lafene Health Center medical staff. Any questions about the information or remarks should be directed to Dr. Fung at dfung@oznet.ksu.edu. |
Safety
in Travel by Land, Sea, and Air |
| Spring, what a lovely time of the year. This is the time life is renewed after a long winter. Flowers in the garden, leaves on the trees, birds and bees frolicking (forget about the screaming cats in the backyard) and romance fills the air. This is also the time for Spring Break for universities across the land. Kansas State University Health, Communicable Disease and Safety Committee wishes all our wonderful students, faculty members, administrators, employees, and the entire university family to have a great Spring Break celebration and would like to share some information concerning safety during this special time of intensive activities. Safety in Travel by Land, Sea, and AirMake reservations as early as possible for your motel and hotel rooms, cruise space, flight seats, train tickets, car rentals, etc. Know the exact cost of all items including room, food, tax, tips, gratuity, mileage and gasoline, refund and cancellation policy and penalty. If you travel with a group make sure the travel agent is reliable and will take care of you before, during and after your trip. Read everything and understand the terms before signing any agreements for any trip. If you travel out of the USA (that includes Canada and Mexico) make sure you have an up-to-date passport, proper visa, and know the health requirements, rules and regulations in bringing alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, food, animals, and other legal drugs. Never become involved with illegal drugs. The penalty in some countries is death! Bring the proper clothes for the season. The rule is bring half of the luggage and twice the amount of money. It is best to buy Traveler’s Checks. They can be replaced when lost or stolen. Guard your passport with your life. A man/woman without a passport is a person without a country in a foreign land. Know the customs of the countries you might be visiting. Hugging, shaking hands, and acts of friendly affection in one culture may be completely prohibited by another culture when dealing with the opposite sex. It is always good to bring some small gifts for your hosts when you visit families and friends. Try to speak the local language, if possible. Even some elementary phrases will please the hosts greatly. Land TravelHave your cars, trucks, bicycles, mopeds, skate boards, etc. checked carefully and serviced before the long trips. Make sure you have all the routes and destinations well researched. Good city maps, road maps, and travel instructions are essential if you are going to unfamiliar territories. Once you arrive in a new city try to find out about public transportation formats quickly. Do not only rely on taxis. They are expensive and sometimes hard to find. Buses, subways, metros, trains, tramps, funiculars, cable cars, etc. are fun to ride and inexpensive. If a local child can find his way through the system surely with some patience and common sense you can figure it out too. Parking is a big problem in most big cities. If you park your car make sure you know whether the space is available for legal parking. The fine may be high. Even worse, your car may be towed. You must know the rules and regulations of the local traffic system. If you go to the United Kingdom and former colonies of Great Britain, such as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc., remember that they drive on the OTHER SIDE (left) of the street. This may sound funny; but it is serious!! Not only driving is a challenge, walking across the street can be dangerous if you look at the wrong side of the street. If you do a lot of walking be sure to have good walking shoes. Do not start a trip with a brand new pair of shoes. “Break in” the new shoes first for a few days or weeks before the trip. Train trips are great fun, especially in Europe. You can buy your tickets in the USA before you go. They may be cheaper. Round trip tickets are usually cheaper than one-way. You can also buy tickets for one day or for several days. Try to use first class if you can afford it. Second class will usually be very crowded. Some trains have a smoking section and a nonsmoking section. For long distance trips it is always wise to reserve a seat before boarding. Many trains may not have seats available if you do not plan ahead. To save money, always buy your own food and drinks and consume them during the trip. Food on trains is expensive. Trains are very punctual. If you are one minute late the train may be gone. Also the time for a train to stop for passengers to get off and get on is very short (a few seconds or at most a minute). Be prepared to disembark at least ten minutes before arrival to a station. Of course, do not oversleep and miss your stop. It may take you a day or more to come back to your schedule. Sea TravelMake sure you are a good sailor before sailing a kayak, a boat, a yacht, or other river, lake, or sea going vessels. Sailing can be fun but it can be dangerous too. Most people probably will take a cruise during spring break. Again, have proper papers and tickets, room assignments, and know the conditions for meals, use of facilities, etc. The sense of Class is very strict on cruise ships. If you are in Second Class you cannot wander into the First Class area. It is quite embarrassing to be asked to leave a deck. Recently, there have been quite a few cases of foodborne illness outbreaks on cruise ships. Take care when consuming of food and water–see the Safe Food Eating section in this pamphlet. Air TravelUnless you are a licensed airplane pilot, most likely you will be flying on commercial airlines. Rule number one–buy tickets on the Internet. It is cheaper. Going through travel agents will cost you handling fee, ticket fee, mailing costs, etc. Of course, you can get valuable service and advice from the agents too. Shop around. Go through newspapers and magazines to find low fares. You will be amazed at the price difference among different airlines going to the same cities. Even more amazing is that the price of the same class, on the same flight, to the same place, at the same time may be vastly different. You may be paying $500.00 for a trip while the person next to you may be paying only $95.00!! Nowadays with e-tickets one does not have to have a paper ticket in hand to go to the counter to check in. Just bring your e-ticket there or maybe just tell the agent your name and your flight number and you can be checked in. If you do not have luggage to check in you can go into the security area and check in at the counter. Many times the counter will not be open until about one hour before flight time. Before you go to a gate for your flight, check the TV monitor carefully because sometimes they change the gates and you will have to run to the proper gate!! Some airports are so big that going from one end to the other may take 20 to 30 minutes!! You MUST line up to go through security at least 30 to 45 minutes before your flight. With tightened security you WILL be searched carefully. Bring no sharp or offensive items such as knives, scissors, swords, guns, etc. onto the plane. Have all metal things such as pens, coins, keys, laser pointers, watches, glasses, etc. out of your pockets and place them in a bag with zippers (things may fall out and you will lose them) way before you get close to the security area. The machine will buzz if you have any metals on your body. Take off your coats and jackets and place them on a tray before putting them through the X-ray belt. Tell the agent if you have a laptop computer and they will take care of it. You may need to take your shoes off and place them through the X-ray machine as well. Once in a while you will be singled out for a body search. Just do what the agent says. No jokes, please. They do not appreciate humor as they do these searches all day long!! They are not kidding when they say the gate of the plane will be closed 10 minutes before flight time. If you are late you may be denied boarding. Put your large bags in the top compartment and your small ones in the space under the seat in front of you. Try to have your luggage placed on top of your seat or in a space in front of your seat. Once the plane lands everybody will stand up and move forward and you will have a hard time fighting your way back to retrieve your luggage. Relax in the plane especially for a long trip. Go to the toilet once in a while to stretch your legs and arms. Blood clots can form during prolonged flights without movement. You can order a special meal at least 24 hours ahead of time. The advantage is that you will have your meal before everybody else and you can have what you want to eat such as vegetarian, seafood or kosher meals. For long flights you will have ear phones for music and movies. Some planes have TV for each seat. That is great. You can actually follow the flight path on the screen and see your little plane going across the ocean with information about the speed of flight, the altitude, the temperature outside, the time of arrival, local time and the time of the place you just left. Very educational. Before you leave your seat and move out of the plane look back at least three times to see if you have left anything!! After you leave your plane you may need to go through customs in a new country. Do not just stand in the first line you see. There may be lines much shorter further down the hallway. Have patience while waiting. Do not step beyond the line where you are required to wait. Immigration officers are not happy if someone moves closer than he/she likes. Have your passport ready and opened to the page with your picture. You will look older than your picture!! Take off your glasses and smile. Do not talk if you are not asked to talk. Somehow immigration officers seem to think that people making all kinds of comments are hiding something. After you have received that important stamp on your passport you can go to get your luggage. In some countries they will give you a piece of paper for you to leave the country. Clip that little piece of paper in your passport. If you do not have that paper you cannot leave the country (horrible thought). When you get to the luggage claim area make sure you are at the correct carousel. You must know your Airline and flight number to locate the correct carousel. If you wait in the wrong one you will really waste a lot of time. Many pieces of luggage do look alike. One way to separate yours from others is to tie a red ribbon on the handle of your luggage or have a large tape with your initial on the outside. Again have patience. Most of the time your luggage will roll out and you will be happy. In case your luggage does not show up you must go to file a report–a pain in the neck. If you are lucky your luggage will appear in your hotel, hopefully before you have to leave the country. So, if you do not bring too many things you do not have to check in luggage. After all, Spring Break is so short that you can have all you need with your two carry-on bags. Seriously, do not bring any raw agriculture products into another country. If you bring any food they will stop you and search your bags. Once you have been called aside for searching, it will take about 20 to 30 minutes for you to go through. That is precious time lost unnecessarily. Your friends can be in downtown Paris practicing French while you are still in the custom office room telling the officer the origin of the funny looking fruit from your grandmother’s garden in Kansas. Outside of the airport there will be a lot ofpeople trying to get your business and money. Do not deal with unauthorized taxi drivers or hotel agents. You can be in a lot of trouble when you get into the wrong car. Always go to official transportation agents at the airport. If in doubt, go to the Information Center for help. Always have some local money in your pocket. It is wise to change US$100.00 into local currency. Make sure you have small change. Taxi drivers usually tell you that they do not have change and take your larger bills!! The exchange rate in the airport may not be great but you will feel safe having some money for taxis, buses, etc. The mighty US dollar may not be accepted on the streets in many countries. Worse yet, people may cheat you out of your US dollars. The Euro currency is great in many parts of Europe. You do not have to change money going from country to country in the European Union. If you take a taxi make sure you ask if he knows the way to the hotel or address you are going and ask about how much is the fare. Better still, ask a friend to meet you at the airport. In some countries drivers expect tips but in others they do not. Usually 10% will do. Hotel and AccommodationsDepending on your budget, you can get very cheap accommodations or very expensive ones. The only way to have that arranged is to call ahead and make reservations. The International Hostel organization really has some very inexpensive accommodations all over the world if you are willing to share a room or space with other travelers. Make sure you know the price of the room for each person in a hostel and hotel (most countries charge the price of the room BUT some countries charge the room by the number of people in the room), the tax (some countries have 30% tax of your room charge), telephone costs (some hotels do not charge local calls, some do. Long distance calls will be VERY expensive. Go to a public telephone and make calls or use your cellular phone), the time you must arrive and depart, and the cost of room services. Remember, anything you use in a room can be charged to you such as bottled water, soft drinks, and items in the “mini-bar”, etc. Believe it or not, in some countries you have to have your own towels and toilet paper. Do not even bother to have laundry done in hotels. It is cheaper to throw away your dirty underwear, socks, and handkerchiefs and buy new ones than have them cleaned in a hotel. Of course, you can clean your own in a local coin-operation place or even in your own room. Buy some boxed detergents either locally or bring a bottle of liquid soap from home. Some hotels will clean your shoes free if you leave your shoes out side of your door at night. Sometimes your shoes will never reappear–someone can pick them up and “walk away” with them. If you need wake up calls you must tell the hotel manager clearly your room number and the time. Do not expect 7:00 a.m. wake up call will rings at 7:00 a.m. It may be 7:15 a.m. or later, or never. Bring your own alarm clock to make sure. When you leave the hotel to pay your bill make sure you read everything carefully. The $100.00 beauty body massage bill from a rich lady who stayed in that room the night before may be charged to YOUR bill, by mistake, no doubt. Also, mini-bar bills are routinely charged by mistake. Hotel food is also very expensive especially for room service. Look carefully at all the charges involved. There may be a 17% added charge for room service and $2.75 delivery charge. And the cute looking waiter with the food in hand expects another 15% tip. In European hotels the breakfast is usually included in the hotel price. EAT like a horse at the free breakfast and you will not need any food until 6:00 p.m.!! Safety in Food and DrinksThere are two types of foodborne diseases: Foodborne intoxications and foodborne infections. Foodborne intoxications are cases in which people got sick by consuming food or water containing toxic chemicals such as cyanide, arsenic, mercury, etc. or microbial toxins such as staphylococcal enterotoxins, botulinum toxins, aflatoxin, etc. The symptoms usually are quick, in about 4 to 8 hours for chemical toxins and staph toxins or longer for others. Chemical intoxication from Staphylococcus is not fatal, but may be fatal from chemicals and C. botulinum toxins. Foodborne infections are cases in which people got sick by consuming food or water containing large numbers (usually in the thousands and millions) of infectious microorganisms such as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, etc. The sickness will start usually in 12 to 24 hours Foodborne infection usually is not fatal but you feel so bad that you may wish you were dead!! The safest way to eat in a foreign land is to cook your own food. There are plenty of food markets, grocery stores, corner food stores, seafood stands, etc. around. They are inexpensive and fun to visit and buy food. You can bring a heating unit or hot pot from home and use it as long as you have a good converter from 220V to 110V in many countries. Make sure you clean your hands and food preparation areas with hot water and soap. All your utensils must be clean and sanitized before using to cut and prepare food. Never cut or handle raw food and cooked food with the same knife or utensil. Always prepare your raw and cooked food separately. Cut fruits and vegetables first then cut seafood, beef, lamb, pork and chicken in that order because the number of microorganisms in those foods are in increasing order and the severity of the existence of potential pathogens. When you cook you need to cook your dishes to the correct temperature. As a rule, 160 degree Fahrenheit will kill most food pathogens. If you do not have a thermometer just use common sense to reach the cooking temperature by observing the steam coming out of the food. If you cannot handle the bowl with your hand because of the heat, the food is safe to eat. If you see steam coming out of your food and drinks, they are safe to consume. Do not trust lukewarm dishes and cold dishes. Eat fruits with skins peeled by yourself or seeing someone peeling it for you. Do not eat any food that you smell odor that you are not familiar with. Do not eat any strange creatures that you have never seen before, especially sea creatures. You may have allergic reactions from those foods. When in doubt DO NOT EAT or DRINK any item presented to you. Your life and health is more important than your host's insistence. When you eat in restaurants and marketplaces there are several items of concern listed below: 1. Look around the place to see if it is clean. If you are not comfortable with the cleanliness of the place or the behavior of the workers handling table cloths, glasses, dishes, cups, utensils, and foods, leave the place and look for another place. 2. Check the toilet. If the toilet is clean the establishment is usually clean. In some countries you have to bring your own toilet paper. Do not “do your thing” and find out there is no toilet paper around!! 3. Never drink local water, no matter how clean it looks. Always drink water from a newly opened bottled water from a reputable company. Local people may tell you that their water from the tap is OK. Do not trust it. It may be OK for their intestinal microflora but it may not be OK for your Kansas microflora!! Also never accept ICE CUBES in your drinks because you never know what water they are made from. Salmonella is known to have been transmitted from ice cube to people and caused foodborne diseases. For those of you over 21, drinking beer and wine is the safest way in foreign countries. Besides the pleasures from those beverages, they are for sure safe to consume. Incidentally, a bottle of wine or beer, is as cheap as a bottle of water in many countries. Soft drinks are safe as long as you see the waiter open the bottle in front of you or you open it yourself. 4. Food in clean restaurants usually is OK as long as you see steam for hot foods and hot drinks. Try to avoid buffet food where the items have been in the pan for a long time and are lukewarm. Refuse food when it comes out with a strange odor of any sort that displeases you. If you think something is wrong most likely something IS wrong. 5. Do not be persuaded to eat something you are not familiar with or is not pleasing to your sight and smell. There is no reason why you have to eat the raw eel dipped in dark soy sauce, or the snake head stuffed with cherries or cooked sparrows with feet sticking out of the green broth. JUST SAY NO. Personal Safety1. Always walk, talk, sit, act with confidence as if you are a local. You do not have to be big and strong to be safe. You need to have strong personal character and an air of control to present a sense of defense surrounding you. 2. Never visit “red light” districts in foreign countries. They are truly dangerous. Never go to bars or establishments that have unpleasant crowds and activities especially when alcoholic drinks and drugs are involved. As the saying goes “do not trouble trouble unless trouble troubles you”. Run when you sense danger. Do not fight unless you have to and think that you can win. Give up your money and your belongings in a serious situation. Your life is far more valuable than those possessions. Luckily, such encounters do not happen to most tourists. 3. Beware of Pickpockets (PP). This is really a serious problem for tourists. PP will not really physically harm you. They just want your money and your belongings. Do not judge a country by the PP you encounter. Most of them came from another land to steal and rob tourists. They are well trained and work in groups. You must learn to spot them and protect yourself and your belongings from them. Try to walk as a group with your friends. Never have a map in hand and ask for directions at the street corner. That is a sure sign that you are an inexperienced tourist and will be a target for the pickpockets. As a rule CHAIN and TIE all your most important belongings (passport, plane tickets and money) on your body inside your clothes and coats. If you have a hand bag make sure it has zippers and lock your zippers! Good PP can quickly open your zippers and remove items from inside. Never have a backpack with zippers at the back. PP are very good at opening zippers of backpacks of tourists when they are looking at the beautiful Picasso paintings. Some of the tricks of PP and some protective advice is presented below. This advice is not to be taken literally, but as suggestions and precautions.A. CLOSING IN AND PICK. PP will move very close to you in a crowded place and stick his/her hand into your pockets, purse, bags, etc. and quickly take your things away. DEFENSE: Avoid crowded places and as soon as you sense someone is pressing against you anywhere, make a sudden 180 degree turn and stare at the PP. At that moment the PP will either remove his/her hand from your belongings or turn away to look for another victim. B. SWARMING IN AND PICK. PP will come as a group of three or four children and surround you with flowers, newspapers, clothes as if they are selling things to you. A couple of them will block your sight and the others will pick your pockets. They may even push you around if you do not move fast. DEFENSE: When you see a group of children or people moving toward you without any reason, walk away quickly or even run to the main street to avoid them. When they literally swarm you, swing your arms and legs and yell at them. They will go away and curse you as they leave. C. BLOCKING AND PICK. This is great move by the PP. As you open a door of a restaurant, enter the subway train door, walking up a stairway, entering a door of the elevator, etc. one PP will suddenly stop in front of you or bend down in front of you to pick up something. Since you cannot move, the second PP will open your bag to pick your things or put his/her hand into your pockets to steal your stuff. The third PP will receive your stolen things and go away. By the time you struggle to move ahead of the first PP your things are far gone. DEFENSE: As soon as you notice someone is blocking you in front make a 180 degree turn with swinging arms and kicking feet and that will get the second and third PP alarmed and they will run away. D. DISTRACTING AND PICK. A beautiful girl or handsome man will come by to ask you a question or offer you flowers or cigarettes while the PP will pick your pocket and take your bag from the floor. DEFENSE: Watch out for good-looking strangers coming your way. They are coming toward you, not for your good looks or great American accent, they are coming for something more mundane!! E. SELF CREATED SITUATIONS. Sometimes tourists make things easy for PP such as putting bags on the floor and walking away to the restroom, turning around to make a telephone call, looking at show windows, having money bag in plain view, accidentally pulling out a lot money from the pocketbook to count it or paying a bill and let PP see them, etc. DEFENSE: Just have common sense and assume everybody in a strange place may be a PP. Always look around you and behind you as you walk to spot strangers following. F. FREE ADVICE AND GIFTS. In some popular tourist spots you may find someone very friendly and come by to say “Can I show you around this lovely place?” You may think that the person is a real nice local with nothing to do but to spend some time with you in a great afternoon. WRONG. A few minutes later he/she will say “By the way, this tour is $200.00.” If you refuse you will suddenly see a few of his/her friends walking toward you. By then you better give up some money and run!! Sometimes someone nice will give you a flower or a bag. Very soon he/she will tell you the item is worth $50.00. DEFENSE: There is no free advice and gifts in tourist's places. Be aware of anything free being offered. They are NOT free. |