The BBC’s Dr Xand has shared a practical checklist for avoiding illness on holiday, and one of the first things he pointed to was hand hygiene.
Appearing on Morning Live, he explained that travellers can reduce their risk in a few simple ways, including hand washing, avoiding drinks with ice in areas where water quality may be uncertain, staying away from local animals, and using insect repellent.
His words on hand hygiene were especially clear: “We’ve got standard things like hand washing which is terribly important, and probably a bit more when your guts aren’t used to the local bugs.”
It is a good reminder, because travel has a way of disrupting the habits we normally rely on. You are touching airport trays, passports, handrails, hotel lift buttons, menus, shared bathrooms, taxis, public transport, cash, luggage handles and buffet utensils. Then, often without thinking, you eat a sandwich, rub your eye or hand a snack to a child.
That is where hand hygiene earns its place near the top of any travel health checklist.
Washing with soap and water is still the best option when your hands are dirty, after using the toilet, before eating, after coughing or sneezing, and after touching animals or rubbish. But when you are travelling, soap and water are not always nearby. That is why carrying a small bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitiser is such a practical habit.
Keep one in your day bag. Keep one in the car. Keep one with the kids’ snacks. Use it after public transport, airport security, playgrounds, shopping trolleys, money, toilets with questionable handwashing facilities, and before eating on the go.
It is not about being scared of germs. It is about making the easy thing the obvious thing.
Hand sanitiser is not a replacement for proper washing when your hands are visibly dirty, greasy or gritty. But when your hands look clean and you do not have easy access to soap and water, it is a very useful backup. The key is to use enough to cover your hands properly and rub until dry, rather than doing the tiny one-pump-and-wave technique that makes everyone feel virtuous but does not achieve much.
Still, Dr Xand’s actual number one travel rule was not hand washing. It was even more practical: know what to do when something goes wrong.
That means knowing who to call locally in an emergency, making sure your travel insurance is up to date, and knowing where the nearest hospital or medical centre is. It is not glamorous advice, but it is the sort of advice that matters when you are tired, stressed, unwell and trying to solve a problem in an unfamiliar place.
And there is a hand hygiene lesson in that too.
Good hygiene is not just about having supplies. It is about knowing what to do before the moment arrives. Before you eat. Before you touch your face. After the toilet. After handling animals. After public transport. After caring for someone who is unwell.
For schools, childcare centres, healthcare teams, hospitality venues and workplaces, this is why training matters. A poster on the wall is useful, but it cannot do all the work. People need to understand the moments when hand hygiene matters, and they need the right tools close enough that they will actually use them.
Dr Xand’s advice is reassuring because it is not about cancelling holidays or living in fear of every bug. He makes the point that people should still go on their adventures. The aim is not to panic. The aim is to be prepared.
Clean hands are part of that preparation.
So before the next trip, pack the sunscreen, check the passports, sort the insurance and look up the local emergency number.
Then add one more small thing to the list: carry sanitiser.
Because sometimes the simplest habits are the ones that keep the holiday on track.
