Cleanliness Tips for a Safer and Cleaner Travel

Snicker all you want, but travel can be a minefield of detritus, bodily fluids and microscopic souvenirs you don’t want to bring home. You don’t have to be a complete germ freak to have a healthy aversion to things you can’t see but suspects are clinging to the sheets and pillows. Here are some tips for staying healthy on the road and keeping out unwanted guests especially with the current scare of a viral disease

1. Never use an in-room coffee maker

First of all, they make mediocre coffee. More importantly, they’re really unsanitary. It’s a long way from the rooms to the dishwasher, so most carafes are only rinsed, wiped, and replaced in the machine. If you’re lucky, they didn’t use the same used cloth as in the bathroom. And when was the last time you descaled your own coffee maker? Enough said.

2. Bring your own mug

Stick an insulated mug in your suitcase whenever you go away. Use it as a water glass in your room and stay away from the glassware provided by the hotel. If you’re going to a conference, use it for your coffee or tea. You’re less likely to pick up someone else’s cup by mistake, and bacteria thrive in the small cracks and chips you’ll find in almost half of a hotels’ crockery inventory. Plus, always having an insulated mug with you can lessen your waste instead of having paper cups for your hot beverage in coffee shops. Hand them your insulated mug after you’ve ordered just make sure the amount of drink you’re ordering is just right to be placed in your insulated mug.

3. Wash your hands – always

Make a habit of washing your hands every chance you get. Hand sanitizers are good for travelers on the go if there’s no access to soap and water, but they can be really harsh on your skin. Soap and hot water works just as well, and remember that everything you touch on public places have been lovingly massaged by about an unlimited number of people carrying bacteria and microbes.

4. Stay off the escalator

Everyone who gets on an escalator does exactly the same thing. They reach out, grab the moving handrail, and hang on tight. That’s thousands of sweaty palms and billions of germs, all on an endless loop of bacterial nirvana.

5. Dirty money

All money is, to be blunt, completely disgusting. Other than an accidental run through the washing machine, it’s never cleaned and circulates through an endless number of hands, wallets and pockets. You could feed an entire colony of microorganisms off the back of a dollar bill. Don’t put coins or bills anywhere near your face, and don’t play with the coins in your pocket. Remember, your body is likely to be less resistant to the bugs that live on foreign currency.

At Brave Era, we make silk travel sheets. Are we germophobic travelers? Absolutely. We recognize that you’re going to spend about a third of your time away in someone else’s bed, and that it’s nowhere near as fun as it sounds. You don’t necessarily want to share that precious downtime with hotel bedbugs and their invisible friends. Our travel sheet puts a layer of soft and secure comfort between you and a world of pain that can only be revealed by ultra-violet light.

If you think the shameless self-promotion of our silk sheet is gross, try getting a count on the number of human hairs embedded in every hotel mattress. Seriously, get a travel sheet. You’re welcome.