Can anybody share stories about travelling in India/Egypt where they didn't get D&V?

[oreste]

I am trying to convince myself that it is possible to avoid it by being sensible. Apart from the obvious (don't drink the tap water, wash hands before eating, only eat in certain types of establishments), what else can be done to minimise risk? Thanks

Clean your teeth with bottled water.
don’t drink cold drinks when you are hot, only lukewarm ones. Also avoid other shocks, like cold showers or plunge pools. Oh, and beware of salads, as they have often been washed in contaminated water

it worked for us, and Egypt was worth seeing, but I couldn’t say it was an enjoyable holiday in the normal sense ( especially since everyone else on our boat was laid low).

When i travelled to India twice i always used bottled water to brush my teeth as well. Dont eat from buffets as you dont know how long they have been sitting there, no ice in drinks except 5 star places. I did eat some street food but it was freshly deep fried in front of us. Both times i did get an upset tummy for 2-3 days but nothing really bad. I dont think you can avoid it completely as our bodies are not used to their germs in general but you dont want proper food poisoning.

Wash your hands after handling money and try not to touch your face. Don't accept ice in drinks. Eat chips or other food that has been fried at high temps, rather than salads. Eat fruit that is peelable.

I've done Egypt 5 times and only got really sick once.

I wonder if the bug is often confused with maladaptation to new cuisines?

If so, then I hope that a lifetime of eating dodgy and extremely spicy foods and being packed onto crowded transport will somehow work in my favour gut-wise!

I've been to Egypt once and India twice and didn't get sick at all.

In fact in Egypt (red sea diving liveaboard) I was one of the few that didn't get sick.

I rarely get sick but I happily eat foods past best / use before dates.

I must have an iron stomach

I went to many different parts of India and didn’t get any sickness at all. I only really ate cooked food and didn’t eat meat but did eat fish and seafood. I only drank bottled water or tea which is offered everywhere it seems. My husband ate random stuff from the side of the road - fruit drinks etc and he was really ill that evening. You also have to make sure you don’t take the anti-malaria medication that makes you nauseous. The ones I got from the Uk travel clinic were fine but my friends from SA were nauseous due to their tablets.

Regarding the medication, I was thinking of skipping it because I would be in India for only a few days, mainly Mumbai and Goa.

We travelled around India for 3 weeks. Stayed in hotels where breakfast and dinner were all buffets. Ate street food. Not one of us had d&v. Definitely use bottled water for toothbrushing. We did avoid salads in the buffets but one of my dds is a very fussy eater and would sometimes only eat the salad so we had to let her or she'd starve! Again, she was totally fine. Definitely avoided ice.

I went to Mumbai and Goa and didn’t get sick. Ate some amazing food, some from top end hotels but others from the dining hut at a cabin in the woods! Was sensible about water but otherwise enjoyed local food, fresh fish on the beach, restaurants recommended by locals etc.

in Egypt we went AI and I did get an upset tummy one night but that happens when I’m excited or stressed anyway, so not necessarily from the food. Annoyingly I was too shy to poop in our bathroom in case XP heard so I would have to walk all the way down to corridor and 2 flights of stairs to the reception toilets several times in the night 😂

@SteveHarringtonsChestHair 😅 That is some dedication!

Spent three months in Mumbai and Gia and was totally fine. We ate street food, buffets and all sorts. The only thing I would say is drink and brush teeth with bottled water, avoid fresh salad and avoid ice in drinks. I would recommend taking the anti malarial medication - a friend didnt and was VERY poorly on return.

Do it! It's a wonderful country to explore. I'd go back in a heartbeat,

Went to Egypt donkeys years ago and the tap water is chlorinated so assuming it's still the same you should be fine there.

Thanks. I do really want to go! There was a three part bbc documentary featuring Sue Perkins in which she created the impression that you would basically be inhaling excrement through simply setting foot there, let alone via any other way. It made me anxious.

This was twenty years ago but in a small tour group of India (and nice hotels) me and the other vegetarian didn't get ill.

Was fine in Egypt. Keep out of the sun though. We saw all the sights very early in the day. Not visited India.

I don;t know who Sue Perkins is but she sounds pathetic.

Eat hot cooked food, not salads, even in posh hotels. There is really no point in going to India and eating salads anyway. Eat dosas, idlis, uttapams, poha, vada -pav Goan fish curries, chicken xacuti, daals and sabzis,. You are less likely to be sick eating a freshly made vada-pav on the street than eating tired salads at the Hyatt.:)

Was fine with tap water for brushing teeth, but if you eat outside the hotel, the salad will probably be dodgy. It's not that the water is contaminated as in unsafe, it's because it is different.

I went to India for a week on a school trip and was fine :) We were just very careful with only using bottled water, religiously using hand sanitiser and avoiding things that had been washed in tap water like salads etc.

Went with whole family with children aged 5 -15. We all ate mainly vegetarian there anyway as the dahls were amazing. Even ate at buffets.
The food was amazing highlight was a dahl and butter nann at a very dubious looking truckstop and none of us got ill.

1984, backpacking on minimal funds in India, only ate street food. No meat, ate what we could see bubbling in a pot + chapitis cooked in front of us.

Can’t comment on India but I’ve been to Egypt more times than I can remember and have never had D&V while there.

Been to Egypt once. Visited India many times and traveled all over the country. Only time we got ill was when we had beefburgers & cottage pie. Avoid 'English' dishes & stick to what the locals eat.

Went to India and friend whose family is from Mumbai took us out for fish and G&T's with ice on day one.
Actually we survived two weeks without any issues.

I've been to Egypt many times, and have never been at all unwell. Like other people have said, I've always avoided ice and salads, but most importantly, I've always used antibacterial gel on my hands religiously whenever I've handled money.

I've been to Egypt twice and India a few times without getting ill.

Whether you are ill is partly due to the precautions you take but I believe there's also an element of luck.

I think that I just have a healthy gut because one of the trips to India was with a group of friends and some were ill for a couple of days while others weren't.

I was fine throughout the trip even though I'd sometimes have a jug of cold water with a meal like local diners rather than the bottles of water that restaurants wanted to give to tourists (I was trying to cut down on single use plastic).