Recently, the family and I went on a trip to Japan. It was going to be our most challenging and ambitious trip yet. I was concerned about the fast-paced itinerary Hubby had planned, also about the cold winter. This is the first time the girls got to experience a real cold-weather country, complete with snow and skiing. The last time I saw snow was 30 years ago. Plus I was concerned about the radiation from Fukushima. Our Aperture Homeopathy practitioner, Tina, kindly gave us some remedies to help us face any health challenges we might face including colds, coughs and flu remedies, as well as radiation clears.
Whenever we travel, I always pack my homeopathic remedies, a couple of dozen therapeutic-grade essential oils and a bag full of supplements. Just in case. Who knows what might happen whilst on holiday? What if my daughters got sick? What if Mei or Min Min got injured and needed some first aid? Sometimes, it’s just not possible to find a first aid kit or a doctor quickly in an emergency. And medicines, remedies and medical supplies can be challenging to find in a foreign country, especially if you don’t speak the language. So I’m always prepared. Or at least as prepared as I can ever be.
The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo, via a quick transit in Singapore, went smoothly. Mei and Min Min are such seasoned fliers that the eight-hour flight went by uneventfully. During the flight, I applied Young Living’s Thieves essential oil on all of us. It helped keep away any bugs and viruses from other travellers. During the flight, I also did some of the reflex-integration massage techniques (MNRI) on the girls, especially on their feet, legs, faces and heads.
Japan was utterly beautiful and authentic, but it turned out to be very challenging indeed. The cold wind chill didn’t bother us as much as I had feared, because I had bought some fantastic thermal outfits and kitted us all out with good coats, hats, gloves and boots. What bothered me the most was the extreme dryness. I am so used to the humid tropics of Malaysia, the low humidity of Japan in winter was pretty hard to adjust to. Unfortunately, on the fourth day of our trip, we were in Disneyland Tokyo, and all of us came down with terrible food poisoning especially Mei. There was a dodgy chicken dish in a dubious train station food court. Not one of our best moves. It could have been some form of stomach flu, salmonella or viral gastroenteritis, we don’t know.
Vomit, diarrhoea, nausea, cramping pains, chills, fever, the whole works. I immediately gave everyone some homeopathic Arsenicum and a capsule of activated charcoal. Both are first-aid remedies for any poisoning situation. Unfortunately, Mei and Min Min could not keep anything down and threw up black sooty charcoal all over our hotel room. Fortunately, rubbing Di-Gize essential oil on the tummy, and giving frequent doses of homeopathic Nux Vomica, Ipecacuanha and Arsenicum helped with the tummy aches, nausea, vomiting and wiped out the tummy bugs. When they could finally keep simple foods and liquids down, I gave them casein-free probiotics to replenish their good bacteria levels.
We soaked our aching, wobbly selves in warm Epsom salt baths with Lavender essential oil to soothe our sore limbs and calm overwrought nerves. I slathered us with extra virgin coconut oil to moisturise our parched skin, and we drank lots of clean bottled water to keep us hydrated.
I dosed us with lots of homeopathic Belladonna. And I rubbed Thieves and Peppermint essential oils on our feet. Belladonna, Thieves and Peppermint are excellent for fevers and chills. I also did the fever-reducing hold using Jin Shin Jyutsu technique taught by our therapist.
I sent a frantic email to Tina and, even with the time difference between Japan and Australia and the fact that she was in the midst of her Christmas holidays, she replied back to me super fast and gave me lots of advice to help manage our illness.
Without these natural remedies, Hubby and I truly believe that our girls would have ended up in hospital. Our family vacation would have been a complete disaster. Mei and Min Min were very ill, it was reminiscent of when they were hospitalised because of Rotavirus infection. The illness that caused Min Min’s rapid regression into autism.
It took a while for us to bounce back, but we eventually got over our illness and managed to squeeze in some memorable adventures for the rest of our stay in the Land of the Rising Sun. We thoroughly enjoyed DisneyLand and DisneySea Tokyo, we braved the scrambled maze that is the Tokyo subway, we went on bullet train rides, visited some lovely Shinto temples and shrines, explored the picturesque Japanese countryside and braved the crowded streets of Harajuku. Mei, Min Min and I tried skiing for the first time ever, we had great fun ‘bending ze neese’! We even bathed in an onsen, which are natural hot springs found everywhere in Japan.
We came back from Japan a little weak and tired, but we felt a sense of accomplishment. Japan is beautiful, alluring and mysterious. Controlled chaos and zen-filled serenity all rolled into one bizarre mix of modernism and old-world charm. Japanese people are extremely polite, courteous, chic and full of innate grace. However, Japan is not an easy country to navigate for a non-Japanese speaking family in the best of times. But to do it with two kids, plus the crazy itinerary we had and, to top it off, the horrible food poisoning, we did pretty well overall. It’s ironic, Mei, Min Min, Hubby and I are pretty good travellers. We have been to third-world countries which are notorious for food poisoning, yet we were completely okay. However, Japan, one of the most advanced countries in the world, challenged us to the max. That’s life, eh?
Essential oils and homeopathy are magical, they just work. Handy plastic bags, lots of prayers and keeping cool under pressure helps too. DiGize, Thieves, Peppermint, Belladonna, Ipecacuanha, Arsenicum and Nux Vom — the best remedies for food poisoning. Don’t leave home without them!
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~ Dragon Slayer
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Excellent tips!!!! I have a trip coming up this summer and was wondering about the restricted rules of air travel and was wondering if you had any trouble getting the essential oils/homeopathic remedies through security and whatnot? If so, do you have any tips for how to travel with these items? And also, does anyone know if it is safe to send essential oils/homeopathic remedies through the x-ray screener? TIA:)
Hi Cindy, I travel with homeopathic remedies, essential oils and supplements all the time. Most of it I store in my check-in luggage, I have special padded case for the EOs and my homeopathic come in a hard case kit. Never had a spillage or breakages. I do bring some EOs and homeopathics in my handbag. On planes, I usually carry a few EOs in a mini padded case or if I’m just bringing 1 or 2, I just pop them in a ziplock bag and stash them in a compartment in my handbag so that it doesn’t get knocked about. The EOs come in 5ml or 15ml bottles, so it’s not a problem. I travel often and I’ve never had any issues with Customs or security.
Some people treat homeopathic remedies with kid gloves, but I’m not too precious with my remedies. It’s been through X-ray scanners in heaps of airports. But they’re still good because when I use them, they still work 🙂 You can request for them to be examined manually, but I can’t be bothered. Especially when I’m travelling with my children 🙂 I feel homeopathic remedies are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for. Good luck on your trip!
Fantastic!!! Thank you so much:)!!!
Oh no I am so sorry that happened dear. Glad to see you guys are feeling better! I am hoping to go to Japan for this first time this year to Okinawa. Did you get to drink Kangen water while you were there? Not sure if you heard of it but I about 2/3rds of the country drink it. It saved me from my food poisoning once too. I ate some fried fish from a chicken place and 30 minutes later I was cramping and seriously thought I was dying it hurt so bad. As soon as I was able to break away from my first bathroom trip I drank about 2 ounces of the strong acid kangen water and 30 minutes later I was good to go. The strong acid water kils ecoli, salmonella, and even staph infections within 30 seconds. They actually use it in there hospitals to clean with and even use it during surgery for cleaning wounds. It is absolutly amazing! And it is completely safe because it is water. It is crazy that the trials on this water have just begun in America yet this has been Proven in Japan (and even some other countries) for 40 years!!
Hi Laura,
In Malaysia and most Asian countries, Kangen ALKALINE water are common. I wasn’t aware they had an acidic water though. Though now that you mentioned it, the water from the water coolers in DisneyLand Tokyo and our hotel smelled a bit acidic, it reminded me of CD drops. Even my husband remarked that it tasted different. After that, we stuck to bottled water.
Good luck on your trip to Okinawa, I haven’t been there but heard it’s absolutely beautiful. One day, I WILL make it back to Japan again!