Are salads safe?

Well, when I travel, I always go armed with the usual over-the-counter tummy rumble remedies. (That said, I always have them at home, too!) It's so easy to get the colly-wobbles, as my grandmother used to say; even a change of water from your home tap can do it sometimes. So I'm always careful. When I have been given explicit warnings for a particular location, I tend to heed them. I resort to "remote locations drill". Fruit that I can peel ... lovely. Fruit that's water based, e.g. watermelon ... hmm, not so much. Ice in drinks ... unless I know for sure it was made from bottled water... no. And as much as I love a good salad, I opt for cooked vegetables. I generally try to order well-cooked food, and avoid buffet food that might have been sitting around for a while. (Again, I do this when I'm not traveling.) You will probably discover that the Tauck warnings are location specific, rather than for the entire country, so you might be able to indulge in raw vegetables somewhere if you just can't live without them!

I have to confess that once, many years ago in the country then known as Rhodesia, I went too far. I used whisky to rinse my toothbrush. Not the best, but it did work. I was in a safari camp and bottled water cost more than the whisky. Luckily things have changed a lot since the early 70s! I've never had to do that again, although it is a reasonable, if somewhat odd, use for the "water of life".

So it boils down to common sense, really. You can be run over by a bus, right outside you own house, but it does help to look right and left before you cross. And if you never left your house in the first place, think how much of the great wide world you'd miss out on! Think of all the wonderful things you'd never see or learn.

And last of all, have a wonderful time!!!