According to The Bali Bible – an online travel oracle with nearly 1M Instagram followers and a truckload of tips – the key is to dose up on natural, easily-accessible-from-the-pharmacy, probiotics that strengthen your gut’s microflora. And, if you can get your hands on it, an over-the-counter, bacteria-targeting immune supplement called Travelan.
I got hold of kid-friendly, individually-wrapped portions of probiotics for our trip, setting me back about $36. If that’s all it costs to avoid spending days studying bathroom tiles, I’m sold.
Travelan, meanwhile, was all out. “Ah, that’s what all the GPs get,” said the pharmacist, knowingly. “We’ve got it on back order.” I tried a few more pharmacies: same deal. If you want Travelan, buy it months before you depart, not weeks.
Turns out we didn’t need it. Each morning, my seven, and nine-year-old boys and I whisked a teaspoon of white powder into our freshly pressed juices and glugged it down. My sister stoically declined. Guess who was the only one to go green? It’s not a trick question.