In response to the challenge of www.justmeplease.com, here is my tip for dealing with sea-sickness:
DON’T GO ON BOATS!
But I jest of course. The best thing about travelling is the opportunity to do things you wouldn’t normally do, and going on boat trips was one of them for me. I never even considered sea-sickness until the day I went to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, from Cairns in Australia. It was a rocky enough trip and I remembered what motion sickness was then, I tell you. It was even worse when I went on a two day, overnight trip to the Whitsunday Islands. In the attached photo of me I am fairly white looking in the face, nearly green, following a horrendous morning of nausea and wanting to murder anyone who moved on the boat. It was a good job that Whitehaven Beach is as beautiful as it is.
Some kind person that day told me that Captain James Cook used to suffer from sea-sickness and that made me feel better when I was on the same route as him, but it turns out it’s not actually true! However I learnt that Admiral Horatio Nelson, hero of British naval history, used to suffer dreadfully from sea-sickness. The following is a quote from a letter he wrote in 1804 explaining his struggle with it: “I am ill every time it blows hard and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea.”
That was my logic when I was travelling – take the damn trip, you might never be back this way! I also found that the trick for me to minimise the nausea and general misery that comes with sea-sickness is to sit down quietly till the boat stops. If I am moving when the boat is moving then that’s a receipe for disaster! So what other tips do people have for the next time I am in Australia?