Recommendations for travellers, including us [1]

I am recovering from a lung infection, something arising this week, having begun to have an infection in my throat two weeks ago in Soriano. The evening-duty doctor at the health centre, who is otherwise a GP in Soriano, said he would not give me an antibiotic because the infection had not reached my lungs. I travelled with throat infection and have sought to defeat it till this week, but, hooray, it got to my right lung Tuesday and I went to my doctor who was a bit amazed by this apparent Italian policy and of course now prescribed Keflex for me.

So - recommendation 1: If you are a person who has any difficulty throwing off a cold or cough, and you understand when you move from virus to bacterial infection treatable with antibiotic, ask your doctor for a script to have dispensed in Australia to take with you. If you have a sign of cold before you get on the plane, even if you are one of those who defeats cold, again get a script if you can, you don't want to lose a lot of your holiday... But don't actually use any antibiotic if you only have a virus, reserve it for when you have an infection (producing muck from nose, throat, etc).

Also take a mask or scarf on the plane. If you have a cold, do not share and it's an obvious prospect that someone near you on a plane will cough and sneeze and you are likely to start to do that days later, some security from a mask. This obviously very relevant for those of us who travel 24 hours to get to Italy, but shorter flights carry risk too. A mask reduces dehydration on the plane.