When you're on hoilday, the last thing you want is get sick and end up spending the rest of your time stuck in bed or even in hospital, ravaged with food poisoning or some mysterious tummy-bug!

While off exploring exotic locations, it can be oh-so tempting to indulge in the hotel buffet food and sample the street-cart culinary creations that flood foreign cities, but be wary! Undercooked meat, poor hygiene standards or even excessively spicy or rich food can have you spending the next few days embracing the porcelain bowl.

1: Take a fully-stocked toilet bag with any possible medication you’ve needed in the last year. Make sure you’ve got painkillers, anti-diarrhoeal medicine like Imodium (which are chewable so you don't even have to rely on local water), anti-histamines, and any other over-the-counter medication that you might have found handy in the past. It’s always better to be over-prepared!

2: Avoid buffets and any food that looks like it may have been sitting out too long.

3: Drink bottled, boiled, purified or sterilised water and avoid ice cubes as they are usually made from local water.

4: Only eat fruit that you’ve peeled yourself.

5: Don’t drink unpasteurised milk or other unpasteurised dairy products.

6: Avoid uncooked vegetables, even salads.

7: Avoid rare meat or shell-fish – well done is the way to go while on holiday.

8: Stay protected from the sun – sunburn or excess sun exposure combined with diarrhoea can cause severe dehydration.

9: Keep your mouth out of the pool – insufficient chlorine in a hotel pool can provide the ideal breeding ground for a range of gastro-nasties.   

10: Enjoy yourself – follow these tips to reduce the risks of sickness without letting it control your entire trip or stop you making the most of your time away!