This is the way we wash our hands

I’m sure you’ve heard that washing your hands is the best preventative measure you can take against picking up “bugs” – bacteria or viruses – left loitering on surfaces by others.

A cruise ship inevitably becomes a veritable floating petri dish of disease, with thousands of people living in close quarters. Therefore, how you wash your hands, and how often you wash your hands is imperative to stay healthy.

After coming down with a bad cold on our first cruise of only 7 days, I was determined not to get sick this time round, so followed the hand washing guidelines drummed into us onboard: lathering up with soap and water, and washing every square millimetre of my hands – including inside the palms, between the fingers back and front, and under the fingernails – for the duration of the “happy birthday” song, sung twice over in my mind, before rinsing thoroughly. Each time I went to the toilet, after blowing my nose, and before eating – at the very least. And of course using the hand sanitizer before entering the dining rooms.

And guess what? Healthy me, for the entire cruise.

Not so fortunate was Tony. But share and share alike, and as soon as the cruise was over I succumbed to the virus.

Now was that because I stopped washing my hands so often and so well? Or perhaps it was that other breeding ground we encountered – the aeroplane.

Oh, the perils of modern-day travel! But so worth it.