Ok so you have booked your mid winter escape, now you just need to keep healthy prior to getting on that plane and make it to the other side without picking up any nasties. 

Prior to leaving, although you may have a lot to get through, keep yourself healthy by doing 30mins exercise daily. Exercise is an excellent way of clearing the body’s lymphatic system which is responsible for clearing the lymph nodes and eradicating viruses and bacteria our immune system has caught. 

Although you may be a little stressed, aim to get quality 7-8 hours of sleep. Without enough sleep, you immune system will be compromised not matter how healthy you are. 

Take a higher dose of vitamin C. Although you may be good with eating your fruit and vege, during winter we tend to have more cooked foods and thus vitamin C in veges are normally de-activated with cooking. Try to keep up some salads or lightly steam veges. Vitamin C tablets are great if you aren’t getting enough fresh food while travelling.

If you have found that you are getting re occurring colds, zinc is another important mineral I can suggest sometimes taking a supplement. Zinc is crucial for the immune system and helps the development and activation of your immune cells. You can find good sources of zinc in poultry, oysters and seafood, red meat, nuts and seeds and eggs.

For an extra boost in anti bacterial and anti viral properties is taking a strong dose of olive leaf supplement or Echinacea. These have good evidence in reducing severity of some viruses or bacterial infections. However don't protect us against all pathogens. 

Although you may think the air-conditioning is the culprit on the plane or the person coughing next to or behind you, this is surprising not the main way people pick up bugs on the plane. The air conditioning actually gets cleaned every 2-3minutes. The main way is touching something that has bacteria or virus on it and then touching their face such as nose, eyes or mouth. This means your touch screen, seat arm rest, tray table and then eating a snack or bread bun with your fingers. Best to take a baby wipe or use hand sanitizer to wipe all your seat area down. Also after you have finished in the bathroom and washed your hands, use a paper towel to unlock the door and open it as many people don’t wash their hands properly and you can re contaminate your hands after washing.

I follow these rules pretty strictly and have never picked up anything from the plane despite on the occasion sitting close to someone who is coughing.