By Douglas Hanks III, The Miami Herald
Mar. 27–When Luis Lauredo talks about suffering on a plane, it’s not an exaggerated gripe about cramped seats or a paltry bag of pretzels. The former ambassador faces a more acute airborne trial: sinus problems.
“If I go north to Washington, I hit winter,” the Miami-based president of Hunton & Williams International explains. “If I head south, I hit summer.”
The temperature swings for the hemisphere-hopping consultant and former lobbyist adds to the congestion that can cause sharp pain at 30,000 feet. It’s a common problem for fliers, but it gets particularly painful for those with chronic congestion brought on by allergies or other conditions.
Lauredo, 56, falls into the chronic category, and he agreed to share some of his tips on how he has made flying more comfortable. It’s part of our occasional Flight Patterns interviews, where I talk to frequent business travelers about their habits and hard-learned lessons.
Lauredo was happy to talk about travel but not entirely thrilled to focus on stuffed sinuses, clogged eustachian tubes and other ear-nose-and-throat issues. I promised I wouldn’t make him seem ailing, a hypochondriac or a germophobe.
With that disclaimer, let’s move on to Lauredo’s list of airborne sinus tips:
— “I have a ritual. I take a strong decongestant four or five hours before take-off,” Lauredo said. He uses over-the-counter medicine, such as Sudafed.
— About 30 minutes before the plane takes off, Lauredo uses Afrin nose spray. He picked up that tip during the Carter administration while working in the White House medical office, then a Navy-run operation.
“That’s what the Navy pilots do,” he said. “It opens up your sinuses.”
If it’s a long flight, Lauredo uses the nose spray about 30 or 45 minutes before the plane lands.
— He even went so far as to have a tube inserted in his ear drum to help drain fluid — a procedure that requires him to wear earplugs when he swims and showers. The fix only lasts about four months, but Lauredo was pleased enough with the results that he is considering having the procedure done again.
— Take lots of Vitamin C.
— Stay warm. “Seasoned travelers will tell you always, always take a sweater and a jacket inside the airport and on the airplane.”
Dr. Eloy Villasuso, an ENT specialist at Weston’s Cleveland Clinic, offered similar advice. He recommends decongestants and nose spray, as well as yawning, chewing gum and sucking on a mint to clear ear canals during a flight. (Holding your nose and blowing works too, but don’t do it too hard. Villasuso once had a patient blow an ear drum that way.)
He also recommends a product called Earplanes, small earplugs that protect against sharp changes in pressure inside your ears. A Google search turned up quite a few sites selling the products for about $5 a pair.
“I’ve had a couple patients do very well with them,” Villasuso said.
BEYOND THE NOSE
After we moved on from Lauredo’s somewhat reluctant talk about his sinus remedies, he became much more animated discussing a new travel habit of his: checking luggage.
After years of wrestling small suitcases into the overhead bin and fretting over getting his clothes to fit inside, Lauredo recently decided the convenience of it all was just too inconvenient.
“It’s just getting to be very frustrating with the struggle for the space inside the airplanes,” said Lauredo, who flies about two or three times a month. ‘I just one day said, ‘You know what? This isn’t worth it.’ “
Though it costs him time on each leg, it saves Lauredo the hassle of lugging around a large suitcase while he’s killing time at the gate. And he sees it as his own strike against the trend toward larger and larger carry-on bags — a trend bound to increase as cash-strapped airlines contemplate charging for checked luggage.
“People are amazing, what they do,” he said. Like when Lauredo opens his overhead compartment only to find it filled with luggage from someone sitting four rows back. Or the suit jackets he’s had wrinkled by someone throwing a bag on top of it.
‘They don’t say ‘I’m sorry’ or apologize,” he said.
ANYONE ELSE JOINING
THE CHECKED-LUGGAGE
MOVEMENT?
Those comments have me wondering how many other passengers are opting for checked luggage instead of carry-ons. If you fit the bill, let me know. Send me an e-mail at the address below.
JEAN DANTES NAMED
CAB DRIVER OF THE YEAR
On the Road Again urges a good tip for Jean Dantes, Miami-Dade County’s Taxicab Chauffeur of the Year. When Canadian tourist Michael Cormier accidentally left his backpack behind on a November trip to Miami, he figured there was no hope of getting it back. Cormier hadn’t remembered what cab company he took to the airport, nor grabbed a receipt when he left the taxi.
But to his surprise, he found Dantes’ voice on his answering machine. Dantes found the number on a cellphone left in the bag. Then Dantes, 42, shipped the bag north at his own expense after Cormier promised to reimburse him.
“One does not expect to find unabashed honesty and friendliness in most cities,” Cormier wrote county regulators. “Mr. Dantes certainly has changed my mind about that.”
The county awarded Dantes $3,000 for his good deed. He drives for Yellow Cab. His cellphone number is 305-323-3273, and he is available for rides to the airport.
On the Road Again focuses on business travel. It appears every other week in Business Monday. Do you have some travel tips (or gripes) to share? E-mail Douglas Hanks at [email protected].
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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