There’s no better feeling: you’ve arrived on holiday, assessed your hotel and headed straight down to the pool for your first sunbathe of the week.
However, there’s one common habit most of us are guilty of doing that you should definitely avoid doing on your holiday this summer – and that’s going barefoot by the pool.
It might seem a harmless decision (particularly when you’ve mistakenly left your flip flops in your room), but failing to cover up when you go for a swim could leave you open to all kinds of infections – including a nasty fungal nail infection.
‘Fungal nail infections are usually caused by various types of fungi, such as yeasts and moulds,’ superintendent pharmacist at Chemist Click Online Pharmacy Abbas Kanani tells Metro.co.uk.
‘Using communal pools, showers and changing rooms bare foot increases your exposure to moist environments, which is the ideal breading ground for fungi because it thrives in warm and moist conditions.’
That’s not the only grim infection you could pick up if you forget your sliders.
Fungal infections like athlete’s foot are also common, a condition which ‘affects the feet and is usually spread by walking barefoot in places where someone else has it, especially changing rooms and showers or by touching the affected skin of someone with the fungal infection,’ Abbas explains.
And, of course, there’s the dreaded verruca – a type of wart or small lump that impacts the bottom of the feet.
‘They can be spread from contaminated surfaces or through close skin contact and you’re more likely to get them if your skin is wet or damaged,’ Abbas adds.
‘Do not share towels, flannels, socks or shoes if you have a wart or verruca. If you get athlete’s foot, you should treat it immediately to avoid spread of the infection to your nails.’
Exact date you should book a holiday for cheapest deals, according to travel experts
The sweet spot for booking is around 141 days (or five months) before departure, typically in February.
Booking this far in advance can lead to savings of around 47% which means you can reserve the cash you would’ve spent for souvenirs and activities.
This timeframe also allows holidaymakers to take advantage of early bird offers and avoid last-minute bookings, which can be costly.
If you’re planning on whisking yourself away to Paris, Lille, Amsterdam or Brussels via Eurostar, the specific number of days you should book your tickets before your intended departure date is 120.
This is four months in advance and it should help you secure the best fares. It’s especially beneficial for those looking to explore multiple destinations via rail, offering a budget-friendly and environmentally sustainable mode of travel.
Elsewhere, in maintaining hotel hygiene this summer, travel expert Jane Hawkes advises wiping down the most used touchpoints in the room when you first enter, including light switches, door handles, chairs, desks, the phone, kettle and, of course, the remote control.
‘Always sanitise your hands after pressing lift buttons too as the average hotel lift button has 737 times more germs than a household toilet seat,’ Jane explains.
‘And take slippers or some extra socks with you so you don’t have to walk barefoot on a hotel floor. Goodness knows what kinds of yuck could have been brought in on people’s shoes or luggage wheels.’
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