The one drink that can ruin your next trip (and how to avoid it)

The water in Slovenia’s Lake Bled looked so crystal-clear that you could drink it. Which is exactly what one of Alyson Chadwick’s travel companions did. It was the drink that ruined her trip.

“She was sick as a dog for days,” Chadwick recalls.

Chadwick, who works for a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., says she’ll never forget the lesson: “Never drink from a natural water source like a lake.”

From contaminated water to sketchy street smoothies, the wrong drink can derail your vacation. And with more people vacationing this summer than perhaps ever, you can expect more incidents like Chadwick’s. 

“Be careful about what liquids you consume while traveling,” says Cai Glushak, chief medical officer of AXA Partners North America. “That’s especially true in developing and resource-challenged environments, where hygiene practices may be hard to guarantee.”

Here’s what you need to know about what to drink, what to avoid, and what to do if you sip something you shouldn’t. And I’ll also share my story of a drink I’ll always regret. 

So what are you drinking on vacation? 

Let’s start with the basics. When you’re traveling, and especially when you’re abroad, your drink options can range from safe to seriously risky.  

“When you’re traveling internationally, one of the most important considerations is the quality of tap water,” says Bill McIntyre, a spokesman for Global Rescue. “While some countries ensure safe drinking water for residents and visitors, others pose significant health risks.”

The World Health Organization publishes a helpful map with countries that have safe water. But it’s not just water. Ice, fresh juices, and even cocktails can lead to trouble. Annika Kariniemi, a registered nurse from Phoenix, learned this the hard way on a recent visit to Mexico.  

“I grabbed a fresh fruit juice from a street cart on a hot day,” she says. “It tasted amazing — until I realized the ice was probably made with tap water. Twelve hours later, I was curled up in my hotel room, battling chills and stomach cramps.”  

But the one drink that will almost always get you into trouble is alcohol. In a hot climate, alcoholic beverages can dehydrate you. 

“It can also exacerbate your symptoms and cause serious issues like pancreatitis, especially when combined with eating a lot of really rich foods,” says John Gobbels, the chief operating officer of Medjet. “My advice is to use it in moderation.”

Or not at all. Alcohol can also seriously impair your judgment, and you could end up getting scammed or robbed, or even worse–wake up in a prison cell.

What to do if you drink something you shouldn’t  

So, you ignored the warnings (or didn’t see them), and now you’re paying the price. What now?  

First, don’t panic. “Most cases of traveler’s diarrhea resolve on their own within a few days,” says AXA’s Glushak. But there are steps you can take to ease your symptoms and prevent complications: 

• Stay hydrated: Dehydration is the biggest risk. Sip bottled water, electrolyte drinks, or clear broths.  

• Take over-the-counter meds: Antidiarrheals like Imodium can help, but use them sparingly. “They can prolong the illness if the cause is bacterial or parasitic,” says nurse Kariniemi.  

• Call a doctor: If symptoms are severe — think high fever, bloody stool, or dehydration — see a doctor. “Don’t wait until you’re too weak to travel,” says Gobbels of Medjet.  

Pro tip: Don’t wait for trouble. Pack a travel health kit with antidiarrheals, rehydration salts, and any prescription meds you might need. But the most important thing to pack is — you’ve probably already guessed it — a large dose of common sense.

I’ll explain. 

Lessons learned about drinking 

So what about my own Lake Bled story? Well, mine happened not far from there, near Lake Grenoble. I was there for a few weeks with a friend. We were helping build a chalet in the French Alps as part of a summer mission. One Saturday, we decided to hike up an old Roman road leading to the top of the mountain. 

At the halfway point, I got thirsty and saw a trough with running spring water. And I thought the exact same thing that Chadwick’s friend did: “This looks good enough to drink.” 

So I did.

I began to feel unwell on our way back. And by the time we reached our cabin, I was in gastric agony. I’ll spare you the details, except to say that I discovered projectile vomit doesn’t just happen in horror movies. 

After that, I never drank “spring” water again. 

But that wasn’t the most dangerous thing that happened to me. Looking back, I could have gotten into so much more trouble in my younger days when I went bar-hopping in various places around the world. As a consumer advocate, too many of my readers’ cases begin with a cocktail — especially the ones involving an impulsive timeshare purchase.

My solution: I stopped drinking alcohol — entirely. I’m sure it’s kept me out of a world of trouble.

I’ll drink to that

Whether it’s Slovenia’s deceptively pristine lakes or my own Alpine trough fiasco, where spring water turned my stomach into a horror movie audition, the lesson is clear: If it’s not bottled, don’t drink it. 

But let’s not scapegoat water. That margarita-slash-regret-smoothie you grabbed in Cancún? It’s basically a piñata of poor choices, hiding tap-water ice and existential dread. Alcohol, while great for toasting sunsets, moonlights as a chaos agent, dehydrating you faster than a desert wind and inviting questionable decisions like buying timeshares and getting a tattoos

You’re better off packing electrolytes, side-eyeing anything uncapped, and remembering that your vacation isn’t a dare. When in doubt, hydrate like a paranoid camel and save the adventurous spirit for the postcards. After all, the best travel stories shouldn’t start with “So there I was, clutching a toilet…”