Travel advice

Another travel question--for rinsing nose (sinuses) is water from a LifeStraw pitcher ok?

My nebulizer instructions say to wash in hot, soapy water every day and disinfect by soaking in 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water every other day. The Aerobika should also be washed daily and can be disinfected by soaking in hydrogen peroxide once a week. I hope this helps and that you have a good trip! Donna T

Hi. I have read of some who use a collapsible silicone hot pot (they also make a tee kettle) for cruises and hotels to sterilize. They simply collapse it and pack it away when out of the room so as not to alert housekeeping, if it's in a place where such electronics are frowned upon.
Drizzle Foldable Electric Hot Pot Cooker Travel Pot - Dual Voltage 100V-240V Cooking - Food Grade Silicone Cookerware Boiling Water Steamer - Camping Office Hotel Noodle Porridge Soup https://a.co/d/8pnPxFZ

I bought one of those silicone pots. I almost have to sanitize one piece at a time for it is not big enough and you have to be careful that the parts do not touch the bottom.

I received a response from LifeStraw about this, it sort of answers my question. Here is their response in case it helps anyone else.

"LifeStraws are not quite the same thing as boiled water.
Boiling water will kill all the pathogens in your water: viruses, bacteria, parasites, cysts, etc. Boiling water does not always eliminate chemicals and heavy metals in the water. It does not address microplastics or debris in the water.
We have a couple of kinds of filters and purifiers that do different things:
Filters: these remove bacteria, parasites, cysts, microplastics and cloudiness / turbidity. They do not remove viruses and chemicals/heavy metals.
Filters with activated carbon: in addition to filtration capabilities, they also help reduce and remove chemicals and heavy metals.
Purifiers: these remove viruses, bacteria, parasites, cysts, microplastics and cloudiness / turbidity.
Please see our comparison chart for more details on the capabilities of the different products we make:
https://lifestraw.com/pages/compare "

Hi all. Just to let you know that our trip was fantastic. I brought along a collapsible bowl, a small Dawn detergent, a bottle of rubbing alcohol (which I never used), and a Life Straw squeeze bottle. The collapsible bowl was too small, so used the ice bucket (yes, I took the wine out first); and we had distilled water available, so I could wash and soak the Aerobika and neb parts in that and rinse with the Life Straw. Took a 12-hour Mucinex every morning and ended up nebulizing about every third or fourth day since I felt good and there were so many other, more fun things to do. Thank you all for all your helpful advice!

Scoop, what did you end up doing to rinse your sinuses? I’d love to do a small group trip in Europe and think I can manage cleaning nebs and my mild bronchiectasis, but I’m stumped on the water for rinsing sinuses, which I really have to do. We’d move hotels every day or two.

@pacathy For sinus rinsing I used a small electric pot to boil water. There are several collapsible ramen type pots on Amazon. I suggest trying the method at home before your trip. Plus, you'll need to make sure you have the correct power adapter. In some cases with the Amazon ramen pots they come with different power cords for various countries.

I took a domestic trip recently and washed the nebs etc in a collapsible silicone container and then used microwave bags to sanitize them. Even though we did not move around, it was a PITA ! Microwaves might be difficult to come by in Europe. Maybe disposable nebulizers are a more convenient answer.

Thanks, Scoop for the info. I think I’ll try the pot.
Btw, I checked REI for purifiers. MSR’s is fast now and includes viruses, but is about 380 (and might build biofilm?). Cheaper ones are filters.

I’m still debating signing up. With the frequent moving, I’ll need a faster morning routine. As you said, this is a PITA.

Cathy - When I travel I use an aerosol product called Simply Saline to irrigate my sinuses. No boiling water, toting stuff, etc. One "canister" costs about $5 and lasts me 2 days. Too pricy for everyday, but it's a great solution for me for travel.
Like @scoop suggests, maybe try it at home?
Sue