Traveling to heavily polluted city, what practical measures can I take to minimize impact?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 19 Jul, 2023
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We traveled there in January, and here are some things that helped:
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Travel in a closed, air-conditioned car. This means that if you’re using Uber or similar, splurge for the nicer cars. Make sure to ask the driver to close all windows and turn on air-recirculate. It makes a huge difference.
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Avoid traveling during the morning and evening rush hours.
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If you don’t have a face mask, keep a small towel with you at all times. A towel, specially a damp one works well in a pinch
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I can not claim scientific evidence but it appeared to help a lot with coughing, sleep quality etc to use an (full size) air purifier. Perhaps you can ask the company or hotel to provide one, or buy one for the trip and leave/sell it at the end. I would not suggest carrying small portable ones in your luggage. Amazon India sells many of them, look for ones with good reviews.
Living in Chengdu, China for a pair of years, the only thing that bothered me on especially polluted days was how it affected my eyes. If it is really thick it can be a little uncomfortable, so you would be good to carry around some eye drops to help clear your vision / head.
I visit this area twice a year. Assuming you can’t change your time of the year to visit – some months are better than others – unfortunately the only thing you can do is to physically limit the time you are present there. Such as flying in in the morning, having your meetings, and flying out as soon as they finish. Or hope the storm comes through right before your tip.
Masks don’t help as pollution particles are too small. Neither does hotel air filtration systems. The mobile apps such as Air Quality would show the air quality index. But it’s quite depressing to look at those numbers, and at those levels you see pollution levels with your eyes anyway.
Make sure you pack the headache pills, it really hurts after some time. Pack sleeping pills if you intend to stay overnight, as you’d have hard time getting asleep.
Regarding the dates, generally mid-September to late December are the worst times while spring is the best time. This is mostly due to weather patterns such as wind, and reduce in certain activities such as burning.
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