Food Tasting Bland On Vacation? Fix Your Nose

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From must-try regional Mexican foods to real-deal British clotted cream (which you probably won't find in the U.S.), the opportunity to sample diverse cuisines in new places is one of the most exciting and rewarding aspects of traveling for many people, this author included. However, if you've ever been disappointed to find that even the most delightfully pungent European cheeses taste oddly mild after a long flight, you're not alone. One of the most likely culprits for tragically bland vacation eats isn't a lack of flavor — it's your nose.

Many people have heard that food tends to taste duller on a plane, but you might not know that an airplane's impact on your sense of taste continues when you're on the ground. This is because the lack of humidity on an airplane dries out your nasal passages, leaving you with less mucus in your nose when you land. Less mucus might sound like a good thing, but mucus is actually super important for your sense of smell, and smell accounts for around 80% of taste.

So, the good news is, if the Spanish-style ham you always dreamed of tastes disappointingly blah after touching down in Madrid, you can (probably) blame it on your nose, not the jamón iberico (which is not the same as jamón serrano). Even better? You can fix a dry vacation nose, or at least improve it, with a few simple protective measures.

First, drink plenty of water while traveling — unsurprisingly, your nose is less likely to dry out if you are well hydrated. Yes, this might mean an extra trip to a horrible airplane bathroom, but it's well worth it if it helps you fully appreciate the chef-approved regional Italian foods you simply won't find stateside. Additionally, you can use a travel humidifier like this Homedics Portable Humidifier, and keep a saline nasal spray on hand to help restore your mucus levels and keep your nose nice and dewy. While it's impossible to guarantee that every meal you eat on vacation will taste amazing — sometimes you just have to embrace crappy travel food – smell plays a critical role in your sense of taste, and protecting your nose while traveling is a simple and often-overlooked way to help ensure you can fully savor those well-deserved vacation eats.