Consider a Travel Carbon Monoxide Detector

Jenn: [00:00:00] Hey everyone, and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. Meggan, this week's topic came to me at about 5:15 in the morning recently. Uh, and I'm, I'm not sure what that says about me, but this week I wanna talk about carbon monoxide detectors.

Meggan: Yeah. I'm gonna have to stop you there, like a, why were you up at 5:15 and B, why did this like pop? Well, tell us the origin

Jenn: Yeah. So I was literally just laying in bed and, and like mostly asleep, you know, and you're like kind of awake and kind of asleep. And I don't know if I was just thinking, oh, I have to write travel tip Tuesday, and what should I talk about? I have no idea. But I was like thinking about the, the fact that like if you've ever browsed Airbnb, you notice like their listings have safety features, right?

And most of them have a smoke alarm. They probably have a fire extinguisher, maybe a [00:01:00] first aid kit. But very few of the properties that I've personally looked at have a carbon monoxide detector. It's like grayed and crossed out, and I wonder why that is, 'cause.

Meggan: I, I don't know. They don't love us apparently.

Jenn: So then like I have a carbon monoxide detector in my house and I, I'll always have, um, because I've basically always lived in a house with wood stoves, so it's just something that, that I've always had. But let's have a little science lesson and like, why should we be worried about carbon monoxide? So carbon monoxide is a gas that has no smell, taste, or color. So you literally cannot tell when it is building up in the air, so the gas is created when you burn any type of fuel source, not just wood, but common sources include furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves, gas ovens, generators, dryers, and cars.

So since we can't smell, taste, [00:02:00] or see it, carbon monoxide can build up in the air and it can cause fatal poisoning. So a PSA from me in general is that we should all have carbon monoxide detectors in our homes, but we should think about having one when we travel. Like especially if you think about those like cozy Airbnb cabins with a wood stove, right?

So ideally all Airbnb owners would provide these detectors, in my opinion, obviously many don't. So to take matters into your own hands, you can buy a small battery operated, um, rechargeable carbon monoxide detector to travel with. You can also buy the plugin ones. Um, but if, you know, it's easier to just pop a little rechargeable one, um, on a counter. So I, I know this seems like overkill. I've never heard anyone say, did you pack your travel carbon monoxide detector? It's never been on a packing list that I've ever [00:03:00] seen. And like even when I was like writing this idea, I'm like, am I just being like a bit dramatic?

But like an estimated 300 people die in Canada each year from carbon monoxide poisoning. So.

Meggan: That's not

Jenn: It, it happens. And, uh, so there are,

Meggan: is dramatic. You are not I, I would like to say that

Jenn: yeah.

Meggan: is dramatic. I don't feel you are being dramatic. It's new information, but you're not

Jenn: Yeah, so there are some early signs of mild to mo moderate carbon monoxide poisoning. It includes headaches, shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness, and nausea. And like it's so easy to see how someone would be like, oh, I'm just like getting sick. I'm gonna go lay down. So Meggan has this literally ever once in your life, crossed your mind.

Meggan: I probably, as you can tell, never.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: and, and not like in my everyday life. I mean, we live in an apartment. I, I'm not, I'm not too concerned [00:04:00] really, but I mean, and maybe I should be, but I'm not as much. But I never really thought about it. 'cause you're exactly right. Like when you do read the safety features, that one is often, which is odd because I don't know.

Jenn: They're really not expensive. It's like $30, $35 for a carbon monoxide detector. Like it's really not expensive to put in.

Meggan: Because like as an Airbnb host, I wouldn't wanna arrive at 11:00 AM to clean my Airbnb, and there are the people.

Jenn: No. No, you would not.

Meggan: I think I would provide one. And if anybody's listening that runs an Airbnb and doesn't have one, give it a go.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: I will chat about Peter, but uh, to Peter about this. I don't wonder if he's ever, ever thought of it. And I'd like to mention I have two goals in life and that's to live long enough to see season two of heated rivalry and not to die from something preventable. And this seems like it help could help with both of these

Jenn: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We gotta, we gotta get to season two. We're counting down the days my friend.

Meggan: right. And I don't wanna die from something preventable. So this is actually, I mean, [00:05:00] you could be out here saving lives. I love it.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah. Well that's it for Travel Tip Tuesday this week. I'm sorry. It maybe is a bit of a bummer episode, but something for all of us to think about, uh, if this has ever crossed your mind and, uh, you want to talk about it, you can find us on social media. Uh, we're on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube at Travel Mug Podcast.

You can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Um, we would love it if you bought us a coffee to help support the show, and we would also love it if you shared the show with a travel loving pal. And until next time, bye.