Travel Health

Call us paranoid but maybe we were never meant to fly after all.

Scientists have found that gamma rays are given off by thunderstorms and that there are these tiny particles rushing around at ‘ultrarelativistc speeds’ – try getting that one out at the bar after a few drinks.

Joseph Dwyer, a physicist at the Florida Institute of Technology, is worried:

“We just don’t know enough. The consequences are bad enough that people could potentially get hurt from this,” he said. “This is a call for more research. We really need to find out where we are and how big these things are. Could people be hit by these things and get sick? And how would you know?”

As long as pilots avoid storms, you should be ok, but sometimes there’s just no way around them. Why take the chance? We’re now officially joining Plane Stupid and taking boats, buses, trains and camels from now on.

More on why lightning storms have it in for flight passengers.

Tom has been traveling non-stop since the age of 18 and co-founded Road Junky in 2004. Follow him @tomglaister

He’s the author of Hand to Mouth to India, an account of hitchhiking from England to India with no money and which will soon be rereleased by Road Junky Books.

Tales of a Road Junky featuring tales of breaking people out of jail in Delhi, selling fake Rolexes in Japan and other adventures in Israel and Brazil will be out later this year.

He also writes fiction for anyone who never really grew up and his latest novel is Bozo and the Storyteller – download the audio book for free or even buy a copy…

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