How did you manage to get so much custard out of such a small cat?1 

This summer our family has been lucky to go on three small holidays.  Each one comes with its very own road trip - there and back. Unfortunately we have a problem.  One of the small beasts likes to vomit in the car...alot.  Today we had only travelled for ten minutes, when a little voice says "Mum, I don’t feel good".  It really wasn’t a good thing to hear at the START of a six hour journey. Nonetheless, we managed to make it home, with only 13 stops and two vomits. Sigh. 

Motion sickness is a confusion between your eyes and your ears. Your eyes are focused on the stable, internally unmoving car, whereas your inner ears are moving with your body sway.  Basically your eyes are expecting something different than what they get.  Motion sickness can also happen in a boat, plane or even a fairground ride.

Many people get motion sickness - myself included.  Apparently even Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson suffered from sea sickness. Can you imagine spending around 34 years sailing on the ocean if you were queasy all the time! He wrote "I am ill every time it blows hard and nothing but my enthusiastic love for the profession keeps me one hour at sea 2."

So why does this happen?  Nobody really knows.   There seems to be a genetic element involved as to who suffers from motion sickness and who doesn't but there is no clear understanding to why some people do, and why some people don't.

What can be done about it? The easiest answer is to try to orientate ourselves better - make your eyes see what the body is going to feel.  Being the driver is the best answer of all.  If not, look out the window of the car at what is coming, rather than the inside of the car, or the interesting book you are reading.  This doesn't help at sea though.  The googlerator suggests other possible answers including; chewing gum, ginger, a non-fatty meal or fresh cool air. There is also some medications that can help severe motion sickness.

I will need to do some testing to see if any of these answers will work well with our small beast.  Luckily (or possibly unluckily) we are off on another car journey in the next week.

Did anyone get the title reference?  Its from the best television show ever - Blackadder goes forth1.

1 Curtis, R., & Elton, B. (Writers). (1989, September 28). Captain Cook [Television episode]. In J. 

Lloyd (Producer), Blackadder goes forth. BBC One. 

2  Lord Nelson seasickness letter goes on display. (2012, December 10). Retrieved January 13, 2016, 

     from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-20662931