Why I stayed at home
It was on a holiday that I had noticed the first spots. After that, in the two years with molluscum, I gave up holidays. The thought behind it: in a hotel I inevitably come into contact with towels, bed linen and other things that others used before me and others will use again after me. I didn’t want to put myself or anyone else at risk.
On top of that came the uncertainty. Pool, beach, spa: all places where you show a lot of skin and where I would have felt watched.
“I didn’t want to put myself or anyone else at risk. So I stayed at home.”
What I read about towels
Shared towels come up as a possible route of transmission in almost every health source, for example at the CDC and the NHS. What is mainly meant is several people using the same towel, for example within a family or at a sports club.
I didn’t find anything in health sources specifically about hotels. Hotel linen is washed between guests. The sources mainly talk about towels and objects that are used by several people at the same time.
Pools
What the CDC writes about swimming pools, I have summarised in the article Swimming, sport and sauna with molluscum. In short: it is more about shared objects than about the water itself.
What the sources mention in general
In the health sources I read the same everyday points again and again, and they can also be applied to travel: that towels should not be shared, that affected areas can be covered with clothing or a plaster, and that scratching and shaving over affected areas can spread the virus.
I am only passing this on. What applies to you is best clarified with a doctor, especially before a longer trip.
What going without cost me
Two years without a holiday means two years without a break from everyday life. And at that time, everyday life constantly revolved around my skin. A break was exactly what I could have used.
What I know today
While reading, I didn’t find advice in any reputable source to give up travelling altogether. The sources are mainly about shared items and covered spots. Even so, I understand anyone who simply feels more comfortable at home in this situation.
After two years it was over for me. Was it coincidence? I don’t know. How it came about, I tell in my story.