How I Got Over My Severe Motion Sickness

When I was a kid, there was one trick I always used whenever my grandparents dragged me along on long trips: I’d start counting towns.

We were still living in the city back then, and on those endless summer drives to Santander for the summer vacation, the southernmost tip of Cebu, you’d often hear me mumbling: “Talisay, Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando, Carcar, Sibonga, Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, Santander.”

One less town meant one less stretch of suffering.

Because while I’ve always had a curious, adventurous spirit, I was also cursed with severe motion sickness.

Cars, buses, ferries, planes — you name it, I would get sick in it. Nausea, dizziness, and yes, the embarrassing vomiting episode were all part of the package. Sometimes it got so bad that I’d rather stay home than face the misery of traveling. And for someone who loves exploring, that felt like a betrayal of who I wanted to be.

But eventually, I realized that if I really wanted to see the world, I couldn’t let motion sickness win.

The Things I Tried (and Failed At)

Like anyone desperate to feel normal, I tried everything.

1. Medications like Bonamine - Nah. Never worked for me.
2. Looking out the window - Sometimes it helped, but God forbid I smelled someone smoking nearby. Instant nausea. 
3. Home remedies - Ginger tea, hot compress, even sniffing menthol oil... I was basically a walking experiment. Results? Meh.
4. Distracting myself - People said, “Just think about something else.” So I’d count clouds, or play little games in my head. It worked for maybe five minutes, until my stomach reminded me who was boss.
5. Sleeping - Easier said than done when your head is spinning. And on the rare times I actually managed to doze off, I’d wake up feeling worse.
6. The neighbor’s folk wisdom - An elderly neighbor once swore I could cure motion sickness if I carried a pouch of sand in my pocket, something to “keep me grounded.” Cute idea. Except I didn’t have sand, so I scooped up dirt from our backyard, stuffed it in a plastic bag. I still puked. And I also ended up with mud crumbs all over my shorts. Not my proudest life hack.

You can imagine how hopeless I had been at this point. But I didn’t want to let my motion sickness control my life. I wanted to be able to experience all that the world had to offer, so I decided to do something about it. 

I started to research what causes motion sickness.

What I Learned About Motion Sickness

Many scholars believe it comes down to sensory conflict. Basically, your eyes and your inner ear are sending mixed signals to your brain. For example, when you’re in a moving car but focused on your phone, your inner ear feels the motion while your eyes insist you’re still. The result? Nausea, dizziness, and that sinking feeling that the trip is about to get messy.

I also learned that some people are simply more sensitive than others. Genetics, inner ear quirks, and even anxiety can play a role. In short, it wasn’t all in my head (well, technically it was, but you get what I mean). Understanding the “why” didn’t cure me overnight, but it gave me a strange kind of comfort, at least I knew my misery had a scientific explanation.

The Turning Point: Exposure and Patience

Oddly enough, the thing that helped me most wasn’t a magic pill or a miracle hack. It was exposure.

The more I put myself through buses, boats, and bumpy rides, the more my body seemed to say, “Okay fine, I get it. We’re doing this now.” Little by little, the nausea lost its grip.

It’s a lot like hiking at high altitudes. You can’t just teleport to the summit without gasping for air. You need acclimatization. Motion sickness, for me, worked the same way. The more I let my body experience movement, the more it slowly adjusted.

It wasn’t an overnight cure. It was more like building muscle. You don’t notice the progress until one day, you realize you can carry something heavy without collapsing. In my case, one day I noticed I could ride a bus without clutching a plastic bag like it was my lifeline.

What Finally Worked for Me

Now, I have a little system that keeps motion sickness from ruining my adventures:

• Sit smart. Window seat or front seat in buses, upper deck on ferries, wherever I can see the horizon.
• Light snacks only. Traveling on an empty stomach is a recipe for nausea, but so is overloading on lechon right before a plane ride (lesson learned the hard way).
• Fresh air and breaks. Sometimes just stepping outside or getting a breeze on my face makes all the difference. 
• Consistency. The more I traveled, the less power motion sickness had over me.

Looking Back

When I think about that little kid counting towns to survive a road trip, I wish I could tell her: “Don’t worry, you’ll get there. It won’t always be this bad.”

It’s been more than ten years since I last had a full-blown motion sickness episode. The kind that ended with me hunched over a plastic bag. These days, at worst, I might feel a little lightheaded once in a while, but it passes quickly and doesn’t ruin the trip.

That’s the biggest difference. Back then, motion sickness wasn’t just physical; it was mental. I had to psych myself up before every journey, bracing for nausea and discomfort. It was exhausting before I even left the house.

Now? I can hop on and off buses, ferries, and even planes without giving it a second thought. I don’t plan my trips around my stomach anymore. Of course, there are still those random days when my body decides to be dramatic, but they’re the exception, not the rule.

And honestly, that shift has been the real victory. Motion sickness hasn’t vanished from my life completely, but it’s no longer the villain of every journey.

Because the world is simply too beautiful and too fun to let a queasy stomach hold you back.

tags:Personal

Johanna Marie Frejoles

A travel writer based in the Philippines with countless tales to share but often struggles to find the right words to do them justice.