Posted on December 21, 2020

Travel basics

Category:Lifestyle

The Bahamas, Maldives, or Jeju islands are all excellent travel destinations for the holidays, mostly for the scenery and what nature has in its bottomless bag of tricks, but they may not be your kind of travel destination depending on what type of experience you are looking for. People travel, mostly for some quality time away from the familiar things or the mortifying and routine yearly work schedule. Nevertheless, whether heading home to the countryside or cross country to faraway destinations, whichever your pick is for a travel experience, the travel experience excites that same way.

One factor that is pivotal and threatens to wreck an interesting travel experience is preparation or rather the lack of it, especially for things that one may need such as supplies, medical or otherwise. Some of the items that are essential in maintaining proper health or alleviating ailments might not be as available when one travels to remote places. We are all likely to include some medication as part of our travelling kit but the question that many ask is how to prioritize what is needed and what isn’t. Whether it is the Imodium, Advil, or oral contraceptives, the need for travel medication is tailored to individual needs and medical history, or for the love of contingency plans in common cases that may arise during travel.

Here are some tips to help you easily sail through and not stand in the way of a good travel experience:

For conditions/illnesses that are recurrent or with a traceable history, and also considering that different jurisdictions may label medication differently, some medications that may be given over the counter in one area might be prescription-only in other areas so it is plausible that one moves with the necessary documentation just in case someone needs to look through your medical records to warrant need for a medication, it could save you a lot of time and heartache ( literally and figuratively).

Most airlines have a limit on how much liquid contents one can carry in a single vessel so if you can pick up your over-the-counter medication such as antacids in their solid forms, then better do so. Or if one can carry the solution in multiple containers holding quantities below that stipulated by the regulations, then better. This rule also applies to lotions and every other liquid formulation one may want to carry.

For the sole purpose of proper due diligence, one can peruse a local medical directory and assess the availability of reputable health facilities i.e. hospitals and pharmacies. They may have that Advil, Gaviscon, or Microgynon that you’re so eager to pack and save you some time and extra baggage.

For medications taken chronically, one could save space and put medications in small, travel-friendly containers, most of which can carry large pill amounts. However, emphasize that these are properly labeled.

Speak to your doctor about any over-the-counter medications you could pick up, for cases such as allergies or hay fever and any ailments that may arise with changes in food or general living conditions.

For medical devices, more scrutiny may be required for cross-border travel but a few things may save you time during inspection, like carrying proof of the necessity of the medical device which still means documentation, consider a battery-operated portable version. It may be the same for devices such as Breast pumps.