Last Updated on May 15, 2023 by PowersToTravel
I feel that today’s Type 1 diabetic has no excuse. No excuse not to take care of one’s self. No excuse not to travel.
I have spent my life, most of which has been diabetic, by living from excuse to excuse.
Granted, when one was diagnosed at the age of seven, in 1969 before many medical advances, staying stable even in the most predictable of times was challenging to say the least. I started out peeing on a test strip, and dreading that blue color that said, “You’ve been bad.” That blue color didn’t mean “You need to do something now. You’ve eaten too much.” It meant, “You’ve been bad, hours ago.” That’s because it was testing spilled sugar in the urine which is soooo old. Old-fashioned when compared to life now, and old sugar!
Now with an insulin pump and a continuous-glucose-monitor, life is more stable. It’s still a constant, continual, grueling challenge to keep blood sugar levels balanced, but when I try to compare it to the past, there is absolutely no comparison.
Insulin Pump = Freedom
You may ask, “Insulin pump? Why would I want this device hanging off of me and constantly beeping, alarming and making me aware I am a diabetic?” The answer is so clear – because it will make me healthy and give me freedom.
For me that has been the freedom to travel. In writing this blog I have Google-searched diabetic travel tips and see so much that is written for non-pump users. That may be because it is harder to travel without a pump.
Add a continuous-glucose-monitoring system and my “Diabetic Travel Blog” has turned into a narrative and picture show of a lot of wonderful places, with a couple of Travel Tips thrown in about how to pack and how to handle sick days. There aren’t a whole lot of diabetic topics to write about.
General Diabetic Travel Tips
- Prepare well –
- Don’t forget sick-day supplies like Ketone test strips, vomiting and diarrhea medication
- Make sure your vaccines are up to date for the countries you’ll visit
- Don’t be shy – get malaria pills, or altitude medications – go to the Travel Clinic if you have any concerns
- Buy travel insurance WITH EVACUATION if you are traveling to anywhere you don’t want to be hospitalized in. Umm, that’s like Cambodia, Romania, Tanzania, the list goes on….
- Take it all in your carry-on
- During the trip –
- Protect your supplies from temperature extremes and theft
- Pay attention to your devices
- Don’t drink the water!
With every trip I learn a new technique to more comfortably and safely manage my diabetes while traveling.
Here’s my complete list of Diabetic Travel Tips for International Travel.
Wander around my Travel Blog
Click on the menu item “Places to Explore” and you’ll see menu items for each of the countries I’ve visited. Once you select one, you’ll see all of the articles I’ve written about that country. You can also get there by clicking a country in the list at the bottom of every page.
In this travel blog, I’ve written one summary-type post for each country, generally labeled “<Country> Travel Blog – Itineraries, Reviews and Diabetic Travel Tips.”
I originally planned to have a “Diabetic Travel Tips” section on each and every page, and got really bored really fast. “Carry enough sugar. Protect your insulin.” What more can I say?
You want to travel
If you are reading this, it means you want to travel. The goal of this blog is to show you that travel is not just possible for a diabetic, it can be exciting, wonderful and make you aware that you are not just the sum of a lifelong balancing act.
