The third JDRF Blogger Round Table is now online and this month, we’re talking about my favorite subject: travel! Traveling with diabetes can be an arduous experience, especially when the goal is to get some R & R, but the nine bloggers on our panel (some of the OC’s best: Amy, Kerri, Scott Strumello and Scott Johnson, Allie, Sandra, Manny, Bernard and Gina) have some great tips for packing, road trips, warm weather and handling the infamous… Airport Security. Cue scary music.
I consider myself a seasoned traveler (I hit a record of eight states just last year!), and I’m continuing my Lemonade Life Summer Tour 2008 with stops in London, Orlando, Delaware, Washington D.C., and hopefully Philadelphia and Boston… not to mention my trip next week to Oregon for my brother’s high school graduation! Wow, I’m tired already.
Summer is the universally accepted season for travel (not that I’ve ever let a little thing like rain, sleet or snow stop me!) so most of us are probably gearing up for our vacations. Hopefully this blogger round table session will be useful for you and your family as your planning your next vacation. If you see anything that isn’t there, however, please feel free to drop me a note at amblass [@] gmail.com or leave a comment and let me know what’s missing. I’ll include any extra tips in my personal travel entries.
Bon voyage!
I just read the roundtable - how very timely! I’m backpacking in Europe this summer and I just calculated that I’ll need to do 14 pump set changes during the 6 weeks I’m there (assuming no bad sites, of course..) One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the article was how people dispose of sharps when they’re away. I usually take a small bottle, but I’m trying to minimize space.
Although I travel frequently, this will be my record for the longest time living out of a backpack. Any suggestions for backpacking with diabetes would be appreciated
Jill: That’s a good point! I forgot to ask… Maybe I’ll use that as an upcoming blog topic. Usually when I travel, I just keep the sharps with me in a plastic bag and then dispose of them when I get back.
Usually I put the sharps in a small hard container (maybe a used test strip bottle, take the label off so you use the right one).
Then when I get back, I dispose of it here. Meaning it goes into the HUGE 12-year old sharps container in my closet.
Note when getting rid of sharps, I only worry about the sharp part. So I take the plunger out of syringes, or the cover off of needles that come with infusion sets. That means there’s less to carry round and less to dispose of.
Don’t forget to check that sharps holder into your luggage. You’d get some questions if you tried to carry it on.
I’ll look at the roundtable as well, might find something useful.