Greetings:
My wife and I live in Saudi Arabia but this summer, we will be vacationing in Canada. My wife will probably be taking insulin for the rest of her life and the next ten years of her life will probably be in the Middle East. This means traveling from the Middle East to Canada at least once a year. At this moment, we have no bags or whatever to carry syringes or insulin. For example, we keep her insulin in empty peanut butter bottles in the fridge. Works quite well but not much good for traveling from the Middle East to Canada. Also, we were wondering about things that would aid my wife’s day to day routine. For example, we keep her syringes in one area and the insulin in the fridge but is there a better method? Basically, could you please tell us about bags, kits, or whatever that works for you. There is perhaps a lot out there but we only want to buy the best. Any advice or recommendations about this matter would be greatly appreciated.
I don’t know if they ship overseas, but a Frio wallet for keeping insulin cool is the best investment I’ve made for traveling. It keeps insulin vials cool for 24 hours without the use of ice & it’s small & convenient.
Keep all insulin & supplies in your carry-on luggage. Don’t put it in your checked luggage. I don’t use anything special to carry my supplies & just use a small zippered bag that you’d use for toiletries. You don’t need anything more than this. I place it on top of my carry-on luggage so I can get to it quickly & so I can take it out easily for airport security. You want to ask for a hand-inspection of insulin & not have it go through x-ray machines. Glucose meters can go through the x-ray machine, but I don’t let them do this anyway.
Take twice as much of everything that she’ll need, along with prescriptions. Bring extra batteries for her glucose meter.
Please check with her endo about how to take insulin when crossing time zones. This is very important.
I travel with food because of possible delays, or bad airline food. Of course, I also keep lots of glucose tabs in my purse.
At home, I just keep my insulin in the fridge & my supplies on a shelf in the kitchen cabinet.
If you’re interested in special kits (personally I find them too cumbersome), check out the “Discounts for Members” link on the right. There are several there, including the Frio wallet.
There have been previous discussions about travel tips you can search, too.
hello, Marad. Here is a link to a discussion we had on flying with diabetes supplies. Although most of the people participating were pumpers, there was still a lot of useful information for all taking insulin.
I don’t use any special bag either. I do keep a paper with all my medicines listed and how much insulin I take. and I take a lot of extra supplies. I take 3 meters when I am going away for a long time. bring extra prescriptions, and perhaps a note from your doctor.
I agree with all that has been posted. This year I have been doing a lot of business travel to and from Asia from the US, and I have noticed that security has been more thorough in going through my things then in the past, but it hasn’t been a major problem yet. What I carry:
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Everything goes in my carry on bag. I have a smaller bag/pouch that I put most of diabetic supplies.
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Consider insulin pens. I find them much easier. I usually bring one extra just in case.
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Frio pouch to hold pens and keep cool…it really works.
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2 glucose meters with extra strips and pen needles
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Extra glucose tabs and extra snacks that work if you can’t eat, etc.
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I always carry a copy of all my prescriptions. I also have my doctor write a note on prescription pad that I am a diabetic that travels with needles, supplies, etc.
Hope this helps. Peter
Here is a link to the Frio website, click here. It’s an international company so maybe they will be able to ship to you from Europe.
It’s definitely worth it. One bag for the insulin can be reused for years. I have had mine for 5 years!