Due to timing and other summer busyness, we won’t be attending the Children With Diabetes Friends For Life conference this year. But I know some of you are heading to FFL or have other travels plans. Join me this week as I share some experiences traveling with diabetes last summer.
Normally we travel as a family by car. When we do, I usually grab our preparedness kit because it contains all the supplies we might need. If we will be gone for more than a few days, I throw in additional test strips and pump supplies.
When Q and I went to Children With Diabetes Friends For Life, we flew. This was Q’s first time on a plane and while I fly somewhat frequently, it was my first time flying with diabetes supplies.
I gathered what I thought were enough supplies for six days away from home, but after chatting with friends on Facebook, I threw in a few more pump supplies…just in case.
I thought I had read on the TSA website or the airline I usually use that diaper bags and medical supply bags do not count as your personal item so I decided to pack all of our supplies separately from our other travel stuff. (I can’t seem to find a link to the exact place where I read that, so don’t take that as gospel!) I picked up a red cooler at Walgreens for $12.99. It is soft-sided, but it had a hard plastic insert. I liked the insert because supplies could be stacked and wouldn’t get smooshed.
Here’s what I packed:
- Pods (10)
- Alcohol swabs
- Q-tips (travel box)
- Baby oil (travel size, we use it to loosen the adhesive when taking off a pod)
- Syringes (2 bags of 10)
- Test strips (4 vials = 200)
- Blood ketone meter
- Blood ketone test strips
- Lancing device
- Lancets (1 box = 108)
- Sharps container (empty plastic container)
- Glucagon
- Glucose tablets (large bottle plus travel roll)
- Smarties
- Cake icing gel
- CGM sensors (3)
- CGM charger
- Tegaderm adhesive (10)
- Frio cooling wallet (for use at Disney)
- Batteries (for pump, for BG meter)
- Small first aid kit plus extra band-aids
- Small scissors
- Letter from endo saying my daughter has diabetes and needs to carry these supplies
Carried Separately:
- Insulin (2 bottles fast acting, 1 bottle long acting)
- Small supply wallet (with gel pack to transport insulin)
- Juice boxes (one brick = 8, transported in my backpack)
Admittedly, most of the supplies came right back home to be restocked in my supply cabinet. But I had them if I needed them. We did have a bad pump site the first night in the hotel which required a couple of blood ketone checks, a fresh vial of insulin, and an extra pod.
Further Reading
More posts about travel
More posts about Disney with diabetes
More posts about Friends For Life
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{Travel & FFL} Packing Supplies is a post from: D-Mom Blog