Travelling With Your Medication

A lot of people need to take medication on a regular basis. From a myriad of serious life saving/extending drugs to the everyday contraceptive pill. Just because you go travelling or on holiday doesn’t mean that you can forego them for a week or so. Therefore, you need to ensure that you have enough of what we need or could need, to see you through the duration of your trip. However, of all the things we think about when going on holiday, the physical act of taking regular medication is probably not high up your list. Making sure we have it in our luggage, yes of course, but that’s usually as far as it goes. There is a little bit more to consider when you are globe-trotting to ensure you stay/get healthy. Let’s take a look at travelling with your medication.

Packing Your Medication

When travelling with medication, it’s all well and good packing the right amount for the number of days that you are away for in your hold luggage, but what if your hold luggage goes missing? It happens all the time. And what if you don’t get your bag back quickly or at all?

We’d recommend carrying some spares or even the full amount again in your hand luggage just in case. Some medication is so vital you have to take it every day. Therefore it’s important that you always have a supply of it to hand to ensure your continued health.

Is it legal in the country you’re visiting?

But don’t forget to ask yourself what’s actually in your medicine? There are certain ingredients which might be legal in the UK, Europe and even the USA, that might be illegal in your destination country. Individual governments have placed restrictions on active ingredients, so you must check the regulations of where you’re going. You need also to consider any stopover countries too.

For example, Australia might have no issue with what you’re taking yet many of the airlines which take you there stop in the Middle East. As most of us know, the Middle East can have slightly tougher restrictions on anything drug-related, and the last thing any of us want to do is start our holiday being arrested and questioned for trafficking! Please ensure you check the regulations of ALL the countries you’ll be visiting, no matter how brief your stay might be.

When do you need to take your tablets?

So you might have successfully got your medication into your hotel and you know when to take it. But wait a minute, what time is it? It’s midnight back in the UK, and you’ve gone through 3 time zones making it late the next day. You’re tired and discombobulated from travelling and before you know it, it’s the next day and you can’t remember when you last took your pill(s).

It be may ok to skip a day or so when it comes to certain pills without any lasting repercussions. But potentially, not with the Pill. However, with the right planning, there will be no need for panic stations as you can take a supply of the morning-after pill with you on your travels for circumstances such as this if you are worried you may need to.

Travelling can be tough and throw you out of sync so make sure you order yours online. That way, the only thing you bring home is a few souvenirs and a tan!

Holidays are a fantastic way to soothe your soul. They do take a good deal of planning to ensure you get the most out of them so when you’re prepping for yours, don’t forget to include travelling with your medication in the process. There are some legal implications as well as the health implications and the stress of getting it wrong will negate all the holiday benefits you should be enjoying!