@CFitzgerald , you'll have a lot to learn over the next few months about how to manage your T1, keeping in range, dealing with hypos etc. etc., but once you've got a reasonable grip on it, the sky's the limit!
When I was about your age, I went backpacking through Eastern Europe for 4 months, then Asia for 6 months. Still head off quite a lot nowadays, but seeing as I've got a job to hold down, just for a fortnight or so.
Admittedly, I'd been T1 for about 10 years so had a handle on it, but it basically just boils down to making sure you take enough insulin/strips/cgm with you and figuring out which shops sell which sweets for hypos - you can buy Mentos anywhere on the planet, and they don't melt much in Asian heat!
Although insulin is meant to be kept in a fridge, mine's was fine just sitting tucked in a backpack under various hostel beds for six months. Mind you, that was almost 20 years ago - maybe modern insulins are more sensitive, I don't know. You can get little pouches called Frio to keep things cold.
I always spread the insulin around a bit, some in main pack, some in day pack or pockets, some with a travelling partner if I was with one just to give a bit of leeway if the main pack was stolen (never had any thefts).
If it was stolen, I'd find out where the nearest British Embassy or Consulate was and they'd hopefully guide me through the local medical facilities for getting replacements. Never had to call travel insurers but presumably they've got arrangements for that sort of thing.
You'll have figured out by now that T1 involves managing some unpredictable variables, and one of the main ones is steering clear of hypos. To be honest, having a hypo abroad in exotic places is pretty much the same as having a domestic hypo: just get some sugar in your face. If you can deal with a hypo at home, you can deal with it anywhere, so don't let fear of it hold you back from doing anything.
Hotter climates often affect insulin action - some need less, some need more. A few days abroad and you'll get indications of how it affects you and will adjust doses to suit.
You'll likely be walking around more, doing the tourist sightseeing stuff, so remember that exercise is one of the big three players along with insulin and food in our balancing act: generally, more exercise means less insulin, so you should think, ok, am having breakfast, would normally take x units, but I'm going to be walking up that hill behind the village to see the sun rise just after so maybe shave a few units off that.
It's not really that different being abroad with T1 - language and food is different, but people are people the world over and they'll help you if you're hypo wobbly.
Go forth, CFitzgerald!
I am based in Cambridge. Problem shared and all that!
