• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Travelling.. help!

H

Haftob_

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,

I am a newly diagnosed type 1 and am going travelling for two months in the summer to America.

I am completely lost on where to start planning for it with my diabetes to be honest. I know I have to have doctors letters and my prescription which I have from short breaks away but don't know where to start for going for so long.

Literally any tips, advice or information I would be so grateful for!
 
Haftob_ said:
Hi all,

I am a newly diagnosed type 1 and am going travelling for two months in the summer to America.

I am completely lost on where to start planning for it with my diabetes to be honest. I know I have to have doctors letters and my prescription which I have from short breaks away but don't know where to start for going for so long.

Literally any tips, advice or information I would be so grateful for!
Click to expand...

Hey! I'm practically newly diagnosed as well! I was diagnosed only 8 months ago. Number 1 REMEMBER WATER AND SNACKS FOR HYPO TREATMENT! Don't forget your insulin and your bg meter, test strips and lancets. Those are definitely the most important things, Try to write a log of how much insulin you give yourself for every meal of the day. That way you can calculate your daily insulin dosage in total. For instance, it may be 40 units a day. That means if you're on insulin pens like myself, one pen will last you a bit longer than a week as it holds 300 units. 40 x 7 is 280 units for one week. Then you know you need 280 x 8 weeks, or 40 x 60 days ultimately, so that would be 2400 units for 2 months. In other words, 8 pens. Always bring twice as much as you think you need, cuz you never know what's gonna happen and you don't want to be stuck in a foreign country with no insulin left.
 
If you're in the U.K. It's worthwhile asking if you can get an insulin passport from your diabetes team. This is a credit card sized card with a picture of your insulin, the name and a bar code (which in theory means the pharmacy wherever you are should know what it is...? Not 100% sure though). Super useful as a tool and also great for going through security in airports!
 
Haftob_ said:
Hi all,

I am a newly diagnosed type 1 and am going travelling for two months in the summer to America.

I am completely lost on where to start planning for it with my diabetes to be honest. I know I have to have doctors letters and my prescription which I have from short breaks away but don't know where to start for going for so long.

Literally any tips, advice or information I would be so grateful for!
Click to expand...

Doctors letter, copy of your prescription, insurance (very important), enough insulin and strips for your stay - take at least double what you think you'll need.

Remember too that you'll have to deal with the time difference.

Would you like me to move your thread to Type 1 where you'll get more responses @Haftob_ ?
 
If you're walking around a lot sightseeing, that'll have a major effect on how much insulin you need. You'll likely have to drop it substantially to avoid hypos. It's because exercise allows you to use glucose with less insulin.

You'll no doubt take plenty of hypo stuff with you, but not a whole 2 months worth, so it's always a good idea to have a look in the local shops to see what sort of sweets there are to use before you run out. Mentos seem to be sold pretty much everywhere on the planet and don't melt that much when it's hot.

If you're travelling with someone, ask them to carry a few pens, so you'll be ok if your backpack gets nicked.

Enjoy it, I backpacked a lot when younger and didn't really have any T1 problems with it.
 
Haftob_ said:
Hi all,

I am a newly diagnosed type 1 and am going travelling for two months in the summer to America.

I am completely lost on where to start planning for it with my diabetes to be honest. I know I have to have doctors letters and my prescription which I have from short breaks away but don't know where to start for going for so long.

Literally any tips, advice or information I would be so grateful for!
Click to expand...
dont forget to pack a small sharps container for used needles. the USA is pretty strict on this.
 
Back
Top