No, this is not a message about packing for a three week trip through the Amazon with just a back pack. I’ll leave that to other bloggers. This is how to prepare when you are on a trip-of any length, for your health and wellness. I am motivated from recent experiences to share some advice.
In the Fall a well planned cruise with excursions all went bust when luxurious accommodations provided a softer bedding. I know from experience that could be a problem and so on morning one, the spine did not align, so much so that I lost days of excursions and had to visit the ship ER. They do not take insurance so $400 for the visit and $100 for ten flexaril and 10 high dose ibuprophen. Later, I considered sleeping on the floor- no joke. Difficulty navigating required all the well planned trips of hiking and exploring to convert to bus riding. Next came a recent Caribbean trip where viruses abound. Even someone like me, who takes out the extra shoes and cute dress to accommodate the meds, did not have a full enough pharmacy.
Suggestions: Ibuprophen (200 mg tabs can increase to 4 tabs for severe pain if not on blood thinners). Tylenol. Decongestant like flonase nasal spray. Antihistamine benadryl for allergic reaction, sleep and to shut down cold symptoms, 12 hr mucinex for cough. Saline nasal spray, use it often to avoid catching a virus. Hand sanitizers (don’t work for norovirus, hand washing does). Along those lines, anti -nausea, meclizine for motion sickness, Imodium AD because you had the ice cubes or drank the water, Pepcid AC tabs since most chest pain isn’t a heart attack, lidocaine patches, cold and hot packs, bug spray, hydrocortisone and anti fungal creams.
I’ve come off 2 trips in past years with covid. For a longer trip I take a covid test with me and box of paxlovid. So now I am into the doctor- prescribed suggestions.Be sure you have had the flu shot. Antibiotic (suggestions: bactrim, cipro, amoxicillin, etc.) Bring one of them along in case you are sick and running a fever or have a UTI. It may be viral (tamiflu) but also lead to bacterial. If you have joint issues, flexaril and celebrex help. Your Doc can hook you up with these just- in- case meds- there is no reason not to. If you are taking pain meds you MUST carry them in their prescription bottle and definitely leave the medical marijuana at home. Drug sniffing dogs find it and it’s not worth the legal issues abroad, or states that do not allow it. No defense works (as Mark Fogel from PA found out in Russia, released last week after almost 4 years of a 14 year sentence!)
If you are being treated for cancer, you must bring all of your meds and these prophlactic ones as well. Most issues if severe, will require IV fluids, so I recommend the electrolyte and hydration packets to add to bottled water.
Last comment is about injuries. Everyone lined up with their jaunty hats, backpacks and sunscreen to get off the ship. The return was zombiland. One woman had a broken wrist, a man had a walking cast on his foot, another woman looked beaten as she had bruises around her eye and down her face…. etc! These were all due to falls. So wear sturdy shoes or sneaks always. Use a walking stick for stability or grab a sturdy limb. Paths and “sidewalks” are always rocky, broken and the slightest turn of the ankle makes a mess. Today I see tourists navigate the oldest city in the US, St. Augustine in flip flops. Trips are not meant to trip you up, but nonsense happens. OK enough, so Doctor’s orders: have fun but be safe and prepared.