Packing and Gear

I take three prescribed drugs, and I travel with all of them that I will need in my carry-on. In case I should lose my carry-on, I also have another full supply elsewhere, usually in my purse.

In the last few years, the longest trip we’ve taken has been 2½ months. I can get 3-month supplies of each prescription, and none are “dangerous” drugs for which my doctor won’t OK an advance supply in a refill.

I don’t bother carrying over-the-counter drugs.

Before I retired, I worked for a company as a corporate employee benefits director. Our company’s health plan limited some prescription refills to a 30-day supply. If someone went to a pharmacy and tried to get more than a 30-day supply, the pharmacy would need to get permission from the insurance company. It was our human resources department that would authorize a “vacation override” with the insurance company.

Dianne Robbins wondered how passengers on world cruises make sure they each have enough medications to last through their entire trip (April ’16, pg. 2).

We have done three around-the-world cruises and two around-the-world trips, each over 100 days long. We frequently travel on trips for two to three months at a time. Here is how we handle our prescription drugs for travel.

The only thing I was dreading in May 2016 about my umpteenth visit to Venice was the Calatrava Bridge (aka Constitution Bridge). What? That stunning structure of Istrian stone a few steps from Piazzale Roma? What I dreaded was, after arriving on the airport bus (€8), trying to manage my luggage up the stairs and over the bridge in order to reach my hotel.

I read in ITN (Feb. ’16, pg. 52) that travelers flying into London at Gatwick, Heathrow or London City airport can have their luggage delivered anywhere in the city, and back to the airport, by AirPortr (phone +44 203 384 6677, portr.com). Traveling with friends, my husband and I used the service for the first time during a London Heathrow Terminal 5 arrival in May 2016.

When I visited Portugal in May 2016, I rented a portable Wi-Fi hotspot from Portugal Internet (www.portugalinternet.com). 

For travelers without access to a laundry, the Scrubba Wash Bag is a watertight bag with a washboard-surface interior for cleaning clothes. One wash load can include two shirts and two pairs each of pants, underwear and socks.  To use, place clothing in the bag with some liquid soap, add warm water up to the fill line, then seal the bag and buckle it shut. Rub the clothes against the flexible washboard for 30 seconds to three minutes. Clothes can be rinsed in the bag or in the bath, after which you hang the clothes to dry or first roll them in a towel to speed up the drying.