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Are you desperate to get away? As you should. You deserve a break as much as the next person and to see the world is an amazing thing. But there are ways to go about it that will reduce stress for you and whoever you plan to travel with. Take a look at our tips to help you ready yourself for the trip of a lifetime.
5 Tips For Travelling With Pre Existing Medical Conditions
1. Consult Your doctor
If you’re thinking of travelling with a pre-existing medical condition, you might want to talk to your doctor before you commit. You’ll need to go in knowing just how easy or hard travelling really will be, plus your doctor can advise you on the best way to go about it. Maybe you’ll need extra support or different medication and tools with you. A doctor can decide how best to go about your travels and even if you should travel. A doctor doesn’t want to stop you doing what you want to do, so they’re likely to advise a compromise on the type of holiday you can handle.
Also Read: Solo Travel Tips
2. Get Your Travel Insurance
Everyone should invest in travel insurance before their holiday, but it’s especially important if you have a pre-existing condition. You will need a provider who can offer adequate medical travel insurance cover which takes care of you in case of you need emergency treatment or expenses should anything go wrong while you’re away.
But there are also other perks to travel insurance. You will be covered for your baggage or purse getting lost or stolen and you will be covered for any flight cancellations or changes that might occur. If you get the right policy, you can also be covered if Covid cuts your trip short or outright cancels it too.
3. Pack Enough Meds For Disaster
Meds are like underwear when it comes to packing: you don’t want to pack just enough in case something goes wrong. You want enough to see you through any other disaster that can occur. There are ways to get medication while you’re abroad, but it’s a stress you don’t need. If you’re going for a week, pack enough for three weeks and spread them across your hand luggage and case in case your bag gets lost or stolen.
4. Consider A mask
No one likes talking about it, but Covid is still in the air, and it’s likely to greatly affect those with a pre-existing medical condition. So, make sure your booster, and your Covid passport, are in place by the time you take off. But, as an extra precaution, you might want to consider a mask again. We know no one likes them and are happy to be rid, but in a flight, you’re sharing oxygen with the rest of the passengers and crew. It would be a smart move to mask up while you’re in the air.
Also Read: How To Plan A Trip
5. Contact The Airline
Consider contacting the airline you are travelling with to ensure a smooth ride, as it were. Airline staff should be helping you get to and from the aircraft, but of course we’ve all heard stories of staff forgetting or abandoning passengers on the jet so make sure your situation is clear before you take off. The staff will – should – be trained in getting you on and off your flight with an aisle chair and you can usually let them know in advance when you are booking your seats.
You might also need to contact your accommodation, especially if you’re using an Airbnb, which rarely take travellers with medical conditions into account. You need to make sure your accommodation is easy to access in your condition.
What Else Do You Need?
Obviously, how you prepare for travelling with a pre-existing condition will depend on what condition you have. There’s little point in someone with epilepsy using a wheelchair for example, unless that is necessary of course. Think about any eventuality that might occur due to your condition and plan accordingly. Medical experts can help here.
