Traveling with Diabetes

I recently returned from a vacation trip to Santa Fe, where I had a chance to finally meet fellow HealthCentral blogger David Mendosa. Mendosa is as charming as he is erudite and joined our group in a pueblo visit, where another visitor called him "skinny." Quite an accomplishment for a formerly overweight type 2!

 

Traveling with diabetes is certainly more difficult than traveling without diabetes, but with a little practice it's not terribly inconvenient, at least for a type 2 taking a short trip in America. A long trip to a tropical country if you were using both basal and bolus insulin would be more complex.

 

Security. The first challenge in today's world is figuring out how to deal with security if you're traveling by airplane, which I was. You're not supposed to carry liquids or gels on the plane.

 

I use a basal insulin, which I keep cool in a Frio gel pack, and I didn't want to put it with my checked luggage, so I followed instructions and put both the insulin vial and the Frio cooling pouch into a clear plastic bag, which I put into the "dishpan" for scanning along with my purse and shoes. Just to be sure, I included the instructions for the Frio pouch in case someone didn't know what it was, as well as a prescription for another insulin to prove that I really have diabetes.

 

No one at either airport seemed very interested in the insulin or the Frio pouch. But of course, security personnel at different airports may react differently.

 

They did pat me down, claiming it was a random check. Or maybe I just look like the suspicious type.

 

When I checked my other bags, I asked if I could take food on the plane and was told yes, so I just put the snacks I had brought into my carry-on bag. It occurred to me later that maybe they meant I could bring food I bought after going through security onto the plane. But it was a "don't ask, don't tell" situation, and I had no problem with the food on the way out.

 

One traveling companion asked security if she could take an unopened yogurt on the plane, and they said no, so she had to eat it before she went through the checks.

 

Coming back, I wasn't patted down, but they searched my carry-on bag. "This is like a treasure hunt," the woman said, feeling through the bag. When she found my "doggy box [see later]," she asked, "What's this?" I said it was a roll (for a traveling companion) and a cucumber. "So it is," she said, and she didn't seem concerned.

 

However, as personnel obviously differ in their interpretations of the regulations, you shouldn't try to bring any food on the plane that you're not prepared to either discard or eat before you go through security.

 

Food. I'm on a lowish-carb diet, and dealing with restaurants is always a problem. But with some practice, it becomes a lot easier. The plane snacks were all carby. Even the peanuts were coated in maltodextrin and starch. But as I'd brought something for myself, this wasn't a problem, and even without a snack, I wouldn't have starved to death during the 3-hour and 2-hour flights.