7 Helpful Tips I Have for Anyone Else Traveling With Type 1 Diabetes

If you live with a chronic illness, there’s no such thing as taking a vacation from looking after yourself—even when you’re, you know, actually on vacation. I say this as someone who’s been traveling with type 1 diabetes for 21 years (I was diagnosed at age seven), taking incredible trips from Vietnam to Italy to Nicaragua and more.

No doubt, being diabetic means you’re going to be traveling with some extra baggage in both the literal and figurative senses. “Going on a trip can be anxiety-provoking as it is. Throw in a chronic disease, and it can become a big deal because there’s so much more to think about with both your trip and your health,” Mary Vouyiouklis Kellis, M.D., an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic, tells SELF.

But, as I’ve figured out over the years, there are ways to make the experience a whole lot easier for yourself. Perhaps unsurprisingly to anyone with T1, it mostly involves a lot of planning and preparation. “It’s really important to preplan when you have diabetes so you’re better prepared to take care of any situation that might arise,” Dr. Vouyiouklis Kellis says.

Fly with me –> Self.com