Planning Travel When You Have a Chronic Illness

If chronic illness is new to you, you might be traveling for the first time with your chronic illness. I’ve had multiple illnesses for many years and have picked up a few travel tips along the way. If you are heading out for the first time, or the first time in a while, maybe you will find some of these tips helpful!

Planning is super important for any trip. You need to plan the location, how you will get there, what you need to bring, what activities you will be doing, food, return travel, etc. There are lots of things to consider when traveling without any chronic illness to complicate things. But when you are chronically ill, there are even more things to consider. When traveling with any kind of chronic health issue, planning is the utmost important thing.

Where to?

For me, planning for a trip starts long before any traveling is actually done. In some cases, there is planning before the trip is even booked. It’s important to consider things like climate, proximity to medical facilities, and finding a trip with activities that are conducive to whatever condition you are dealing with. If you live with chronic hives that are affected by heat or sun, it’s important to pick a location or a location with activities that are conducive to your particular illness. My hives are aggravated by the sun and getting overheated, so I would have to plan to travel to a cooler climate or a warmer climate that has a variety of indoor activities.

What’s close?

The next thing that’s important for me to consider is traveling to an area where I will be close to medical facilities and, even more importantly, areas with larger hospitals because it means there are significantly more specialists who would have the potential to understand my complex health needs. I don’t want to travel to an area where there might only be a small, rural hospital as it would be unlikely to find doctors who would know how to treat me adequately if something were to go wrong. If you want to go to the extreme, you can even look up specific doctors in the area who would be competent with each medical condition. I for one think that’s a tad unnecessary, unless I will be staying for a significant length of time, but to each their own. If it makes you feel more comfortable to have specific doctors in mind, I say go for it!

Plane, train, or automobile

The planning of the travel itself can be a significant factor as well. There are different things that need to be considered when driving versus taking the train versus flying. It’s easier to pack medical equipment for a road trip or train ride than for a flight. But the time it takes to travel by car or train might not be ideal. It might be less stressful to travel by car than by plane or train, which would be something to consider if your hives are exacerbated by stress. Whichever method of transport you choose, be sure to think through the pros and cons of each.

Packing

Packing is a huge deal when you are traveling with a chronic illness. I went on my first trip with chronic illness not long before the pandemic hit. Let me tell you, the planning and contingencies needed for all of my conditions were extensive. This is another aspect of traveling that takes a lot of forethought before any plans are set in stone.

I start by making lists of everything I need weeks or months in advance. I like to think through all the things that could possibly go wrong during the trip and make multiple backup plans for each thing that could go wrong. I consider all of the medications and supplies I will need and always prepare more than what I expect to need. If I’m going on a week-long trip, I plan for 2 or 3 extra days in case I were to get delayed. I bring all of the supplies and equipment I could possibly think of needing, and all the things I never thought I would need. I'd rather be far over-prepared than not prepared enough.

This is just a cursory list of things to consider when planning to travel or go on vacation. Each trip will have unique factors of its own that impact various parts of the planning and packing process. And it’s inevitable that despite all your planning, something could go awry, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying!

Do you have a trip or vacation coming up? What are you doing to prepare? Do you have any planning tips to add? Let us know in the comments!