Traveling With Chronic Conditions: You Can Still Go

I am 62 years old. I have multiple chronic health conditions. And I travel. Not lightly. Before a dress, a pair of shoes, or even a toothbrush goes into my suitcase, I have to think about the equipment and medications that keep me functioning well.

I travel with a CPAP machine and adapter, an insulin pump and supplies, extra batteries, a continuous glucose monitor, twelve prescription medications, and four supplements. That is the starting point. Everything else has to fit around it.

For many women my age, especially those living with chronic conditions, that list can start to feel like a reason not to go. Airports can feel exhausting. Long flights can feel risky. Foreign countries can feel very far away from familiar doctors, pharmacies, routines, and backup plans. When you are already managing your health every day, adding travel logistics can feel like another full-time job.

I understand that completely. But having limitations does not mean you have to stop seeing the world. It means you have to travel differently, and perhaps more importantly, plan differently.

I do not travel without a Plan A, B, and C

I am not a throw-a-few-things-in-a-bag traveler. I admire those people. I travel with some of them regularly. I am simply not one of them.

When you rely on medication, medical devices, supplies, refrigeration, electricity, mobility support, or access to medical care, spontaneity has to coexist with preparation. My planning starts with a practical question: what could go wrong? Not because I expect something to go wrong, and not because I am afraid to travel. Once I know what could happen, I can ask the more useful question: what will I do if it does?

Plan A is what should happen. Plan B is what happens when something changes. Plan C is the plan you hope you never need, but are very happy to have when the first two have gone sideways.

For me, that can mean extra medication, backup pump supplies, knowing what I will do if a CGM fails, identifying the nearest pharmacy, and knowing where I can get help. For someone else, it may mean an elevator-equipped hotel, airport assistance, accessible transportation, rest days, or reliable refrigeration. Good planning cannot eliminate every risk. It can reduce uncertainty enough to make the world feel possible again.

I also keep the plan where I can actually use it. That means a concise note on my phone, a printed copy in my travel folder, and the key contacts saved in more than one place. I do not need a fifty-page binder for every trip. I do need the information that would be hard to reconstruct on a stressful day: what I take, what I use, who to call, where I am staying, and what the next sensible step is.

Your medical supplies are your most important luggage

My medications and medical supplies are never an afterthought. They are the priority. I make a medical packing list before I make a clothing list. I calculate what I should need, then bring at least four extra days.

Flights get cancelled. Weather happens. Connections are missed. Trips are extended. Equipment fails. Bags go missing. Your packing needs to account for real life.

Whenever possible, essential medication, supplies, and equipment stay with me rather than going in checked luggage. A good carry-on or under-the-seat bag becomes one of the most important pieces of luggage I own. If the airline loses my suitcase, I can buy another shirt. Replacing specialized medical supplies in another country is a very different proposition. Priorities.

There is a practical comfort in knowing exactly where everything lives. I do not want to unpack my whole bag in an airport lounge just to find a cable or a glucose tablet. Pouches, labels that make sense to me, and a quick visual check before I leave the hotel keep the routine manageable. The goal is not to travel with military precision. The goal is to make the essentials easy to reach when I am tired, delayed, or distracted.

Think through electricity, refrigeration, and security

Medical equipment adds another layer to travel planning. Will your CPAP work with the electrical system at your destination? Do you need an adapter? Does a medication require refrigeration, and will the hotel provide a real refrigerator rather than a barely-cool minibar?

Airport security deserves a little advance thought too. If you wear an insulin pump or continuous glucose monitor, check the manufacturer guidance before travel and tell security what you need. The TSA's medical screening guidance is a useful starting point for U.S. departures. For medication, original containers and a letter or documentation can be sensible depending on your circumstances and destination. Confirm country-specific rules well before you leave.

These are not reasons to stay home. They are questions to answer at your kitchen table three weeks before the trip, not after you land 4,000 miles away.

Build rest into the itinerary

One of the biggest mistakes we can make as we get older is trying to travel exactly as we did twenty or thirty years ago. I do not need to prove that I can walk twelve miles through Rome, tour three museums, climb 200 steps, eat dinner at 10 p.m., and wake at 6 a.m. ready to do it again. That sounds miserable. I am on vacation.

The goal is not to survive the itinerary. The goal is to enjoy the trip. Pacing may mean four nights in one destination instead of two, a slower morning after a full day, a private driver instead of several train connections, or a centrally located hotel that lets you return to your room easily.

It may mean sitting in a café for an hour and watching the world go by instead of checking off another attraction. It may mean saying no to an excursion that sounds wonderful because you know it would leave you exhausted for the next two days. That is not failure. That is knowing yourself.

It also helps to make the first day deliberately easy. I like an arrival plan that asks very little of me: get to the hotel, eat something pleasant nearby, take a short walk if I feel up to it, and sleep. I would rather wake up the next morning curious and ready than spend the first twenty-four hours proving I can keep up with an itinerary that was never designed for my body.

Know where help is before you need it

Before I travel, I want to know where I would go if something happened. Where is the nearest hospital? Is there an English-speaking clinic? Where is the closest pharmacy? How would I reach my insurance company from overseas? Does my regular insurance provide international coverage? What does a travel insurance policy say about pre-existing conditions, and what must be in place for that coverage to apply?

I would much rather answer those questions before I need the answers. Most of the time, I do not use any of that information. But knowing that I have it removes another layer of anxiety. For destination health preparation, the CDC's country-specific travel health pages are a helpful place to begin, alongside advice from your own clinician.

This article shares my approach, not medical advice. Your doctor, specialist, pharmacist, device manufacturer, insurer, and destination's official guidance should shape the plan that is right for you.

If you are considering travel insurance, read the policy wording rather than relying on a reassuring headline. Pre-existing-condition coverage, timing requirements, assistance services, and exclusions can vary. A policy is only useful when it matches the trip and the person taking it. That small bit of homework can spare you a great deal of uncertainty later.

This is where a good travel advisor matters

Anyone can search for a flight or book a hotel. That is not the kind of planning I mean. When you travel with chronic conditions, accessibility needs, neurodivergence, mobility concerns, or simply the physical realities of getting older, details that seem insignificant to someone else can make an enormous difference to you.

A thoughtful advisor asks different questions. How far is the hotel from the places you want to visit, and is that ten-minute walk flat, uphill, or over ancient cobblestones that qualify as an obstacle course? How much walking does that tour really involve? Are there stairs? Does the elevator reach every floor? Can the hotel provide reliable refrigeration? Is a 45-minute international connection technically possible but completely ridiculous for this traveler?

That is not overplanning. It is thoughtful planning. It is why accessible travel planning matters so much to me. When I plan for someone with medical, mobility, accessibility, or neurodivergent needs, those needs are part of the criteria from the beginning, not inconveniences to work around later.

You are allowed to travel differently now

One gift of getting older is realizing there is no prize for making things unnecessarily difficult. You can request airport wheelchair assistance, even if you can walk. You can hire the driver. You can take the afternoon off, the taxi instead of the subway, or the hotel that makes your life easier. You can sit down, sleep late, skip something, and ask for accommodations.

You can travel with medications, devices, supplies, backup supplies, backup plans, and a bag that weighs more than you wish it did. You can go more slowly. You can plan carefully. And you can still have extraordinary adventures.

I will not pretend that traveling with chronic conditions is effortless. It is not. Carrying a CPAP, an insulin pump, backup supplies, batteries, a continuous glucose monitor, prescriptions, supplements, and everything else my body needs is part of my reality. But so is travel. I still have places to see, food and wine to savor, people to meet, streets to wander, and views that make me think, I cannot believe I am actually here.

I am not willing to give those things up because travel now requires more preparation. So I prepare. I research. I pack carefully. I create Plan A, then Plan B, and yes, Plan C. Sometimes the thing standing between you and a trip you have dreamed about is not your health. Sometimes it is fear of all the things that could happen. Planning gives that fear an answer: if this happens, here is what we will do.

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