So I’m off on a little flight off to Sweden for a long weekend with friends. The original plan was to ride back from Stockholm via Copenhagen, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Sadly though LM’s frame is pretty much on the last death throws and I’m very worried she won’t survive another big outing and she also needs new bearings for the front wheel. While yes the latter isn’t a major fix realistically everything is now in the process of looking forward to her replacements before total frame failure.
Anyhow, enough of my thoughts of a new touring and everyday frame for next year to travelling internationally as a type 1. Yeah just hopping on a plane and jetting off somewhere is so easy isn’t it. Don’t need to plan much do I?! Well yeah a little bit more maybe. First off the good ol’ European Health Insurance through the gov. That isn’t too hard as it’s all done at:
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx
Next up travel insurance. Ah typical, most companies won’t insure me as I’m T1 grr. So off I trot to find one which will insure me. Ah a quick Google and it looks like Diabetes UK will insure me. Nice! But the site keeps going belly up when trying to be used with Chrome, like come off it, it’s 2015! Feckless! So giving up on that after the 4th attempt and going trying another. In the end after a load of searching and seeing different rates the best option I found was All Clear Insurance. Had to answer a load of medical questions but the rates turned out better than rates for anyone normally going, so pretty chuffed at that really. The sites here if you fancy a looksee:
https://www.allcleartravel.co.uk/
Hang on, what happens if some lil traffic warden type in the airport has a go at all my hardware and decides to have a go poking through my back of sharps and pump supplies. Best give my DSN a call and pick up a letter. It’s a stock item them have so not a problem getting one. While on the phone to her she was also able to sweet talk her into letting me having a CGM sensor. Always handy when doing something different, stressful and eating something not familiar. So a wise addition for the trip I think.
Packing of kit ohh yes. Passport, money, luggage yeah all that boring stuff. What about D kit? Well a few spare infusion sets for starters, and reservoirs. Insertion kit and a spare one of those just in case. Frio Pack (http://www.frioinsulincoolingcase.com/) to keep insulin cool for a couple of days while travelling. Backup syringes in case anything really goes to pot. A small mountain of test strips. Meter. Spare batteries. Glucose tabs (buried so they’ll be ignored by customs). Socks! Think that’s everything.
Ack tickets!…Will post more how the trip goes later.