Travel The World With Diabetes

My name is Sam, and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2011 at the age of 14. I’m from a small coastal town in the Highlands of Scotland but these days I’m what you could call a digital nomad – essentially, I work online teaching English as a second language, which allows me to spend most of my time following my dream of travelling to as many countries as possible. And I’m here with an important message: don’t let diabetes hold you back from achieving anything in life, especially traveling the world! However, I know a blanket statement like this is easy to say, and the reality can feel much more challenging and daunting. So, I’d like to share my story of how I’ve navigated the daily rollercoaster of type 1 diabetes while backpacking around the world for the last six years, as well as some helpful tips that can make traveling abroad with diabetes less overwhelming.

My Travel Story

While my diabetes story began in 2011, it wasn’t until after graduating from university in 2018 that my traveling with diabetes chapter began. It seemed like the perfect time for my girlfriend Lucy and I to buy a pair of backpacks, pack two weeks’ worth of clothes and a three-month supply of insulin, and head off to Australia for a one-year working holiday. During the next 15 months, we had an unforgettable adventure visiting not just Australia but also Bali, New Zealand, the USA, Mexico, Cuba, and Spain. Upon returning home to Scotland in December 2019, Lucy and I realized that travel and photography had become two of our biggest passions, so we decided to continue our adventure and discover even more parts of the world. However, a global pandemic put a premature pause on these plans. But we took advantage of this and sat tight and saved money until October 2021, when we were able to set off on our backpacking adventures again. Fast forward to 2024, and we’ve now travelled to over 50 countries, found ourselves online jobs to support our travels, and have no plans to stop anytime soon!

Not Letting Diabetes Hold Me Back

This all sounds like a great story, but I still remember the initial anxieties and concerns that I had about going on such a long trip abroad with diabetes. I’m just like any other normal diabetic, and the extra challenges and considerations that diabetes brings were overwhelming, to say the least. I had questions running through my head like ‘How can I get more insulin when abroad?’, ‘Would they have my insulin?’, ‘How much would it cost?’, and ‘How could I travel with insulin that needed to be kept in the fridge?’. I struggled to get all the answers that I needed from my healthcare team in Scotland, and Google wasn’t giving me what I needed either. Nevertheless, I took a leap of faith and went for it anyway – as daunting as it was, I decided that I wasn’t going to let my diabetes stop me from taking on this adventure! Fortunately, things worked out, and I realized that it doesn’t have to be as scary as I had first thought. I’ve found that extra planning, preparation, and organization are the keys to success when traveling with diabetes.

Managing My Diabetes While Travelling

The first thing I realized when I landed in Bali (the first stop of my first backpacking trip), was that I had to accept that I wasn’t going to be able to keep my blood sugar levels as controlled as they had been in my normal routine at home. The realities are that carb counting is more challenging, adapting to new foods is trial and error, and even the different climate can have quite a big effect on blood sugars, too. And if I stressed too much about not having 100% time in range, I’d never be able to enjoy the amazing trip I was on. However, I’ve learned that there are some steps you can take to make it easier to manage your diabetes and keep your sugars under control while traveling. The first thing is not to be afraid to eat the same food. I know what you’re thinking, this goes against normal travel advice of feasting your taste buds on as many different dishes as possible! But from a diabetes perspective, sticking to the same dishes means you can quickly dial in your dosage and take away a lot of the guessing and stress. Another simple thing you can do is test your sugar levels more often. I know it’s easy to become consumed with all the fun things and activities you’re doing, but by making a conscious effort to test more often, you can paint a much fuller picture of how the food, climate, activities (or lack of), and other things are affecting your sugar levels. This makes it easier to spot patterns and adapt accordingly. It’s not always more challenging, though! I’ve found that there are a couple of things about traveling that actually make managing my diabetes easier than at home. And this is all related to increasing my insulin sensitivity. First, since being diagnosed, I’ve always found sport and activity to have a huge positive impact on my diabetes management. And when traveling, the daily exploring and adventures often mean I’m more active than normal. This really helps my insulin sensitivity and, in turn, my sugars to stay more stable. Second, different climates also have quite an impact on my insulin sensitivity. When I’ve travelled in hot and humid places, I’ve always found that I’ve had to reduce my insulin doses because of this. I remember being in the Yucatan State of Mexico, and I was hardly taking any insulin compared to normal because of how active I was in such a hot and humid place! Overall, managing diabetes while traveling does require a bit more work, but as always, it stems back to good planning, preparation, and organization!

Other Tips For Travelling Abroad With Diabetes 

I’d like to leave you with some final tips to make traveling with diabetes as smooth as possible.

1. Pack glucose tablets for treating hypos. As well as being compact and easy to pack, you also won’t have issues taking them through airport security as they’re not a liquid. I always carry a few packs of Dextro glucose tablets with me.

2. Split your diabetes supplies across different bags. It’s always better to take precautions, and by doing this, it means that if one bag ever gets left behind or misplaced, you’ll still have some of your diabetes supplies to keep you going until you can get more. I’m guilty of leaving some insulin behind in a mad checkout dash before!

3. Never pack diabetes supplies in hold luggage. Insulin can freeze in the airplane hold, and luggage can be lost or delayed – so don’t take the chance and pack everything in your carry-on!

To Finish

I hope this shows that traveling abroad with diabetes can be done and doesn’t have to be too stressful or overwhelming. I know doing things as a diabetic always comes with more considerations and concerns, but as I keep repeating, the keys to success are extra planning, preparation, and organization!

This article was written by Sam MacLean, founder of the travel blog Type 1 Travelling. To read more of Sams amazing blog posts, visit his website today by clicking HERE.