In a few days, I’ll be jetting off to Washington, D.C. for a week! I’m always filled with a nervous excitement in anticipation of all kinds of trips. Whether they’re to a faraway place or close to home, just a few days long or two weeks, there’s a certain level of preparation I need to do that involves more than picking out a few outfits.

Yep, you guessed it – I’ve got to prepare for apocalypse.

Okay, okay, I’m being dramatic. But not really, because I’ve got to think of every possible diabetes scenario that could happen when I’m away. I could experience multiple pod failures, the batteries might go on my PDM, I could lose the charge on my Dexcom or Verio IQ meter, I might run out of insulin – the list of possibilities goes on and on. How the heck do I go about making sure I have everything I could need on a trip, and backups, to boot?

Here’s a walkthrough of the steps I take to prepare myself for a trip of any length:

• 7 Days Before I Leave – I come up with a good, old-fashioned and handwritten list of supplies that I’ll need. This includes (but is not limited to): spare pods, alcohol swabs, skin-tac wipes, Humalog vials, backup Lantus vial, backup Humalog pen, Glucagon kit, backup syringes/pen needles, extra lancets, chargers for my meter and Dexcom, extra batteries for my PDM, a bottle of Glucose tablets, extra low snacks.
• 3-4 Days Before I Leave – I begin to take items out that don’t need refrigeration or special attention. I’ll add them to my carry-on – NOT my suitcase, because that’s not a good idea (what if I got separated from it somehow?) – in a clear gallon-sized ziplock bag. That way, if for any reason I need to take these items out of my carry-on, I don’t have to rifle through it in order to quickly locate them.
• 1 Day Before I Leave – I charge all of my devices completely. I also double check my PDM to ensure that the battery in it is relatively full. I also run through my handy dandy list from a few days ago to see if I’m missing anything.
• 4-6 Hours Before I Leave – This is when I’m about to leave the house to head to the airport, and I’m trying to finish up with the last-minute packing. I add my insulin to the clear baggie in my carry-on and check to see that I’ve got extra snacks in both the carry-on and my purse.
• Just Before I Leave – One of the last things I do before heading over to the airport is check my blood sugar. I have a Dexcom, but it’s not always accurate, so I like to take that extra step of obtaining a fresh reading from my meter.

Bear in mind, these are all of the steps I take before I leave for a trip – there are many more in the during and after phases! Stay tuned for my follow-ups on what it’s like for a PWD during the actual travel part, and what it’s like upon arriving to the destination.