Every summer, I spend at least a handful of days at the same beach town. These trips have created so many memories for me, my family, and friends over the years. But back when the pandemic started and travel came to a standstill, I wondered whether it would even be possible to head up to my ocean-side oasis this year. After all, many states have restrictions about visitors right now, and protocols aren’t always clear. Luckily, though, due diligence was done before it was determined that yes, my family and I could still go on our trip, though we knew it might look a little different compared to our trips in the past.

Based on my experience, I’ve come up with a few dos and don’ts when it comes to traveling with diabetes during this pandemic:

Do wear a mask. Please, for the love of everything you hold sacred in life, wear a mask when you’re out in public. It’s not about political leanings or agendas: It’s about protecting yourself and the ones around you. I kept a mask on at all times when I was out and about and only removed it when others were more than six feet away from me. It was the smart and sensible thing to do. Just because I was by the beach for a week doesn’t mean that the pandemic wasn’t a reality for me. As someone who has an invisible illness, I know that I appreciated it (and still do) when I saw others wearing masks because they were not only protecting themselves from exposure, but they were also protecting me from being exposed to them.

Don’t neglect what works best for you and your diabetes when you’re at home while you’re away. I exercise in some way, shape, or form almost every single day. So being on vacation didn’t mean I was taking a break from that and my job. On the contrary, I can’t remember the last time I was so physically active, and my blood sugars responded well to that…at first. Then I started to neglect the fact that my diabetes does best when I eat a moderate amount of carbs per day (maybe around 120 total)…I definitely ate way more than that and paid the price with some sky-high numbers. I wish I’d been more mindful of my diet, but oh well, I learned from it.

Do have extra supplies on hand at all times. Besides all of my extra diabetes supplies, I also had access to an abundance of PPE (gloves, masks, hand sanitizer) throughout my trip. It brought me peace of mind knowing that I was prepared and wouldn’t have to worry about running out of any of these items.

Don’t go somewhere or do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. This is absolutely common sense under normal circumstances, but times are far from normal now. It was important to me that my family and I have discussions about what we did each day on vacation so we could make sure everyone was comfortable with the plan: the number of people that might be around to us, where to eat, what to do, how diabetes might come into play…we talked about it all and I think it helped assuage some of our worries.

Do think outside the box when planning daily activities. If you’re like me, you’re probably more than a little wary about spending prolonged periods of time around groups of people other than the ones you’ve quarantined with. This meant that I was not looking to eat inside at restaurants, go into stores, or even use public restrooms (which may or may not be an extreme view of mine). So what exactly did I do when on vacation? Well, for starters, I hit the beach nearly every day. I hit the jackpot weather-wise because it was a little too cool to be totally comfortable on the beach, so it was never crowded and I could easily stay more than six feet away from others. In keeping with the “outdoors” theme, I visited a state park, rode my bike around town, and went for a hike while I was away. I ate outside at a few different places that handled social distancing rules very well, and of course, I attended the Virtual Friends for Life Orlando conference. All of that kept me pretty busy, and I found that I didn’t really miss hanging out indoors.

Don’t forget to enjoy yourself. At the end of the day, a week off from work is a week off from work! Despite my fears about going on this trip, I’m really glad that I did because a break is exactly what I needed. My anxiety is much less intense when I’m by the beach, and I’m relieved that the weirdness of the world lately didn’t take that away from me.