
Travel Tips for fibromyalgia
The Secret to Savvy Travel with Fibromyalgia is Good Planning
Do you dream of travel and adventure, but the thought of going out-of-town, even for a short weekend, feels defeating — and almost sends you in a flare just thinking about it? Traveling with fibromyalgia can be challenging! These tips from Tami will show you how you can take that summer vacation, visit distant family, or even holiday in Spain, without all of the pain and overwhelm.
Key Points
- The healthier you can start off at the beginning of your trip, the better off you’ll be at the end, when you’ve used up a lot of extra energy
- Don’t be afraid (or ashamed) to ask for help when you need it.
- Know when and where it is smarter NOT to save money when you travel.
- How to save weight, wear and tear on your body while you travel.
- When packing light is NOT a good idea.
- Plan to use facilities and amenities that can help your body feel better
Links & Resources
Note: This episode’s show notes and transcript contain affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, we will likely receive a small commission. Read about what we do and don’t promote here.
- Get free copies of Tami’s books here
- Evernote: This affiliate link will provide you with a free month of Evernote Premium
- TSA Pre✓
- Global Entry
- Oska Pulse: Using this affiliate link (or code FIBROCOACH) will provide you with $55 off your purchase of the Oska Pulse
- Quell device
- Travel vacuum bags [affiliate link]
- PillSuite [affiliate link]
- Small travel bottles [affiliate link]
- Blog Post: “Accepting Assistance” by Melissa Swanson of Fibro Warriors ~ Living Life, as published on ProHealth.com
- Blog Post: “Seven Keys To Savy Traveling With Fibromyalgia”
- Below you will find both a full transcript and video of the episode, with any studies mentioned in the show linked in the transcript.
Transcript
You’re listening to the Fibromyalgia Podcast, Episode 11.
Welcome to the Fibromyalgia Podcast!
I’m your Coach, Tami Stackelhouse. Today we’re going to be talking about a special subject that is near and dear to my heart — travel! — and how to travel successfully when you have fibromyalgia.
[01:08] The reason we’re talking about this today is because it’s May. It is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. We kind of claim the whole month, though. It’s Fibromyalgia Awareness Month. And as part of that, I have been doing a ton of travel.
[01:26] As I record this episode, it is actually May 8. I am right at the beginning of the month and at the beginning of all of the traveling that I am going to do. But here’s the deal: in the month of May, I am going to Minnesota, which I have already done. I have gone to Minnesota and have done an Awareness Day event there.
[02:05] Then, I came home and four days later, I turned around and went to — or am going to, because I am recording it between these two trips — by the time you hear this, I will have gone to Michigan to do an Awareness Day event in Michigan.
[02:04] Then, I come home. I am home for about a week, and then I go to visit my family. My sister, who passed away a few years ago… We give a special scholarship in her honor at the Oregon State University School of Veterinary Medicine. We are going there to give her scholarship, which I wouldn’t miss for the world! Then, I am home for about two days. Then, I go to Salt Lake City for a business retreat, and I am there for the rest of the month.
[02:26] This month, May 2019, I am actually gone more than I am home. Which is a big deal for somebody who has fibromyalgia, right? I know that for a lot of you, the thought of going out-of-town — even for a short weekend, or going to visit family or relatives over the holidays, or going on summer vacation — the thought can be super overwhelming and almost send you in a flare just thinking about it.
[03:03] So, I thought I would take a moment between all of my trips to record this special episode for you, to share some of the things I do to make sure I can do wild and crazy things, like travel more than half of the month, and not end up in a flare.
[03:22] First and foremost, obviously, going into doing these trips, I am probably doing better than most of you listening to this, right? On a normal, day-to-day basis, I don’t have fibromyalgia body pain. Where you start is going to, of course, determine a lot as you go through your travel. The better you can start off — the higher level that you can start off with your health when you begin your trip — the better off you’ll be at the end, when you’ve used up a lot of extra energy.

[03:57] For those of you who aren’t where I am, that’s totally okay, too. I’ve got a ton of tips for you. Just remember that the craziness of my May, I am able to do because I have focused so hard on getting better. I’ve gotten my health to a point where I can do this.
[04:17] For most of you listening, what I do right now is probably not a smart idea for you — which is one of the things we are actually going to be talking about in the next episode, Episode 12, which is going to be all about why sometimes you have to say NO so that you can say YES. Just know that right now you might be in a place where you need to say no, just like I was many years ago, so that I can now say yes to the things I am doing now.
[04:48] But in the meantime, here are some fun tips for you.
[04:52] First off, you want to do a lot of really good planning. The secret, I think, to fibromyalgia, in a big part, is good planning. As you’re planning for your trip, here are some of the things you need to make sure you plan for…

Number one: You’ve got to give yourself enough prep time. You can’t go into a draining trip with not enough sleep because you waited until the last minute to do your packing. I’m still sometimes guilty about that, but really, if you can… I really try to coach my clients on starting early with their packing. This could be as simple as in the months and weeks leading up to your trip, as you’re doing your laundry or someone is helping you with your laundry, you’re setting aside the things you know you’re going to need to take with you. Things you might not need to wear between now and then.

[05:53] Maybe, you just start a pile of clothes or a basket of clothes that are things you need to pack. If you travel a lot, as I do, you may even want to buy duplicates of things. I have a travel bag of all of my toiletries, and I have an extra hair dryer that is a travel hair dryer that just lives in my suitcase. I’ve got an extra pair of slippers that are ready to go when I’m ready to travel. Some of those things you may want to have duplicate items of, if you travel a lot. If you don’t travel a lot then it’s kind of a waste, but if you do travel a lot, it can save you a lot of time and energy in packing, to have some things in your suitcase ready to go. Having a travel bag, your toiletries already packed, extra comb, extra brush, extra hair dryer, whatever it might be.

[06:51] The other thing to do when you’re doing that preparation — you know fibro brain / brain fog — I always have a packing list. I have a list that is in Evernote. (Affiliate link provides you with a free month of Evernote Premium.)
[07:09] Evernote is an app. You can have it for your phone. You can have it on your tablet. You can have it on your computer. It syncs between all of your devices. There are lots of apps that do this. This just happens to be one that I use, and it has my entire packing list in there.
[07:22] I mean my entire packing list. Every single medication I have to take. Every single toiletry that goes in my toiletries bag. Every single pair of underwear. Every pair of shoes. Every shirt. Every everything. The entire thing is on my packing list. It’s the only way I’m not going to forget something, right? And I will tell you, the only time I ever leave anything behind is if I haven’t followed my packing list.
[07:56] Whether that’s leaving something behind at home that I mean to take with me or just like what to me a few weeks ago… I actually left one of my extra power strips in the hotel room because when I left to come home I didn’t go through my packing list. I actually use that packing list. I go through the list and I check it off when I pack it into my suitcase. When I’m ready to come home, I go back through the list and I uncheck each item when it goes into my suitcase to come home. That way I’ve actually checked the list going both ways, but it has also reset the list, so that the next trip I’m ready to go on, everything is unchecked and it’s ready for me to mark, to check, when I put it in my suitcase.

[08:46] Planning ahead, it can take some work to create that list. Anytime I think of something that I have forgotten or wish that I had on my trip, I add it to the list. It might be something that is sort of in development for you, something that is kind of “in process.”
I will tell you, I learned this trick from my mom when we were kiddos. She had her own packing list, but each of us kids had our own packing list. So, she didn’t have to pack everything, right? We had our lists: “Okay, you need to pack three pairs of underwear, and you need to pack two shirts, and you need to pack your toothbrush and all of the things.” We could go through and mark off what it was that we packed. She could see our list and she could see our stuff, and save her a little bit of time and give us some of the responsibility. And little did she know, she was teaching us how to pack later on in our lives, because that’s exactly what I do now!
[09:40] Another fun thing you can do in terms of preparation, is to think ahead to what you might need, both during your trip — like, literally, the travel part of your trip, whether you’re traveling by car or plane or train or whatever it is — you can think about what you might need during that travel portion, but also think about what you might need at the hotel, at the event, at the person’s house you are going to.
[10:08] Many, many times I will actually order things — place an order on Amazon — and have it shipped to my hotel. Things like bottled water or snacks or Epsom salts to do my Epsom salt baths while I’m at the hotel. Epsom salts are heavy, and I use a lot in a bath. So, two pounds of Epsom salts you don’t really want to carry in your suitcase! But you can have them shipped to the hotel just fine. Just coordinate with the hotel, making sure it’s okay to ship. I’ve never had a hotel that had a problem with me shipping a package there; I do it all the time. But you do have to talk to the hotel and make sure that you know how to address that package properly so that it gets to you.

[10:56] Then, as far as your travel preparation, think about what you need, what your body needs to stay comfortable. This could mean things like… one of the things I travel with is a shawl that is actually big enough I often use it as a blanket on the airplane. I can also fold it up and use it as a pillow if I need to. I can put it behind my back to give myself some back support, but, like I said, most of the time I use it to keep me warm because those airplanes are stinking cold! Have something like that in your bag. It could be snacks that you’re traveling with. It could be things like magnesium lotion or pain patches or extra medication, whatever it might be. Think about what you’re going to need.
[11:44] Now, it’s not going to do you a lot of good to be sitting there on the airplane and realize that all of those things that you need on a day-to-day basis are either at home or in your suitcase in the belly of the airplane. Right? So, this means planning ahead. So think ahead on that.
[12:03] Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help where you need it. This can look like a lot of different things. This can look like asking a friend to drive you to the airport and help you with your bags, loading and unloading the car when you get to the airport. It can look like asking for assistance at the airport, which could be as little as having somebody help you with a bag, or it could be as much as having somebody push you in a wheelchair — and I have done that.

[12:36] I’m going to pause here for a second and talk a little bit about this “assistance at the airport” because I think there’s a lot of misunderstandings about that. So, I want to pause right here and talk about that a little bit more in depth..
[12:53] First off, you do not have to have a handicap parking tag in order to ask for assistance at the airport. For example, when I went to meet my husband for the very first time. We met online and when we were flying to Nashville to meet each other for the first time, I totally messed up my foot that morning and couldn’t walk to the airport. This was before fibromyalgia. There was nothing wrong with me otherwise. I just had messed up my foot, literally, that morning. I hadn’t even seen the doctor because I didn’t want to miss the airplane to see this guy that I thought might be The One.
[13:33] So, I drove to the airport, and when I got to the airport and I’m checking in at the counter, I’m like, “Oh my gosh you guys, is there any way you can help me? I totally screwed up my foot this morning. I cannot walk and I can’t stand in line”. No big deal. They called the guy to come and wheel me through the airport. Not a big deal.
[13:52] You DO NOT have to have a handicap parking tag to request this assistance. So yes, fibromyalgia absolutely counts, absolutely counts. They don’t ask for a doctor’s note. You don’t have to prove anything. It is you that decides whether or not you need that assistance.
[14:12] Again, there are so many levels to how much assistance you may want. The “full meal deal” would be waiting there when you check in, to have somebody bring a wheelchair, where they will actually push you through the airport. That includes not having to stand in the line at security. It means having somebody wheel you from security down to your gate. Depending on what airport you’re flying out of it, that can be a long way right there.
[14:46] For instance, here in Seattle, I actually clocked my steps on one of my last trips. It was 1500 steps before I even got to my gate. Which is a lot, you guys. When I was at my worst with fibromyalgia, 1500 steps was about what I could do in a whole day, okay. And that didn’t even get me to my gate at the airport. It can be a huge energy saving, body saving thing to ask for this kind of help.
[15:20] You can get early boarding, and you can do this with or without the wheelchair. In the beginning, when they start boarding the airplane, they actually ask and say, “Anybody who needs extra time getting on the airplane, extra time in boarding…” This is usually when they let families with little kids on. But if you physically… If you don’t move fast enough, if it takes you more time, you can absolutely do early boarding.
[15:50] [Airport assistance] means that somebody will meet you when your flight lands, at the door of the airplane, and take you in a wheelchair from there, if you have requested that assistance. This could be huge, especially if you have some kind of a connecting flight and are going through a huge airport like Dallas or Chicago, where there are multiple terminals and you may have to go clear to the other side of the airport. If you have this wheelchair assistance, they will actually take you in the wheelchair, sometimes in motorized cars, through the airport to get you to your gate on time. Many of us with fibromyalgia, we just don’t move fast enough. Hiking across an entire airport is just sometimes not possible.
[16:41] One time, in Chicago, I got turned around and went the wrong way. I literally walked a mile and a half in the wrong direction inside the airport! So this can save you a lot of steps y’all.
[16:56] Again, you can get that early boarding. It means somebody to help you at your destination, sometimes even help you get your bags, and get you to the curb. Depending on the airport and depending on the amount of assistance you get this can be huge.
[17:13] Another thing that I really recommend that anybody listening to this podcast do, is to sign up for TSA Pre✓. If you travel internationally, you can do things like: Global Entry is one of them, but there’s more than one. And I’ve had many people ask, “If you’re getting wheelchair assistance at the airport, do you also need TSA Pre✓?” And the answer is YES.

[17:46] Yes, getting wheelchair assistance can help you get through the line faster, but there are things that TSA Pre✓ will do for you that just having that wheelchair assistance won’t do for you and here are some of those:
- You don’t have to take your shoes off.
- You don’t have to take your belt off.
- You don’t have to take off your jacket unless it’s a big, heavy, bulky winter jacket. If you’re wearing a normal blazer or that type of a jacket — jean jacket, that kind of a thing — you don’t have to take that off.
- You don’t have to take your computer out of your bag. You don’t have to take your liquids out of the bag. You don’t have to take your CPAP machine out of the bag. You don’t have to take your tablet out of the bag. All of those things. You just put your bag on the belt, and it goes through the scanner. You walk through the scanner. That’s it. It’s so simple. Of course, you have to make you don’t have a lot of metal on because you don’t want to set off the metal detector. But other than that, this is what the TSA Pre✓ will save you.
[18:53] The last trip I was on, when I was coming home from Minneapolis, it was literally about eight minutes — I’m not exaggerating one way or the other, truly it was about eight minutes — from the time I got out of my friend’s car to the time I was at my gate. Minneapolis is now my favorite airport, because of how simple it was. Some airports are bigger than that. Seattle — it’s never going to be eight minutes because it will take me longer than that to just get to the gate.
But [TSA Pre✓] saves so much time going through security. It saves so much time physically, in juggling all of your bags, putting things in and out, and getting them through the scanner. The TSA Pre✓ is worth every penny, and then some, even if you only go on one trip.
[19:40] Here are a couple of other tips with TSA Pre✓:
- First of all, if you have an American Express card, some of them will actually reimburse you for TSA Pre✓ or Global Entry, making it free for you. There’s really no reason to do it.
- You have to plan this enough in advance, because of the whole point in being able to go through security without them looking at you quite so closely, is that they’ve done all of the background checks on you in advance. You’ve got to be able to have that TSA Pre✓ appointment. They get your fingerprints early. All of that kind of that stuff has to happen several months in advance, so you can get your Known Traveler Number and be able to put that on your reservation and be able to go through the TSA Pre✓ line. Plan that in advance. But, honestly, every single fibro person who travels on an airplane should have TSA Pre✓. It’s just a no brainer to me.
[20:44] You can also choose to sometimes pay a small fee to board the airline early or be in larger, bigger seats where there’s more leg room. All of those things you can plan in advance when you are picking your seats.
Sometimes you can also do things like airport lounges. If you have a long layover somewhere, or if you have to, for whatever reason, get to the airport early, you can pay a fee to be part of the airline member lounge. It’s quiet. They feed you snacks. There are nice bathrooms. There are comfortable chairs. There are places where you can charge your electronic devices. You can get individual, one-day passes or year-long passes, depending on how much you travel.
[21:43] I don’t often use the lounges, simply because I am taking direct flights, and don’t really have a lot of time where I’m just sitting around and waiting at the airport. If you do, that can be a huge help. When Scott and I were moving him and his kitties from Florida to Oregon when we got married, we bought the day pass in the American lounge, because we had his cats, and we had a 3-4 hour layover. We wanted a quiet place for the cats — and for us — so we weren’t stressing them out to much. We paid for the day pass so we could sit in a quiet place with the kitties and have it be calm.
[22:28] As you’re doing your planning ahead, if you are booking hotel rooms, you can do things like ask for them to have a refrigerator in your room, if that is not already a part of your room. You can actually ask for that for medical purposes, especially if you have medication that needs to be refrigerated or if you need to use ice packs. Granted, those tiny little refrigerators, they don’t have awesome freezer sections, but it’s better than nothing. And you can actually request that for medical purposes. Sometimes there’s a charge for that; sometimes there’s not.
[23:03] Then, plan to use the facilities that can help your body feel better. Use the hot tub and the pool. Use the bathtub with your Epsom salts. Even if you’re soaking your feet, it’s better than nothing. One of the things I used to do all the time — this was before fibromyalgia, in my old life, when I worked for the software company and we would work at trade shows — I would go and sit outside and put my feet in the hot tub for a few minutes, and then I would go over and I would put my feet in the pool for a few minutes. I would alternate back and forth, which really helps to increase circulation, which helps get the swelling down. It really helps your feet feel so much better. Doing some of that kind of stuff can be super helpful.
[23:53] Also look for things, like what kind of amenities does the hotel have? Sometimes, when you have something like fibromyalgia and maybe not making a lot of income, and you are on a budget, it can be really, really tempting to go for someplace cheap. But I have learned that quite often there’s a direct correlation between how comfortable the beds are and how much the hotel costs. There is nothing that will put me in a flare faster than a bad bed!
[24:26] In fact, the last time I had to take pain medication was because Scott and I were on a trip, in a hotel, and they had a bad bed. It actually put me in pain the next day. That was at the beginning of this year, over New Year’s. I actually had to take pain medication, and it was 100% because the bed was bad. I haven’t had to take it since.
Make sure that you spend a little bit of extra money on the hotel and maybe save money somewhere else because that’s not the place to try to save money.

[25:06] There are things you can do to help make a bed a little more comfortable. One of the things I often do is take a blanket — like the extra blankets that are in the hotel room (if there aren’t any you can always ask for one) — and fold it up so that it’s about as wide as my body. I put it under the bottom sheet, to just give a little bit of extra padding. Sometimes that can make a huge difference, just to give a little extra padding to not be quite so uncomfortable.
[25:35] Also, look for things like if there’s a bellman. It’s worth a few dollars a bag to have them carry that up to your room. You can totally ask for assistance. One of my BFFs, Melissa on her blog, Fibro Warriors ~ Living Life, wrote an article about what she learned traveling with me — and this is one of the things she learned. When we got ready to leave, I called the desk and I said, “Hey, can we have somebody come up and take our bags down?” She said, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you could do that!” Yes. Not all hotels, but some hotels, the nicer hotels, you can ask for somebody to do that. And for $1-$2 a bag, that is worth it, saving your body. I will link to Melissa’s article so you guys can take a look at some of those other tips she learned from me.
[26:29] Another thing to pay attention to — and this is another area where we always try to save time and energy, I think often in the wrong places… One of the things I see people do is try to pack light. Which is smart, right? You do need to pack light, because the heavier your suitcase is, the harder it is to travel with. However, don’t leave out the things that are going to help you manage your fibromyalgia. If that means… If you use a heating pad every day, you do not travel without your heating pad. You might need to find a different heating pad that’s maybe a little bit smaller, little bit lighter, that kind of a thing, but don’t leave home the things that are going to help you feel better.

[27:21] Take your lotions and your potions. Take your extra medications that you need to use when you have a flare-up. Take your devices that make you feel better, like your self-massager, your Oska (affiliate link provides you with $55 off the purchase of an Oska Pulse), your Quell device, whatever it is you use. Take those with you. Don’t leave those at home. Figure out other ways to save weight in your suitcase, but take all the things, do all the things that you would do at home, and then some. Again, we try to save time and energy in the wrong places.
[28:00] If there are supplements you take at home, don’t try to get by without taking them on your trip. In fact, you might need to take extra of some of those. So when I travel, sometimes I’ll use extra D-Ribose or extra DL-Phenylalanine or extra hydrocortisone or extra lots of different things. And if you’re hearing me talk about these things and you don’t know what they are, this can be a great time to have a conversation or a consultation with one of our Coaches, to talk about whether or not these things would be helpful to you. You can also bring them up with your doctor. There are certain supplements I absolutely take extra of when I travel because I know I’m using more energy. I know I’m doing more when I travel. So, do that.
[28:54] While we’re on suitcases, real quick — this is a very small, subtle thing, but it makes such a big difference, physically. If you don’t have a rolling suitcase, WHAT are you doing??? You’ve got to have a suitcase with wheels on it! But don’t just get any rolling suitcase. You definitely want a suitcase with spinner wheels. I will try to describe this because I know most of you are going to be listening to this on the podcast, so close your eyes and imagine with me here for a moment…
[29:30] Remember when rolling suitcases first came out, they had those tiny little wheels that didn’t really work very well. Then the second generation of rolling suitcases, they had the fatter, bigger wheels that were like the inline skates, but they usually only had wheels on one side. So what you did was grab a hold of the handle and leaned the suitcase forward, and you pulled it behind you. That puts a lot of weight on your shoulder, on your arm, on your body — the weight of that suitcase dragging along behind you.
[30:08] The new generation of suitcases — with spinner wheels — means you’ve got wheels on all four corners. Not only do they just roll in one direction, but they can also change direction. Instead of pulling your suitcase behind you, you can actually push your suitcase in front of you. The body mechanics of this are very, very different. What I am going to do — since this is hard to describe just in a pure audio format — what I’m going to do is, on the show notes for today’s episode at FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/11 the number eleven (1-1) — I will actually put a couple of pictures in there, so you can see what I am talking about. This makes such a difference, physiologically. Like I said, the body mechanics, the amount of pull and wear and tear on your body is so different if you have the spinner suitcase versus just the regular inline skate-type suitcase. So I’ll put those pictures out there.

Old style rolling suitcase
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

New style suitcase with spinner wheels
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
[31:13] The other thing I would highly recommend, especially if you are carrying on any medical devices — like if you use a CPAP machine or if you’re carrying on a computer, or you have any other heavy things — that you also have a rolling bag that you use, that you take on the airplane with you, rather than having a big, heavy tote bag that goes over your shoulder. The wear and tear, again, on your body is so huge with that. It seems like just a small thing, but it makes such a big difference.
This is another area where the amount of money that you spend… you kind of get what you pay for. Better suitcases will roll easier, be lighter, easier to pick up, and move around. Where cheaper suitcases sometimes are heavier, don’t roll as well, and can often break down faster. That’s not always true, but is a general guideline. Make sure you’re looking at that as you are doing your pre-planning and getting your suitcases, if you’re planning on doing trips.
[32:19] The other part of this planning ahead is also planning for your recovery time. This could be recovery time at the beginning of your trip. It could be recovery time at the end of your trip. So, you might be wondering, “Wait a minute, recovery time at the beginning of my trip? If it’s at the beginning of my trip, what do I have to recover from?”

[32:43] Here’s the deal: I used to have to do this, not even all that long ago, like even just a couple of years ago. I would travel somewhere, say, for a conference. I would plan a rest day my first day of the trip. Let’s say I was going to a conference that was on a Friday and a Saturday. I would fly out on Wednesday, so I could have Thursday as a rest day to recover from traveling. Then, I could go to the conference on Friday and Saturday. I would fly home on Sunday, and then I would plan Monday to be a rest day from flying home and from my trip.
[33:28] Depending on where you’re at physically with your fibromyalgia, you may need to plan that rest day when you get somewhere. A lot of what I’m talking about right now is flying in an airplane, but this also does apply if you are traveling by car. You might need to travel somewhere — my parents live about six hours away now — so, travel there, and I might need to have a rest day the next day to recover from the six hours of being in a car. Right? Then, when I get home, the same thing. Make sure that you build in the rest time that you need. It will allow you to enjoy your trip so much more, and it will allow you to ease back into your regular life so much easier.

[34:18] Make sure that you do things like bring your own pillow if you have a cranky neck, like I do. Bring your own pillow! You can use one of those travel vacuum bags [affiliate link]. Again, I will put a link in the show notes for this. You can use one of those travel vacuum bags to smoosh your pillow down to almost nothing, and you can take that with you. You can also buy a slightly smaller pillow to take with you. I have a lot of friends and clients who do that.

[34:46] Another thing that I do is, I do the same thing with my pills. Instead of taking big pill containers — like the week-long pill containers or pills in their own bottles — I use something called the Pill Suite [affiliate link]. I will link this in the show notes, just like everything else. It’s actually like little — you know the vacuum sealers that you can get for food? — little plastic baggies. Then, it has a heat strip where it seals the plastic together. They’re like that, but for your pills.
I have personally traveled internationally with those that way. I have clients that have traveled internationally with their pills that way. Generally, you want to keep a copy of your prescription with you, but you can absolutely travel with them like that. I will, in the show notes, I’ll put in some pictures and a link to the web site where you can go buy those.

Before Pill Suite
Before Pill Suite, I used old prescription bottles for my supplements. This is nine days and nights worth in one very full one gallon bag, weighing 1.35 pounds.

After Pill Suite
Nine days and nights worth of supplements fit into three snack-size bags, weighing 0.91 pounds.
[35:41] It saves so much weight and space, because instead of the actual bottle of pills, you just have this tiny little plastic wrapper that you throw away. Not necessarily the most environmentally friendly, but of course we have to do tradeoffs for all of this. Right? Are you going to save on garbage, or are you going to save on the weight on your body? Are you going to save on money, or are you going to save on space in your bag? We are always going through these tradeoffs. These are just some suggestions, and, of course, you need to make the right choices for you.
[36:20] I’ve also bought tiny little bottles, so for instance my face wash, my serums, my moisturizer and things like that. I have tiny little one ounce bottles or even smaller, like a 1/2 or a 1/3 of an ounce little pump bottles, that will give me a couple weeks worth of product without having to take the big container. I’ve got super super tiny ones (10 ml travel bottles, affiliate link). I will put those in the show notes. Those can be super helpful.

[36:52] Those are a bunch of pre-planning type tips. Because we are already at a pretty full episode, I’m going to stop right there.
I do want you to go look at the show notes. There are going to be a couple of articles that I am going to link to. One of them is an article that I wrote called “7 Keys To Savy Traveling With Fibromyalgia“. It’s got over 50 individual tips in there. Some of the tips I’ve shared with you are new because I’ve learned them since I wrote the article. Some of them I have shared from the article. There will be a bunch of new ones in the article.
[37:37] I’m also going to share the article that my friend Melissa wrote about traveling with me and all the fun things she learned. I’m going to share with you a bunch of the travel size things that I use to make my travel life easier. Just go to FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/11. The number eleven (1-1) and you will find all of those details.
[38:00] Stay tuned with us on next week… Or actually, I take that back. In two weeks, we are going to be talking about why sometimes you have to say no in order to say yes. And that’s going to be a big one.
[38:17] In future episodes, we’re also going to be talking about the Family Medical Leave Act and how that applies to fibromyalgia. We’re also going to be talking about how you can get special work accommodations to make working a little bit easier for you. How to talk to your boss about fibromyalgia, whether or not you even should, and what you should say if anything at all.
[38:42] We’re going to be talking about a bunch of other goodies, too. I hope you will stay tuned, subscribe, and follow us on Facebook and at FibromyalgiaPodcast.com so you don’t miss any of our awesome upcoming episodes.
[38:58] Just remember that all of the resources are going to be out there for you. All of the links to all of the products that I mentioned. The articles that I mentioned, so that you don’t have to try to take notes or try to remember with brain fog. I’ve got it all out there for you. Just go to FibromyalgiaPodcast.com. You’ll see copies of my books that you can download for free. You can schedule consultations with a coach and submit your questions for the next “Ask the Coach” which will be coming up in Episode 20.
[39:33] Alright, you guys. Have a great couple of weeks, and I will see you back here for How To Say NO So That You Can Say YES. Thanks for listening!
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