As someone who has done a fair amount of traveling over the last 4 years, 45 countries and counting, I have really honed my skills around packing and traveling in general. Many tips and tricks which you pick up centre around traveling generally but there are some which are far more specific to the traveler and in my case, contact lenses fall under that category. I have made many mistakes traveling with my lenses over the years, forgetting them, not having enough, losing them, running out of solution and all other manner of issues.
Thanks to these mistakes, I now know exactly what I should be doing when it comes to travelling with lenses, and I wanted to share with you how I do it.
Cleanliness
Keeping your lenses clean on the road is a big challenge, especially if you are traveling in dusty or sandy locations. It is vital that you keep your contacts clean as if any dust gets into your eyes, it can scratch and cause damage. Use a hand sanitiser when you are placing your contacts to ensure that your hands are clean, make sure that you don’t clean your lenses with dirty tap water and make sure that you have an airtight case in which to put them. I would actually recommend using daily disposables when you go traveling, they can cost a bit more but they are packed so that they can’t be contaminated.
Having Enough
You never know where you may be when you run out of contacts and I can tell you from experience that this usually happens when you least need it. Make sure therefore that you bulk buy before you go. I like to grab my contact lenses from www.visiondirect.co.uk as they have excellent deals on bulk buying, and Vision Direct seem to always be cheaper than anywhere that I have seen on the high street. Calculate how many you need for the length of your trip and then add a couple of extras on in case you lose any. I would also recommend taking a copy of your prescription away with you in case you need to stock up on the road.
Solution
If you don’t plan on using daily disposables then make sure that you only take travel sized bottles of solution with you. You can always stock up in airports as you are traveling, to make sure that you have enough to keep you going. Make sure that you don’t transfer the solution into smaller bottles as you’ll risk contamination, also makes sure that you declare what solution you do have as it falls under the TSA fluid regulations.
The final point to make is on using your contacts, make sure that you take them out on the plane as your eyes will become dry and itchy. Equally you need to make sure that you take your glasses with you so that you can rest your eyes a little, new surroundings and landscapes can play havoc on your eyes if you have lenses in.
And so if you wear lenses, make sure that you follow these tips to ensure that you are able to see all of the amazing things that travel provides you with.