• Glasses and contact lenses: Take an extra pair with you. Take a copy of your eyeglass prescription.

• Medications: Antimalarial medication must be taken on schedule before you get there, while you are there, and after you return home. Take enough of your usual prescription drugs for your entire time away. Keep medication in its original "prescription-labeled" container, protect it from heat, and carry it with you on the plane. Know why you are taking the medication, the proper dose, and the generic or scientific name of the medication. If you take injection medication, carry a doctor's prescription for the syringes.

• Wear Medic Alert identification indicating specific health problems or allergies.

• If you have a chronic disease, ask your medical provider to write a brief summary of your medical history to carry with you.

• Personal travel health kit: This list is formulated for regions of higher risk and lesser access to health care. Your kit can be tailored to your specific needs, and may include prescription medications (for malaria, traveler's diarrhea, altitude sickness, etc.). Additionally, it may include:

• Antacid/antidiarrheal medication for upset stomach

• Antifungal creams/suppositories

• Antihistamines/decongestants for the common cold

• Aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever, muscle aches, or pain relief

• Athlete's foot remedy

• Calamine lotion

• Contraceptive supplies

• First Aid Supplies:

  • Ace Wrap (elastic bandage)

  • Adhesive tape

  • Antiseptic cream

  • Band-Aids and gauze

  • Flashlight and extra batteries

  • Jackknife

  • Matches

  • Needle, thread, and safety pins

  • Pencil and paper

  • Scissor and Tweezers

  • Thermometer

• Immunization certificates

• Insect repellant containing less than 35% DEET for the skin; other repellants, mosquito netting, and/or protective clothing may be helpful.

• Motion sickness remedy (ex. Dramamine)

• Razors, so you have a clean supply

• Plastic bags

• Menstrual supplies (take extra)

• Toilet paper, moist towlettes, and antibacterial soap

• Sunscreen: The higher the SPF, the greater the protection; Lip balm, sunglasses, and a hat

• Vitamins that you regularly take

• Water purification tablets if appropriate 

Travel can be tough on your ears: flying in airplanes, descending into valleys below sea level, riding elevators to the tops of tall buildings, and scuba diving are just some of the things that can bother your ears. Such activities involve changes in atmospheric pressure and disturb the equilibrium in your ears. The result can be a host of unpleasant symptoms. Discomfort and pain, unusual noises and sensations, temporary hearing loss, and, occasionally - many hours later - symptoms not always associated with ear problems such as dizziness, nausea and headache.

The problem is the middle ear, a small air pocket inside your ear. Knowing how it works can help you prevent problems. The middle ear connects with the outside via a narrow tube, the eustachian tube, which opens in the back of the nose. Normally, air passes freely from the outside through the nose and through the eustachian tube into the middle ear. And the atmospheric pressure is the same in all areas.

The free flow of air is easily interrupted. The area where the eustachian tube opens in the nose is often congested with nasal secretions from colds and allergies. Most commonly, ear problems occur during the descent of an airplane, when air contracts. The usual reason for this is that the eustachian tube is partially blocked. Mucus acts like a flap over the end of the tube, which, in effect, becomes a one-way valve, allowing air out but not back into the middle ear. With the air in the middle ear contracting, a vacuum develops and sucks in surrounding tissue. This causes pain. Pain can also develop when you gain altitude if the Eustachian tube is completely blocked. In this situation, air in the middle ear expands and, having no outlet, balloons out against surrounding tissue. 

People with ear, nose, and sinus infections or severe congestion should avoid flying because the obstruction of air flow may cause pain and injury. If flying cannot be postponed or avoided, decongestants and anti-inflammatory agents may help reduce air flow obstruction and discomfort. 

Scuba dive only if you are totally free of cold and allergy symptoms. Ear barotrauma is the most common injury in divers. On descent, failure to equalize pressure changes within the middle ear space creates a pressure gradient across the eardrum, which can cause bleeding or fluid accumulation in the middle ear and stretching or rupture of the eardrum and the membranes covering the windows of the inner ear. Symptoms can include pain, ringing in the ear, vertigo, a sensation of fullness in the ear and decreased hearing.

You should avoid airplane travel and mountain climbing for 12 hours after your dive or 18 hours after multiple dives. There are enormous pressure changes from deep under the water to 7,000 feet, the usual cabin altitude of a jet cruising at about 30,000 feet. This increases your risk of developing decompression sickness, which includes the following symptoms:

• joint aches or pain
• numbness, tingling, mottling or marbling of skin
• coughing spasms or shortness of breath
• itching
• unusual fatigue
• dizziness, weakness, staggering, loss of coordination, tremors
• loss of bowel or bladder function
• collapse or unconsciousness.