Travel and Supplies

Travelling with LADA is straightforward once you are organised, and the organising is mostly about heat and redundancy.

Heat is the Indian traveller's main problem. Insulin loses potency when it gets hot, and a car, a bus luggage compartment or a station platform in May will get hot.

• Carry insulin in your hand luggage, never in checked baggage or a bus hold.
• Use an insulated pouch or a cooling wallet. A small flask with a cold pack works too — but never let insulin sit directly against ice, as freezing ruins it.
• Unopened insulin belongs in a refrigerator, not the freezer. A pen in use can usually stay at room temperature for around a month, but "room temperature" in an Indian summer may mean it needs cooling anyway.
• Test strips also degrade in heat and humidity — keep them with your insulin, closed in their vial.

Redundancy is the second rule. Carry roughly twice the insulin, strips and needles you expect to need, and split them between two bags. Supplies get lost, journeys get extended, and a specific insulin brand may not be stocked in a small town.

Carry a prescription or a doctor's letter listing your medicines. It helps at airport security and makes replacing a lost supply far easier at an unfamiliar pharmacy.

Also carry fast-acting glucose where you can reach it during the journey, and something to identify your condition if you were found unwell — a card in your wallet is enough.