Seasonal care
Staying Healthy While Traveling: A Practical Checklist
Pack smart and travel well: medicines to bring, vaccines to check, jet lag tips and how to reach your provider while you are away.
Before you go
- Check vaccines (routine, flu, COVID-19, and destination-specific such as hepatitis A or typhoid).
- Refill prescriptions and pack an extra week’s supply.
- Bring a list of medicines, allergies and conditions.
- Check travel health advice for your destination.
- Review travel insurance and medical coverage abroad.
Your travel health kit
- Prescription medicines (carry-on, original containers)
- Pain and fever reliever
- Antidiarrheal medicine and oral rehydration salts
- Antihistamine
- Motion sickness remedy
- Sunscreen and insect repellent
- Small first aid kit and hand sanitizer
On the trip
- Long flights or drives: walk every hour or two, flex your ankles, stay hydrated, consider compression stockings.
- Jet lag: adjust sleep times a few days before, get daylight at your destination, and avoid long naps.
- Food and water: in some regions, drink bottled or treated water and eat foods that are cooked and hot.
- Sun and heat: protect your skin and drink extra fluids.
How we can help
We offer pre-travel visits to review vaccines, medicines and health conditions. Members can message us while traveling for advice. Note that telehealth prescribing depends on where you are physically located; we will tell you what we can do from where you are.
Questions people ask
Can I get a prescription while traveling?
It depends on your location and the medicine. We can advise and, where allowed, help.
Do I need travel vaccines?
It depends on your destination. Check 4 to 6 weeks before travel.
How do I avoid blood clots on long flights?
Walk regularly, flex your calves, stay hydrated, avoid alcohol and sleeping pills, and consider compression stockings if at higher risk.
Talk it through with Lydia
Planning a trip? Let us make sure your health is ready too. See a board-certified nurse practitioner virtually anywhere in Virginia, in our Woodbridge office, or straight to your front door in much of Northern Virginia.
Visits start at $85, and every membership comes with a 30-day trial.
Prefer to ask first? Text us at (571) 402-2102 or message us on WhatsApp.
