You are days away from the trip that you’ve saved for all year. Your suitcase is packed, itinerary is written, then you realise – your period is due. Typical. But there ways of managing your period on holiday.
Immediately, people who have periods are told that they don’t have to suffer this fate. Although there are ways to delay your period to avoid your holiday completely, not everyone chooses this option, and that is not an issue.
Whatever your holiday type, whether it’s trekking across the Fjords or relaxing on a tropical beach, managing your period for many is undoubtedly, a logistical nightmare. But it doesn’t have to be.
From packing to planning, here are some things that you can try to make having your period on holiday a little easier.
See also: Coping With The Guilt Of Travelling Away From Home
How to pack for your period?
If you’re someone who has irregular periods anyway (like me!), it’s likely that you have the bare basics to hand all the time.
If not, here are the things that are really important to pack:
- Pads/Tampons
- Sorry to state the obvious. If it’s a short trip, you can take enough from home to last you. For anything longer, you will only need to pack enough for a few days – you can pick up sanitary products while travelling.
- If you use a menstrual cup, great! Not only is it more environmentally friendly, but it is a space saver – no taking up a chunk of space in your luggage. However …
- Hand sanitiser/Small rubbish bags
- If you are heading off on regular excursions, access to water and/or soap might be difficult, so travelling with hand sanitiser while on your period is vital.
- On my first trip to Greece, I was horrified to discover that I couldn’t flush toilet paper. Learning my lesson, I now take a small roll of biodegradable rubbish/dog waste/nappy bags if I know that the sanitation system isn’t great. This also helps me feel less conscious of the bathroom bin being emptied by housekeeping if I’ve travelled to a country where toilet roll isn’t able to be flushed.
- Disposable heat/cool patches
- Depending on how your symptoms manifest, these are items not to be missed. They can hide under the lightest of clothing and are perfect for on the go.
- (Emergency!) cycling shorts
- If you’re not comfortable wearing swimwear while on your period, lightweight cycling shorts under dresses are great to make you feel more secure.
- These also double up as a great anti-chafing short!
Scouting for loos
Ah, the old holiday favourite – planning your trips around public toilets (bonus points if they’re free to use!)
This will save you getting caught short while on your excursions, or even beach days. Nobody wants to be trekking to find a toilet while worrying that they’ve leaked through their white shorts.
Don’t panic!
Periods are a nuisance, but half of the population has them! You certainly aren’t alone.