Cassandra Brooklyn shares her tips for menstruating women to travel bravely, confidently and without any leaks. Here’s how to have a bloody good time no matter where you are in the world.
Photo © Getty Images/lechatnoir
Periods never come at a good time, but they are especially inconvenient while traveling. Let’s face it, nobody wants to have stomach cramps or back pain while hiking, and bleeding has never made swimming or camping more fun.
When, at 19, I took my first solo trip to Mexico, I was intensely nervous about getting my period in a foreign country. Did I bring enough tampons? What if I ran out and couldn’t find more? What if I soaked through my pad and stained my clothes in a public place? What if I couldn’t find clean bathrooms or there wasn’t a waste bin to throw the pad or tampon in?
All of the inconveniences and embarrassments associated with menstruation seemed to amplify in my mind. While I didn’t have any embarrassing moments on that trip, I would later face the various challenges of traveling on my period and thought about how to handle them.
I’ve traveled solo for 18 years, and I’m an international tour leader of mostly-female group trips, so I’ve had my fair share of bloody trips abroad. I’ve had to empty my menstrual cup while camping in a forest in Guantanamo, Cuba and in the desert in Baja California, Mexico. I’ve gotten my period while hiking in Jordan, where I struggled to get the blood off my hands before re-joining the group on the trail. I’ve run from the ocean in the Caribbean, feeling blood dripping down my legs, hoping that the snorkelers next to me in the crystal-clear water were too focused on the fish to notice my predicament.
- Best travel-friendly sanitary items
- Limited access to medication and sanitary items around the world
- Does flying affect your period?
What types of sanitary items are best to travel with?
Traveling to a new city or country is not the time to bust out a new pair of shoes that may wind up being uncomfortable, and it’s definitely not the time to pack a new feminine care product you’ve never tried.
Go with what you know.
- If you always use the same brand or style of tampons or pads, then bring those. If you’ve been thinking about trying something new, give it a test run at home before you travel. Same goes for reusable cloth pads, period panties (reusable, washable underwear made to absorb flow), and reusable menstrual cups
- For the past 12 years, I’ve been using reusable menstrual cups both at home and while traveling. They’re cheap, convenient, eco-friendly, and take up very little space. I love them so much that I wrote an entire blog post on why to use a menstrual cup while traveling. Two popular brands are Diva Cup and Moon Cup and they come in different shapes and sizes. They cost about US $30-40 and can last up to 10 years. I always pack mine in my toiletries bag even if I don’t expect to get my period on a trip because we all know that “Aunt Flow” likes to arrive unannounced
- Reusable menstrual cups are easy to use but do take some getting used to, just like tampons did when you first tried those
- Every woman knows that feminine care products fail from time to time, so be sure to pack extra underwear. I keep a travel-size stain remover stick in my toiletries bag that works just as well to get blood off a skirt as it does to get sauce off a shirt
- Wet wipes (opt for an eco-friendly version like Canny Mum biodegradable wipes) are great when you don’t have access to a proper bathroom. They are especially handy to get blood off your fingers if soap and running water aren’t available.
Access to pain medication and sanitary items around the world
If you’re prone to menstrual cramps, pack your favorite pain-relief medication, as it may be difficult to find while traveling. In general, it can be more difficult to find all things period-related in rural areas and in developing countries (pads, tampons, wipes, pain pills, herbal teas, and heating pads). Reusable menstrual cups and period panties definitely won’t be on the shelves either.
While leading a group trip to Jordan, one of my trip participants got her period as soon as we got to Wadi Rum desert, where well-stocked supermarkets and pharmacies aren’t an option. Though Jordan is a safe country for women, it can be a difficult place to find menstrual products.
We stayed at a traditional Bedouin desert camp, where all the staff were men (this is common in desert camps). I had an awkward conversation that included some descriptive gestures with a modest Bedouin guide, and asked if he could take me to the nearest village to buy tampons. He assured me that he understood the situation and came back with two packages of wingless maxi pads, which I felt were completely unsuitable for overnight bleeding. We improvised that night and visited the nearest store in the morning.
Does flying affect your period?
I was terrified the first time I missed my period. It wasn’t just a few days or weeks late; it didn’t come at all for nearly three months. I wasn’t pregnant so I worried something bigger might be wrong. My period is fairly regular (I know this because I use a period tracker phone app), but when I first began traveling significantly for work, my flow was a bit wonky. If you’re worried about something more serious, speak with your doctor, but in my case, I suspect it was to do with my regular traveling.
The act of flying itself won’t necessarily affect your flow but travel can be stressful on the mind and body and that stress can affect your period. Traveling breaks up your normal routine by bringing about all sorts of changes in eating habits, sleep, activity level, and stress. These changes – stress in particular – can cause delayed or even missed periods. Trips that are the most likely to cause changes in your period are those that include long-haul flights, significant time zone changes, and those that are especially anxiety-producing.
Periods haven’t stopped women from swimming across the Atlantic Ocean or traveling into space, so there’s no reason why it should stop you for taking a trip. Plan ahead, pack appropriately, and have a bloody good time out there, ladies!
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