Not medical advice. Talk to your own team before a big trip, especially about medication and any country-specific rules. This is just my packing brain, learned from trips that went fine and a couple that did not.
For a while I stopped traveling, because travel is basically a machine for breaking every rule that keeps my pancreas calm. Strange food, long gaps between meals, no kitchen, and the offer of a drink at every turn. Then I worked out a system, and now a trip is just logistics, not a gamble.
Enzymes come in the carry-on, always
If you take enzymes, they go in your hand luggage, not the checked bag, and I pack more than I think I need. A delayed or lost bag should never mean a missed dose. I keep them in the original box with the pharmacy label, and for flights abroad I carry a short note or prescription copy in case anyone asks. Enzymes need to travel with your food, so I keep a dose in my pocket, not buried in the bag in the overhead bin.
Never fly hungry, never fly on airport roulette
The single worst thing I can do is arrive at the airport with an empty stomach and hand my next meal to whatever kiosk is open. So I bring my own. Plain rice, oatmeal cups I can make with hot water, a banana, plain crackers, a low-fat sandwich. Airplane food is a fat lottery, and a long-haul flight is the last place you want to draw the wrong ticket.
Book the room with a kettle or a fridge
When I book, I look for a kettle, a microwave or a small fridge before I look at anything else. That one appliance turns any hotel room into a place I can make oatmeal, reheat plain rice, or keep yogurt cold. It is the difference between eating safely for a week and eating out for every meal and hoping.
The drink question travels too
Every trip, someone offers, and the answer never changes. Zero alcohol, no exceptions, no “just on holiday.” I bring my own answer ready so I never have to improvise it tired and jet-lagged. A sparkling water with lime in my hand ends the conversation before it starts.
Stepan’s Rule: Enzymes in the carry-on, your own food for the journey, a kettle or fridge in the room. Get those three right and the rest of the trip is just sightseeing.
The full travel and eating-out chapter
Restaurants, airports, other people’s kitchens, and how to hold your ground politely, is covered in the PancreasZen book, alongside the recipes and the phase-by-phase plan. Everything the discharge papers left out, including how to leave the house again.