*Managing periods during travel

*This post is written in collaboration with Evana. All thoughts are my own, and this is a post I feel is very very useful for readers of Inside Laura’s Head-or I wouldn’t have written it!

As a woman, I always have to think about my period when I’m booking a trip. Honestly, I hate it. It may well be different for some women, those lucky enough to have a three day, really light bleed they don’t really need to think about. But I have longer, heavy, painful periods that can be an absolute nightmare to deal with. I’ve read that tranexamic acid can help make heavy periods lighter and easier to deal with, so tranexamic acid tablets from Evana are on my list to try-at home, in the safety of my own house with my own washing machine-before my next trip! In the meantime, there’s things I do that help me to deal with my period on a trip, and in this post I’m sharing my tips on managing periods during travel.

Period pants

I find air travel plays havoc with my period, making it come early, start again after it’s stopped and sometimes it can be heavier after a flight. Knowing my period is due in a few days, my period pants are packed and I wear some on a flight, in case my period decides to make an early appearance. They’re also really useful for any delays-I need a toilet at least every couple of hours and if a flight is late or there’s turbulence, this can be a problem. Period pants stop the worry about embarrassing leaks and ruined clothes.

They do need washing whilst I’m away, though, whether thats in a washing machine or handwashing. I need to plan for this when I’m booking a trip!

Mooncup

If I know I’m going to be struggling for luggage space, I’ll pack my mooncup rather than tampons. I will say that recently I’ve not got on very well with the mooncup (maybe I need a new one?) so I always, always wear this with period pants as a backup. It’s also not suitable for every country-somewhere like the Balkans, which I love but know they often have terrible toilets, would not work for a mooncup.

Emergency tampons

I always pack emergency tampons, even if I’m not expecting a period. After previously trying and failing to find applicator tampons in a country (I think it was Turkiye) that didn’t do them, and then spending a week feeling really uncomfortable as I just can’t use non applicator tampons, I pack an emergency stash in my travel bag. This is usually enough for a couple of days rather than an entire period but if my period is due, I just take a whole box. It’s annoying that they take up a lot of space in my very small bag, but I do enjoy filling that space (with lovely different country Haribo) on the way home.

Think about your clothes carefully

A trip with a period due is not the time for that gorgeous white broderie anglaise dress, no matter how much you love it-you’re risking disaster! I go for dark trousers, cycling shorts under a dress, and pack spares, just in case. I’ve definitely needed them before.

Pack a couple of empty carrier bags for washing

As grim as it sounds, sometimes periods don’t behave and leaks happen. Not being able to put clothes straight into the wash isn’t ideal and I don’t want to contaminate the rest of my suitcase, so a carrier bag to put dirty washing into is a must for me. It stops any stress during the journey home.

Avoid swimming

This is just my preference-obviously you can still swim, but I’m not a big swimmer anyway and I feel so self conscious by a pool mid period, it’s just not worth it for me. I’ll spend the day exploring instead.

Consider a period delay tablet

This isn’t something I do for every trip, as they make the following period a bit of a nightmare, but for some trips I’ve taken a period delay tablet. It tends to be trips where I know I’ll be doing a lot of bus travel with longer journeys, or where I know the toilets aren’t going to be a great standard.

Eat all the snacks!

Period cravings are a real thing and I can’t settle until I’ve eaten all the salty snacky food I want, so on a trip I lean into it. I love seeing what different flavours of Lays a country has (why are they so much nicer than Walkers crips yet are made by the same company!?) so dealing with a period abroad gives me an excuse to enjoy them whenever I fancy.

Don’t forget painkillers

I often need to pop a painkiller, especially for the first couple of days of my period, so I make sure I bring Ibuprofen, and carry it around in my day bag. Simple, but effective.

Do you have anything else you to do deal with your period on a trip? Or maybe you’ve managed to find a way to no longer have them? Let me know in the comments.