10 Essential First Aid Items For The Intrepid Traveller

Traveling is fun. It’s that holiday, the business trip, the meeting up with some old friend or relative or a loved one which gets one excited about boarding a plane to a far off land.

There are others who just love traveling and will find any excuse to jump on a plane. The intrepid travelers, who have to travel often either driven by personal lust to see and do more or by the nature of their job or business.

Most travelers will require a travel health insurance as well to make sure in case of an emergency they are covered, both financially and health wise.

Though traveling is fun, packing for a trip is not and I am sure a lot of us would find it cumbersome. You are always confused about what to pack and what not to pack.

The airline luggage allowance, the most essential items, the gifts all add up to the confusion and make it a boring, mundane task that we all have to do nonetheless.

Just like the travel health insurance is a safety measure that will help, carrying a first aid kit would be a step further in making sure you do yourself a big favor.

We all have a home first aid kit for providing some respite in case of cuts, minor injuries and things like mosquito or insect bites and we have a vehicle first aid kit for on the road accidents.

All of these will have basic antiseptic cream, band- aids and more necessary items to help provide some first aid from pain or bleeding so what else should the travel first aid kit consist of?

Well, fret not because we have made a handy guide for you and included the 10 most essential first aid items in it. Read on to find about them.

1. Non-stick dressings – The versatile bandages work for bleeding control, applying pressure on open wounds or even snake bites. The first thing you want to do is to cover your wounds to be safe from allergies and as such these form an important element of a first aid box.
2. Tourniquet – It is a form of bandage used to control venous and arterial circulation to an extremity for a period of time. Tourniquet is for occasions where a person would bleed out the constriction.
3. Headlamp – Though some of you might disagree on this but at times when you are stuck in dark you need to know what you are doing with yourself or others who need the first aid. This should be a must for your first aid kit.
4. Mosquito repellent with 40 percent-plus DEET– When you are traveling often, you never know what kind of places you will be staying at. Your budget might not always allow you the luxury of staying at 5 star hotels and as such you might sometimes encounter situations where you have to deal with mosquitoes and insects. A good quality mosquito repellent can save you from malaria and dengue fever.
5. Imodium and rehydration powder – Because you might have a Bali belly or be dehydrated at times. You don’t want to take that long bus journey in such situations.
6. Suntan lotion and moisturizer – You might be the outdoorsy type and be playing out in the sun. You do not want to be back with a sunburn or tan which is more of a heatstroke instead and pains.
7. Latex-free disposable gloves – You never know when you can have allergic reactions to something. They also protect you in course of providing first aid because you never know what you will touch in the process.
8. Thermometer – At times you can get sick and you need to know if you can pop a pill or you need to call a doctor.
9. Face mask – There are high levels of pollution in certain countries like China now and this can also help in preventing germs during certain first aid processes.
10. Antiseptic Cream – An antiseptic cream treats cuts, scratches, abrasions, insect bites, minor burns, sunburns, sore lips, minor skin infections, chapped roughened hands and cracked itchy skin. You just can’t miss this from a first aid kit.

These 10 items are just an indicative and in no way an exhaustive list. The first aid kits would have different items based on the needs and habits of the person using them. Some people might cut or bruise easily and might require items catering to those situations while others may have different needs.

How do you pack for your first aid kit? If you didn’t think of it so far, we hope that this article inspires you to form a habit of carrying a travel first aid kit for your upcoming trips. Stay safe and enjoy your travels and do share your first aid related travel stories with us.

Author Bio:

Jerry Tyrrell is one of the founders of Survival First Aid Kits, Australia’s leading provider of first aid products for the home, workplace, vehicle and outdoors. Jerry is passionate about the importance of first aid within our day to day lives and is one of the authors of the First Aid Emergency Handbook; the only book to win the Australian Design Award.