Travel Tip: Traveling with Contact Lenses
An important tenet in my life is efficiency and convenience. I don't like to shop so I do huge shopping trips when forced to or I shop online. I maximize my efforts in whatever I do.
This is even more important when I travel.
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When I travel, everything is optimized, multi-use and tried-and-true tested. I want to concentrate on immersing myself in the place I am visiting and not worrying about my “things.”
I adore glasses, they are “mon petit péché mignon” (“my little soft spot” or “my little secret weakness”) but they can be a real pain when traveling. I have not worn contact lenses since my twenties, but I am thinking of getting them for travel is they are ultra-convenient.
Back when I was wearing them you had to go to the eye doctor, but now like everything else in the world, I can buy contacts online which fits into my lifestyle perfectly.
As I consider contact lenses for my next trip here are a few tips I picked during my travels when I used to wear them:
- Pack at least two extra pairs of your contacts in case you lose or damage your current pair.
- The air on airplanes is often very dry, and the dryness may cause your lenses to feel less comfortable than usual. Make sure to have a small bottle of rewetting drops handy.
- Consider putting in a fresh pair of lenses when you reach your destination or after you wake up the first morning.
- The pressurized cabins on airplanes can sometimes cause bottles and lens cases to leak. To avoid a mess, put your lens case and solution(s) in a zip-lock bag.
- Always have an up-to-date prescription for your contacts. Some countries, like France, require a prescription to get replacement lenses.
- Pack your eye-care products with you rather than buying them at your destination because some brands aren't available where you're going. Even if they do carry your product line, the formulas may vary from country to country and may not be compatible with your contacts or your eyes.
- DON’T pack your lenses in checked baggage if your bag gets lost you will be stuck (trust me!).
And since 3-1-1 did not exist when I used to wear contact lenses you are of course only allowed to carry small amounts of eye drops and other liquids with you on an airplane. Pack what you need and check the rest.
Those are the tips and tricks I learned along the way…
How about you? Do you travel with contact lenses or glasses? Have an additional tip?
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Great tips miss Andi! So true, wearing contacts when you fly can be tough!
@Copystrands, merci!
I use dailies–and they make traveling with contacts so much less stressful! They take up a bit more room, but I don’t have to worry about solution (or making sure I have a travel-sized container to get through security) or tearing one and being out of luck. Plus, they’re a lot better for my super-dry eyes 🙂
@Christine, great suggestion.
Good tip about keeping them with you. I would hate to go without them when the luggage gets lost. I really prefer contacts to glasses so it would make for a difficult trip!
Great tips! I HAVE to wear contacts to be able to see — they’re the only things that correct my vision. And I can only wear HARD contact lenses. I always carry a spare pair because I would truly be lost if I lost one of them. But I do like the thought of carrying my RX in case.
Thanks for the tips!
Debby
I travel with both. I don’t wear my contacts on the plane though, because I’m terrified of flying and always hope to sleep the entire flight. I’d rather sleep with my glasses on than my contacts in.
The contact lens is very useful while traveling because you can carry it easily and there is no chance of breaking or losing it. During traveling it may possible that we lost the specs but lenses we cannot do. But we have to take care of lenses otherwise it will not usable in future.