Be Prepared With An Awesome First-Aid Kit

First Aid

by JeanineBarone on August 12, 2010

in Featured,Tips / Planning

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Whether I’m hiking in Montana’s backcountry, mountain biking in Iceland, or traveling via buses, trains or boats through Croatia, Ecuador or other parts of the world, I carry a very complete first-aid kit. Some may call my kit overkill but I know things can go wrong when you’re nowhere near a pharmacy, doctor’s office or emergency room. When I was mountain biking for a week in Colorado, a friend lost control on a downhill and lacerated her leg. (I patched her up until we could get her to a physician.) I’d been camping in the Alaskan wilderness when someone in my group mentioned that he was supposed to have the sutures in his arm removed sometime that week. (I easily removed them.) One night in Morocco, I got a knock on my hotel room door and found out that one of my travel partners had a stomach “bug.” (I riffled through my kit and provided her with something to ease her symptoms.) You’re probably wondering where I got my background in first-aid. (I took advanced first-aid, worked in emergency rooms and other hospital units, assisted doctors in their offices and have long also been a health and medical writer.) Here’s what I carry in my first-aid kit:

monster first aid 3

monster first aid 3 by jellyfish_barnacles

  • KytoStat — an ultra-specialized bandage to stop bleeding when you know simply holding a gauze pad won’t work, such as in someone
  • Bonine — to prevent motion sickness
  • Saline eyewash — to wash out debris from your eye
  • Aleve (naproxen) — for pain
  • Aspirin — in case of anything from fever to a heart attack
  • Gly-Oxide — an oral antiseptic cleanser for gum irritation
  • Alcohol-based hand sanitizer
  • Gauze pads and adhesive bandages in a variety of sizes
  • Nexcare flexible clear tape
  • ACE bandage — for sprains, strains, pulled muscle
  • Neosporin — topical triple antibiotic ointment
  • Cortizone 10 — stick topical cortisone for itching/rash
  • Safety pins, super glue and duct tape (rolled around a pencil or pen)
  • Oral Benadryl — antihistamine for allergies
  • Caladryl lotion — for itching/rashes
  • Maalox chewable tabs — antacid
  • Sudafed — oral decongestant
  • Afrin nasal spray — nasal decongestant
  • Pepto-Bismol — chewable tabs to prevent traveler’s diarrhea
  • Imodium AD — to treat diarrhea
  • Cipro — a prescription antibiotic for severe diarrhea
  • EpiPen — prescription in case someone has a severe, anaphylactic allergy reaction
  • Digital oral thermometer
  • Sawyer Controlled Release — DEET-based insect repellant
  • Blister kit, including moleskin, Spenco Second Skin, and Band-Aid blister bandages
  • Robitussin liquid gel — cough suppressant
  • Ricola throat lozenges
  • Tweezers
  • Anthelios with Mexoryl SX — UVA/UVB sunscreen
  • Temparin — temporary dental filling kit
  • Steripen — UV device to decontaminate water
  • Monistat cream – for women in case of a vaginal yeast infectio
  • Blistex lip ointment/balm

If I’m taking any prescription drugs, I bring these along as well as extra prescriptions from my doctor in case I lose the meds or need more when on the road. To be on the safe side, you may want to keep the meds in their original containers so you don’t have trouble with airport security.

Article by

Native New Yorker, Jeanine Barone (http://www.jthetravelauthority) is a travel and food writer who writes for a multitude of publications, including National Geographic Traveler, Travel + Leisure, the Boston Globe and others. Because she also has a medical background, Jeanine always is prepared for whatever may happen on the road.

Jeanine has written 1 awesome articles for AOB.

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  • Anonymous

    Michael, this is EXCELLENT. Thank you for putting this together. Had no idea you had a medical background!

  • http://artofbackpacking.com Michael

    Oops! I dont! Trust me I’m the worst when it comes to first aid. This was written by Jeanine. I forgot to change the author, all fixed. I loved this article as well. I’m saving this list for my up coming China trip.

  • http://artofbackpacking.com AOBdolce

    Superb post!! I have a medical background :) Usually, I have a lot of these items in my daily bag. Great list!

  • http://dreamalittledream.ca Deidra

    I think this is a great list of things you could need during your travels. However, depending on where you will be and what you will be doing really depends on if you need to carry all of this stuff. So much like you say… this list is for if you are out in the middle of no where on a hiking trip etc.

    Everywhere my husband and I went our our travels all we carried was a very small travel size first aid kit sold at a travel store (few band-aids in various sizes, polysporin, wrap, gauze), plus some asprin, melatonin, multi-vitamins, and prescriptions. This was even too much sometimes as we came home with unused items. We never really went on any big hiking trips and thus this is all we needed. Every country we went to always had access to a pharmacy that sold anything we ever requested.

    So keep this in mind everyone when you are making your first aid kit! Staying in the cities and towns? Skip the big supply. Going on epic hiking adventures in the middle of no where? Then pack up as you never know what could happen.

  • http://www.liverichly.com Jennifer Barry

    That’s quite a comprehensive list! My favorite thing you don’t have is topical Benadryl gel. That works on chigger bites which are the itchiest things I’ve even experienced.

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  • http://vagabond3.com Bob

    On our last trip, we packed alot of the meds you listed, but I agree with Diedra, this list is kind of a last man standing, Zombie-apocalypse, must have stuff. However, KytoStat sounds awesome, I wish I had a supply of this with me when I was a camp counselor.

    • Jeanine Barone

      Hi Bob, Like so much that involves travel and packing, it’s all very personal as to what’s enough and what’s too much. Actually, I bring this kit with me on all my trips, whether I’m in the backcountry or simply traveling to Madrid for a week. (And I have used many of these items even in a city when either I became ill or a colleage hurt themself.) That’s because sometimes mishaps occur in the middle of the night and I like to have my supply of treatments near at hand. Rather than having to look for an open pharmacy late at night and try to ask for something for my stomach ache when my foreign language skills may not be the best. But I do understand those who would prefer to trim their first-aid kit down to just the bare essentials.

  • http://www.campinginmontana.org Raquel

    Great list for a first aid kit, Jeanine. It is nice to bring such all the time in outdoors. I remember one time when we went camping I missed to bring one… good thing nothing bad happened.

  • Anonymous

    Bookmarking this one! Thanks.