Summer Vacation Emergency Kit: Be Ready For Anything #SummerSafety

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I was born into a family that loves to travel. I have so many wonderful memories from our numerous trips, but mixed in are some not so great memories. Being on vacation doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen. Having a child with a food allergy means I’m even more aware of the dangers that can happen away from home, so I find it important to have a vacation emergency kit with us when we travel.

I have a memory of one time that we were at Walt Disney World when I was a kid. My brother was not quite 5. We were waiting for the bus and my brother wandered into a grassy area and he stepped on a fire ant mound. Now if you don’t know what fire ants are they are nasty little buggers and they attack. My brother had on sandals and they swarmed in and bit his feet up. His sandals had Velcro so they were even getting stuck in it and continuing to bite him. My brother was in quite a bit of pain, and there we were waiting at the bus stop for a bus back to the hotel and unable to do anything. Luckily for my brother there was a nurse waiting with her family at the bus stop as well, and she was prepared for anything. She saw what had happened and whipped out her first aid supplies and went to work calming down the pain in my brother’s feet and preventing the bites from infection. She was an angle in disguise to a hurt and upset 4 year old.

Vacation Emergency Kit

As an adult, and as a parent of a child with a severe food allergy, there is no question to me that I need to be prepared for anything to happen when we are on vacation. I can’t fix every problem, but it’s good to be prepared to handle different emergencies. To keep our family prepared, and for peace of mind, I carry in my bag a vacation emergency kit.

Here are the items I keep in our  vacation emergency kit:

1. Sunscreen

How many times have you forgotten to put sunscreen on your kids? There are also those times you forget to throw it into you beach bag for later applications. If you have a small sunscreen in your vacation emergency kit then you’ll always have some with you.

2. Aloe

Using sunscreen doesn’t mean that a sunburn won’t possibly happen, and we all know how bad they can hurt. To help ease the pain make sure to keep some aloe with you.

3. BAND-AID® Brand BLISTER GEL GUARD™

Many years ago while on vacation my shoes broke and I had to wear another pair of shoes that were basically brand new. I’m sure you can imagine the horrible blisters I got. I was in pain for most of the trip after that. I would have given a lot for a blister guard. They are even better than bandages for helping to protect and cushion blisters.

4. Basic First Aid Supplies

Scrapes and cuts happen all the time, so every vacation safety kit should include basic first aid supplies. You should have bandages (possibly of different sizes), alcohol wipes, and antibiotic ointment.

5. Pain Killers

I don’t go anywhere without pain killers, so they are a staple item in my vacation emergency kit. I always have it because a headache can come out of nowhere on me and I need to be ready so it doesn’t morph into a migraine. It’s still good to have pain killers on hand though just in case. You may want to bring some for both adults and kids.

6. Allergy Medicine

Due to Nick’s egg allergy we don’t go anywhere without Benadryl as it is his first line of defense should he have a reaction. I think it’s such an important thing to always have on hand though. You never know when someone in your travel group might have an allergic reaction to food or an insect bite/sting. Sometimes you need it fast too, so you want it with you at all times. This is also something you might need in both adult and child form.

7. EpiPens

Alright, so this isn’t something you’re going to find in every vacation emergency kit, but you’ll certainly find it in ours. Now that Nick can eat baked eggs it’s far easier to avoid food that can cause an allergic reaction, but you just never know so when we travel the EpiPens are with us.

8. Supplemental Insurance

Carrying a vacation emergency kit is great, but the reality is accidents happen. Bad accidents can happen anywhere, and they can be costly. Many years ago now my mother-in-law was on vacation in Mexico and stepped wrong on some uneven pavement and hurt her knee. She had to rush back home to have knee surgery. According to the National Safety Council, the total cost of unintentional injuries in 2011 was $753 billion!

When unexpected injuries happen, make sure you’re prepared with supplemental insurance like Aflac’s accident policy to help cover out-of-pocket expenses. Supplemental insurance policies such as accident, critical illness and cancer help protect workers from high out-of-pocket costs that major medical insurance was never designed to cover. Many supplemental insurance policies pay cash benefits that can be used for everyday living expenses like groceries, child care, lodging or parking at the hospital.

In my opinion vacations are the best things ever. The memories they create are some of the things I treasure the most. Make sure you’re left with good memories though by being prepared with a vacation emergency kit.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.