Contents of a First Aid Kit - Healthy BackpackingWhen was the last time you’ve taken a look into your travelers’ first aid kit?  Has it been updated recently?

While traveling, especially if you’re taking an extreme outdoor adventure, it is important to carry proper first aid supplies in your backpack to help you maintain minor health situations as well as pre-existing medical conditions.  

You can purchase your travelers’ first aid supplies at just about any local pharmacy but, to personalize your medical kit for your specific trip, you really need to start from scratch.  

Luckily for you, creating your own medical kit, or at least making some adjustments to the one you currently own, isn’t that difficult.  Although contents within a travelers health kit can vary widely pending on your destination, type of travel, length of trip, and other medical situations, I’ve put together a broad list of things I like to carry with me while going on an overseas adventure tour and other outdoor adventures.  

So whether you’re preparing for a relaxing float down the river in Laos, or go trekking to the World Peace Pagoda in Pokhara, Nepal, take a look at the list of medical supplies I usually carry with me to keep safe, healthy, and ready for just about any overseas adventure!

First Aid & Backpacking – Here’s what I pack…

Contents of a Medical Kit

  1. Telfa Pads
  2. Assortment of Bandaids (for cuts & blisters)
  3. Super Glue (to prevent infection of open wounds)
  4. Steri-strips/Butterfly closures
  5. Tape/Coban
  6. Triple Antibiotic Ointment with Lidocaine
  7. Scissors
  8. Tweezers
  9. Q-tips in ziplock bag
  10. Ace wraps
  11. Thermometer
  12. Chewing gum – for plane rides
  13. Insect repellent
  14. Permethrin Spray
  15. Water treatment supplies
  16. Personal Wipes
  17. Antibacterial Pump Soap/small bar
  18. Caldesene Powder
  19. Rhuligel – itch relief and sunburn
  20. Hydrocortisone Cream
  21. Eye Drops – Murine/Visine
  22. Sunscreen – at least SPF 15 or higher
  23. Anti-fungal skin cream – Lotrimin
  24. Oral Rehydration Salts – prevent or treat diarrhea
  25. Antihistamine – Benadryl
  26. Analgesics/Anti-inflamatory – Aspirin, Motrin, Tylenol, or Aleve
  27. Antidiarreal – loperamide (Imodium)
  28. Antacid – Pepto-Bismol
  29. Motion/Sea sickness – Dramamine
  30. Prescription Meds – in the original labeled container (also copies of prescriptions)

While a medical kit is the best way to be prepared for an accident, you may want to take it a step further and become certified in First Aid too.  Having all the contents on you may be handy, but if you don’t know what to do with them or how to treat yourself properly, you might as well be lost in the woods.  If you end up using some of the contents in the bag, keep a mental note to replace whatever was used as soon as possible.

Additionally, you may also want to include extra toothbrushes in your Med Kit as you never know when you’ll drop, lose, or accidentally contaminate your toothbrush.  The last thing you want to do after dropping your toothbrush in the public shower is picking it up and put it back in your mouth.

What do you carry on your personal medical kit while traveling?