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…

  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 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 you toothbrush.  The last thing you want to do after dropping your toothbrush in the public shower is pick it up and put it back in your mouth.

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