PrescriptionPhotograph Your Prescriptions
Back in May, my dad and I went on Windstar Star Pride’s inaugural cruise from Barcelona to Rome. Our first port was Sete, France, a sleepy little French seaside port known as Cette until 1928. The highlight for me, besides getting one of the best ham and cheese sandwiches I’ve ever had, was finding a pharmacist who not only spoke English but also filled my dad’s prescriptions with enough medication to last him the trip!

My dad had foolishly forgotten to pack them, but because we had photographs of his prescription labels, things worked out okay. The lesson: Photograph your prescription labels and keep them on your phone when you travel, because in Sete, that’s all the pharmacist needed to fulfill my dad’s order. And guess what? It cost less there then it did in the U.S.

FYI: For more on traveling with medications, check out Tip #30.

 

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9 Comments On "Travel Tip of the Day: Photograph Your Prescriptions"
  1. Kathy|

    If you’re traveling internationally, take a picture of the whole prescription, especially if it is packaging from pharmaceutical company (for ex., a Proventil inhaler, or sample package from doctor). A middle eastern traveler had pictures on his Ipad which really helped as I don’t read Arabic.

  2. Anonymous|

    This is one of your best tips for senior travelers such as your dad and myself!
    Les Ahrens

  3. ahavrilla|

    Wow, I never would have guessed, THANKS! It certainly was a hassle for me to get 7 months of my prescription before leaving the US. And my insurance allows for multiple refill prescriptions for vacation/out of the country reasons. But the drugstore (Wallgreens) couldn’t figure out the correct code or whatever. They would only give me 1 month under my insurance and I just paid the rest out of pocket. Should have just waited until I got to France, HA!

  4. Brad Bernard|

    Ahh, yeah. Great idea to grab a photo of the medication. I can’t imagine having to explain any loose pills to governments in Singapore or the middle east. Plus, who wants to deal with jet lag when Vyvanse is available?

  5. Lori / Adventures of a Sick Chick|

    Great tip!

  6. michelangelo1475|

    Sete is a beautiful city. The youth hostel is quite nice too, on top of the hill. Was there a few times in my early teens, that’s 25 years ago :-(!

    Generally I keep a record of everything. My ID’s are photographed too. And I have the security code of my credit cards removed and memorized instead.

  7. Anita and Richard @ No Particular Place To Go|

    In my former life I was a pharmacist and so I was greatly concerned with how we would manage to fill multiple RX’s while travelling through Mexico, Central America and now south America. Photographing the label and medication is a great idea! Other things that we’ve found useful are complete lists of our medications with both brand and generic names, directions and what condition the medication is treating. We each keep a copy of the list in case of an emergency and, when visiting a new Dr. for a checkup or when we’re ill we always take it with us. Brand and generic names vary from country to country – we always carry the cut out packaging label of our meds to the pharmacy when asking for refills so that the person behind the counter can see how the name is written (our pronunciation leaves something to be desired). Anita

  8. Marianne Lin|

    This is a great idea! Thanks.

  9. Bec|

    I have a whole section on my blog about this and other things to help senior travelers.
    Scan your prescriptions and your eye glass prescriptions too. Take them on your ipad and email them to your self

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