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For People with Periods only! How To Travel for 8 months with a Period.
January 24, 2021
Hello Binary, Trans and/or Non-Binary people,
Let us talk about something often overlooked in the travel community and is rarely depicted on all those shiny Instagram posts. I’m talking about travel and mother nature: our periods.
When preparing for our 8 month trip around the world, I worked out every detail all the way down to what nail polish I wasn’t bringing but a month before taking off, and it dawned on me what about my period?
A month before takeoff it dawned on me: What about my Period? What was I going to do for 8 months on the road?
I’m no stranger to travel and periods. I lived abroad in Turkey for almost a year and had them. I even ventured out and bought Turkish brand sanitary napkins, which resulted in a wicked rash and lessons learned.
But we would be on the move for over 8 months to six vastly different continents, and I had no way to know which pads I could or could not buy. Nor did I have enough room in my backpack to carry 8 months’ worth of pads. So what to do?
I jumped online and did research and found just one article discussing what to do before I get into how I figured out how to manage my period while on the road for months jumping from country to country, hostels to hotels, and Ger to boathouse; I’ll discuss some of the options I considered.
The Diva Cup
There were definitely forums where women raved about the diva cup. The diva cup is basically a cup you insert into your vagina, and it catches all of your periods, and then you empty it. The advantages are plenty, like it’s reusable, washable, and pretty manageable. It’s also good for the environment. The obvious disadvantages are misuse resulting in accidents or spills, irritation, and slight discomfort. I thought about adopting this technique but was hesitant since it was a month out, and I would not get the opportunity to test this one out until on the road, and if it didn’t work, I would have had to buy pads in Thailand. Since our first stop was also the start of my period, it was too high of a risk for me.
Reusable/Cotton Pads
I’ve heard of people dedicated to this method, but to me, it sounds a bit like wearing a cotton diaper. I’m not knocking it until I try it, but it does sound like a lot of work. So the idea is that you use cotton/reusable pads and wash them after each use. It’s the way our ancestors used to do it, and it’s the way many people do it around the world. Again it is practical and tried and true. The only foreseeable problems I saw with this was again potential misuse and the inconvenience of cleaning. Unless you are storing and taking used pads with you into the shower, many shared bathroom facilities do not let you wash in the sink. I imagine for the timid or shy, the idea of publicly washing used pads can be overwhelming. The idea of me washing my used pads in sinks for 12 days in Mongolia in public washroom facilities did not sit well.
Good ole’ Pads & Tampons
The good thing about having tampons is that you can use them to go swimming. The bad news about only using pads and tampons is that it causes lots of waste, and you can’t carry 8 months’ worth with you. You’d have to buy more, and oftentimes your favorite brands won’t be available, and you may not be able to read the label: re wicked rash. No one wants that while traveling. Many brands overseas in Asia and Europe seemed obsessed with using perfumed pads, which have never agreed with me. So while I totally wanted to go this way based on previous experience, I thought better of it.
My way: Thinx Undies greatest revolution for periods in modern times.
I was pretty distraught about what to do and even forced my (ex) to listen to me think through options (hey, I’m normalizing the period here). So then I discovered Thinx underwear, which is a pad within cute looking undies. They come in boy shorts, normal cuts, and even have lace. They can be for heavy, light, and medium days and hold up to two pads worth of period. It’s like complete freedom. When I bought my five pairs, they only came in black and beige, but now they are also green & red. I bought 5 heavy day undies and wore them with a combination of pads or tampons when needed. It cut my typical pad/tampon use in half. I wore pads and the undies on my heaviest days during the day and night. After my 3rd day, I would switch to wearing them solo. Since they look like underwear, there’s no embarrassment when it comes to cleaning and hand drying. After each use, I would take them in the shower with me and wash them there. Then hang dry them. No one was the wiser (except my ex because he knew). The entire time I did not have accidents either. So it worked for me for 8 months traveling to six different continents. I would totally recommend this for someone who has only used pads and is about to embark on a crazy adventure like ours.
Picture of underwear from Thinx shethinx.com
Since Thinx came out, there are now multiple companies to choose from. To name a couple: Knix and Black-owned Ruby Love. Even Woman Magazine wrote a wonderful and useful article on all the brands available: 11 Best Period Panties of 2021 That Are Both Leak-Proof and Absorbent.
Are you a seasoned traveler? Are you a person with periods?
What did you do to ensure comfort during your long term travel?
Would you recommend any of these over the other?
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