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Surviving while travelling
Your first aid kit should be a ‘travel survival kit’, in that it should contain useful medical items to help you to stay comfortable and safe. It’s important for you to have one, even if you are going on an organised trip, as you should always be responsible for having a first aid kit that enables you to look after yourself. There is certainly considerable peace of mind in knowing that you can treat your own blisters and that you have your own bandages, medication and the like. So, check out our advice below on organising and buying your kit, as well as what items of kit you should take.
Organising your first aid kit
When organising your kit, the main points to remember are:

• It should be as compact as possible in a hard-wearing nylon bag. Dark nylon wash kit bags are useful as they do not attract attention and have lots of storage room.

• You must know exactly what’s in the kit and how to use it. If you don’t know how to use it, then it’s not going to be of much use!

• The contents should be specifically tailored to your requirements, taking into account geographical and activity considerations.

Buying your first aid kit
If you go into outdoor shops or pharmacy, you will find a plethora of travel medical kits that cater for pretty much every eventuality. However, with a pre-packed first aid kit, there is inevitably a bit of laziness involved in buying it and a tendency to think, ‘I’m all right, I’ve bought a first aid kit’ – but then when you need to use it, it may not contain what you need. So, if you do buy a ready-made first aid kit, make sure it contains everything you’re likely to need – and also think about whether or not all the items are necessary. For instance, the kit may have scissors in it – but you probably have those on your Swiss Army knife, so why take a second pair? You should also supplement the kit with extra medical items based on your own requirements.
Essential medical items
Items of kit you will definitely need to take on your travels include the following:

• Plasters. You may need a lot of these, so take a variety of sizes plus a strip of wider plaster which you can cut to the appropriate size.

• Cleaning wipes. Antibacterial wipes are useful for cleaning small wounds. (Larger wounds should be cleaned with soap and cooled, boiled water.)

• Field/ambulance dressing. This is a gauze pad with a bandage sewn on, and is used to stop severe bleeding. These can be bought from army surplus stores or pharmacy.