...which was rather embarassing...
Other than that, I would have to say that I am so used to the lenses now that holidays generally don't cause any problems.
Far flung travel and contacts
Moderators: Anne Klepacz, John Smith, Sweet
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Amarpal
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Had similar problems recently! I was on a school trip to Paris a couple of weeks back. We travelled by coach and by the Eurostar, and it took about 17 hours to get there. obviously, I couldnt wear my RGP lenses the whole time... so I had a really hard time using my glasses as an alternative as they do nothing but simply make shapes very slightly sharper. Was relieved to have them back in! I had such a had time, I even fell out the bus when I was climbing off ...which was rather embarassing...
Other than that, I would have to say that I am so used to the lenses now that holidays generally don't cause any problems.
...which was rather embarassing...
Other than that, I would have to say that I am so used to the lenses now that holidays generally don't cause any problems.
Amarpal
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Andrew MacLean
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Amarpal
That must have been a sight to behold. Still a trip to Paris has to be worth a bit of embarrassment! My favourite city, along with Glasgow, Munich Stockholm, Chicago, Singapore, ... Well, I lived there for a bit and really love the place, its people, its smell and its sheer exuberance.
Andrew
That must have been a sight to behold. Still a trip to Paris has to be worth a bit of embarrassment! My favourite city, along with Glasgow, Munich Stockholm, Chicago, Singapore, ... Well, I lived there for a bit and really love the place, its people, its smell and its sheer exuberance.
Andrew
Andrew MacLean
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rosemary johnson
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I was in NZ last spring (ours; their autumn).
The rap water is fine to drink, wash hands, etc.
tap water, even; oh, my typing!
It's a lovely country.
The pharmacies we tried were very helpful though didn't try getting any lens stuff.
If you take amidose on a plane, be aware of how you are going to get into it. If you pack scissors or similar in your hand luggage, they'll be confiscated at security. I've been advised to ask the cabin crew "can you o pen this for me, please?" - they will have scissors/a knife, though of course you don't know how clean it is.
DO book in with your airline for special assistance at the airports you travel through, and make yourself known to the cabin crew. I went iwth my mum and we got taken on board first, helped off the plane, helped round the airports, etc. SOme are better than others, but the guy who met us and escorted us as Auckland when we landed was just great - didn't mind at all being asked to escort us first to a ladies' and wait for(probably) ages while I put a scleral back in - noror to having to escort us to the biosecurity vetting areas, because i was hoping to go horse-trekking and had turned up in my jodhpurs and riding boots!! (NZ have very strict rules about not letting in anything that might have animal dieseases, woodworm, etc as hitch hikers).
I've never tried putting a lens back in on a plane - the bit I wouldn't like would be wasing the lens first - or rather, washing the cleaner off once I'd cleaned the lens. So I adopted the strategy of getting assisted off the plane at the end and to the nearest ladies where there's water to wash hands, space to spread etc.
Or getting escorted onto the tube at Heathrow when we got back, on the grounds I could get home from there OK - I only had one change, and it was the station where I used to change trains going toa nd from work for years.
The staff at LHR airport were fine, and the guys at Heathrow tube station wonderful - and very solicitous, offering to ring ahead to by change station and home station to get me met there!
Do be aware that plane cabins are very dry. Do keep drinking plenty of water/juice - the cabin crew won't mind if you flag them down at all hours to ask for another glass of water or a dampt towel.
Think jet lag when making your plans! - I found I don't get jet lag in terms of upset body clock - maybe I'm lucky, or maybe it's a sign of having no sense of the passage of time at home!! But I have found after long flights that I put my lenses back in when I arrived in the morning at my destination, and they were fine - and the **following** day my eyes let me know all about how much they didn't like long flights! SO do give yours time to recover from the shock.
Have a wonderful time in NZ!
When I was in Africa, we had filter jugs. People used to fill the top half from the tap, then put them in the fridge. The water filtered through the middle section and turned from lager colour (occasionally) to colourless and had the gubbins filtered out. And had a cold glass of wter ready for when they got home in hot weather. I used to drink the tap water as-was unlss it was really brown and nver had any ill-effects, but often used to pour out a bowl-ful from the jug in which to wash the cleaner off my lenses (then dried them with a tissue, then wetted as normal). I had lots of problems with hay fever, smoke and fumes from mosquito coils or mats, very bright sun, even with two pairs of sunglasses, heat, and having had a hydrops only three months previously, but nothing attributable to the water.
Note: comments here seem to be assuming the hazard posed by dodgy water abroad is of microorganisms. Where I've seen water I've not wanted near my lenses, my concern has been more that it mat have sand in it that would cause abrasion (I think I had this problem at least once).
Rosemary
The rap water is fine to drink, wash hands, etc.
tap water, even; oh, my typing!
It's a lovely country.
The pharmacies we tried were very helpful though didn't try getting any lens stuff.
If you take amidose on a plane, be aware of how you are going to get into it. If you pack scissors or similar in your hand luggage, they'll be confiscated at security. I've been advised to ask the cabin crew "can you o pen this for me, please?" - they will have scissors/a knife, though of course you don't know how clean it is.
DO book in with your airline for special assistance at the airports you travel through, and make yourself known to the cabin crew. I went iwth my mum and we got taken on board first, helped off the plane, helped round the airports, etc. SOme are better than others, but the guy who met us and escorted us as Auckland when we landed was just great - didn't mind at all being asked to escort us first to a ladies' and wait for(probably) ages while I put a scleral back in - noror to having to escort us to the biosecurity vetting areas, because i was hoping to go horse-trekking and had turned up in my jodhpurs and riding boots!! (NZ have very strict rules about not letting in anything that might have animal dieseases, woodworm, etc as hitch hikers).
I've never tried putting a lens back in on a plane - the bit I wouldn't like would be wasing the lens first - or rather, washing the cleaner off once I'd cleaned the lens. So I adopted the strategy of getting assisted off the plane at the end and to the nearest ladies where there's water to wash hands, space to spread etc.
Or getting escorted onto the tube at Heathrow when we got back, on the grounds I could get home from there OK - I only had one change, and it was the station where I used to change trains going toa nd from work for years.
The staff at LHR airport were fine, and the guys at Heathrow tube station wonderful - and very solicitous, offering to ring ahead to by change station and home station to get me met there!
Do be aware that plane cabins are very dry. Do keep drinking plenty of water/juice - the cabin crew won't mind if you flag them down at all hours to ask for another glass of water or a dampt towel.
Think jet lag when making your plans! - I found I don't get jet lag in terms of upset body clock - maybe I'm lucky, or maybe it's a sign of having no sense of the passage of time at home!! But I have found after long flights that I put my lenses back in when I arrived in the morning at my destination, and they were fine - and the **following** day my eyes let me know all about how much they didn't like long flights! SO do give yours time to recover from the shock.
Have a wonderful time in NZ!
When I was in Africa, we had filter jugs. People used to fill the top half from the tap, then put them in the fridge. The water filtered through the middle section and turned from lager colour (occasionally) to colourless and had the gubbins filtered out. And had a cold glass of wter ready for when they got home in hot weather. I used to drink the tap water as-was unlss it was really brown and nver had any ill-effects, but often used to pour out a bowl-ful from the jug in which to wash the cleaner off my lenses (then dried them with a tissue, then wetted as normal). I had lots of problems with hay fever, smoke and fumes from mosquito coils or mats, very bright sun, even with two pairs of sunglasses, heat, and having had a hydrops only three months previously, but nothing attributable to the water.
Note: comments here seem to be assuming the hazard posed by dodgy water abroad is of microorganisms. Where I've seen water I've not wanted near my lenses, my concern has been more that it mat have sand in it that would cause abrasion (I think I had this problem at least once).
Rosemary
thanks all for your advice. Im definitly going to phone the airport before i go to check where i stand with taking scissors for my amidose. Im going for 2 months so just wondering how much amidose will i need?! i can get saline over there but its just a pain hiking around amidose-at home its not a problem as i can pop it in the fridge but as im travlling i may be using 1 a day (and we all know how expensive they are!) any suggestions or alternatives?Im also going to phone my optom about getting a spare pair of lenses, not sure how easy that will be though? Have had my current sclerals for 2 years.
thanks
thanks
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Andrew MacLean
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When I wore a scleral I used to fill it prior to insertion with saline from Tesco.
i can't see any problem about getting a second pair of sclerals, although you may be wise to have a refraction so that your new ones become your 'ordinary' pair and your current ones your spares. I don't think it will be cheap to get new lenses.
I know that the Tesco option is not going to help you on your travels, but I really am stumped, unless you contact a travel company and ask them to find out about compatible products that you can source locally.
Andrew
i can't see any problem about getting a second pair of sclerals, although you may be wise to have a refraction so that your new ones become your 'ordinary' pair and your current ones your spares. I don't think it will be cheap to get new lenses.
I know that the Tesco option is not going to help you on your travels, but I really am stumped, unless you contact a travel company and ask them to find out about compatible products that you can source locally.
Andrew
Andrew MacLean
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Andrew MacLean
- Moderator
- Posts: 7703
- Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2004 8:01 pm
- Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
- Vision: Other
- Location: Scotland
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rosemary johnson
- Champion
- Posts: 1478
- Joined: Tue 19 Oct 2004 8:42 pm
- Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
- Vision: Contact lenses
- Location: East London, UK
I've been using Amidose for most of the time since K-Lens was discontinued. (Remember K-Lens, anyone???? Oh, those were the days!)
I've never been in the havit of keeping it in the fridge. The current tube has gone in the case with my case, other lens, wetting solution, stash of tissues, etc, and lived at room temperature.
Well, at the moment, room temperature in my house is probably loder than in my fridge!! - the gas board have been doing repair work all along our street and cut me off yesterday morning while they relaid the pipes. Of course, they chose the coldest day of the year, brrrr!!!
I've never, so far as I know, had any problems I could attribute to the Amidose (other than the normal one of it being Amidose, which isn't a patch on the K-Lens, that is!)
I really wouldn't worry about it in NZ. Take your normal supplies and a few more for good luck/in case.
As regards lugging things about NZ in a back pack - save the space for loads of DEET (insect repellant) and mepyramine malleate (to put on bites, such as Anthisan) - the sand flies are vicious!!!)
Scissors will be OK in your checked-in luggage, so you will be able to open the Amidose tubes once you're there.
DOn't rely on getting them onto a plane, whtever they tell you.
Good luck.
Rosemary
I've never been in the havit of keeping it in the fridge. The current tube has gone in the case with my case, other lens, wetting solution, stash of tissues, etc, and lived at room temperature.
Well, at the moment, room temperature in my house is probably loder than in my fridge!! - the gas board have been doing repair work all along our street and cut me off yesterday morning while they relaid the pipes. Of course, they chose the coldest day of the year, brrrr!!!
I've never, so far as I know, had any problems I could attribute to the Amidose (other than the normal one of it being Amidose, which isn't a patch on the K-Lens, that is!)
I really wouldn't worry about it in NZ. Take your normal supplies and a few more for good luck/in case.
As regards lugging things about NZ in a back pack - save the space for loads of DEET (insect repellant) and mepyramine malleate (to put on bites, such as Anthisan) - the sand flies are vicious!!!)
Scissors will be OK in your checked-in luggage, so you will be able to open the Amidose tubes once you're there.
DOn't rely on getting them onto a plane, whtever they tell you.
Good luck.
Rosemary
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