This came up at a dinner conversation last night...........What are the rules now about traveling with OTC medicines. I know you should leave all prescription meds in their container. What about Tylenol, Advil, Aleve, etc. You know we buy this stuff in those bulk bottles at Sams, Wal-Mart, etc., but they sure aren't easy to travel with. Do you buy little small bottles of the stuff to just keep around for traveling or do you put it in other plastic containers, pill boxes, zip locks for traveling. I would be interested also in how the airlines treat this and cruising since you go outside the U.S.
I have never had a problem with that. I keep all meds in my carry on and in the zip lock bags also. Never was there a question on them. Happy cruising.
Most of the OTC pills have the brand stamped right on the pill. It's allways best to leave them in their original bottles but I doubt it would cause any problems. As long as you're not carrying a big zip lock bag full of white powder, you may be safe!
The generic tylenol and tylenol pm just have numbers stamped on them which was a concern, but you're right, it isn't white powder! I do remember one time putting some Tide in a zip lock bag to take on a cruise. My hubby saw it and said, "Do you really want to jeopardize our trip by taking that stuff in a zip lock bag?" I saw his point. This was way before 9/11 when security got so tight. I guess he was figuring that my staying in a Mexican jail wasn't the way to spend a vacation!!!!
Yeah, a Mexican Jail isn't exactly my idea of fun either.
I never had anybody check my bags for anything but hard drugs and guns etc. Also, I plan to take my laundry soap in a zip-lock bag. They can smell it if they want to. They are also more then welcome to bring on the dogs. No big deal as long as I don't miss the ship! hee hee
When we travel, I buy travel size containers of Tylenol and Advil. If I need more while I'm away, you can find small bottles anywhere. As for the laundry soap, I go to a laundromat and buy the little packets from the vending machine or the attendant. I put this packet in a plastic bag in case of leakage. Never had a problem, YET!
I alway put my pills in snack size zip lock bags with a slip of paper in each as a label. I alway take a small pharms. with me so we are covered for everything from constipation to diarreha because (s--t happens) it takes up alot less room and I carry it on and have never had any problems.
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VIKING SERENADE 1993
HOLIDAY 1995
HOLIDAY 1997
HOLIDAY 1998
ECTASY 1999
ELATION 2000
STAR PRINCESS 2002
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Once, going thru customs at Seattle airport, the man in front of me had a toothpaste tube opened and a rod shoved into the tube to check for some type of drug in stick form. It was in it, and he was handcuffed on the spot and escorted away.
Don, Very unusual and dollars to donut they probably had a tip on him. My wife and I both have to take a number of meds daily and we usually just have them in the SMTWTFS pillbox. Never anything said. I have even had some pretty strong pain meds that I need to take with me and again, no problem. Now if I had a couple of hundred or more then yeah, they would probably be a little more than suspicious. <G>
Jim
I have big bottles of OTC stuff, plus a couple big bottles of prescription drugs that I get in maintenance quantities by mail order. No way I'm going to take them along in those huge bottles. I put them in those little pill strips for the length of the trip plus a few days, put elastic bands around them and throw them in my carryon. Been doing this for years and years and years for all kinds of international and domestic travel. I also carry a list of what I take in my wallet. Nobody's ever said a word. If they ever do, I'll show them the list. If they want to take the stuff to the chem lab, good luck to them.
Reasonable people can do reasonable things with reasonable impunity, even though in this case the letter of the law says you have to have the original containers.
Laundry soap is obviously laundry soap.Even in a baggie. It smells like laundry soap , and it looks like laundry soap. It does not look like Coke or Heroin. Relax. We have taken laundry soap this way for years. It is in our checked bag, and since checked bags are dog sniffed, a dog knows the difference between soap and drugs. If one carried the baggie of " laundry soap" in their carry on it would look rather suspicious, I mean, it is just soap.
I have a small bottle of Tylenol that I never throw out, I just buy the big bottles of the pills and take what I need in the small bottle.
I also have to take a prescription med that I get in large amounts, but , I can peel the label off the big bottle and apply it to a smaller bottle and take a smaller amount.I use the proper label and it is a proper pharmacy bottle so it is perfectly legal. Just go to your pharmacy and explain the situation and they may give you a smaller bottle, they won't give you another label though, you must have the original.
Thank you guys! Great info. As always, very helpful hints! See I take the entire pharmacy too. With two daughters and hubby who pack nothing, I get to take everything because the first thing I'll hear is, "Mom, do you have any tylenol" "Do you have any Rolaids", etc. No wonder my carry on is so full!!! Thanks again
i have 25 count empty Tylenol/Ibuprofen bottles that i save exactly for this reason. I also bring a couple of single rolls of Rolaids, a blister pack of Sudafed, a small tube of hydrocortisone cream, doesn't take up any room at all.
I have a travel sized container of liquid laundry soap that i bring, very handy. The laundromats on board are very limited to the brands of detergent to choose from. The laundry tabs also work great,packed in a ziploc bag.
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Traveling with OTC meds questions
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