What It’s Like Traveling the World With Type 1 Diabetes

For Travel + Leisure’s column Traveling As, we’re talking to travelers about what it’s like to explore the world through their unique perspectives. We talked to Krista Llewellyn, an adventurous traveler who has visited 39 countries, despite having to constantly manage her blood sugar levels because of Type 1 diabetes. The Hamilton, Ontario-based G Adventures customer operations assistant manager says it’s all about thinking one step ahead. Here’s her story… 

My Type 1 diabetes story is an interesting one because my younger brother was actually diagnosed about a year and a half before me, so my family was already exposed to the disease and understood its symptoms. When your body stops producing insulin, the signs of high blood sugar usually include frequent urination, constant thirst, feeling nauseous, and losing weight because your body starts to burn fat instead of the sugar in your blood. It sounds like a good thing, but it’s not the fat you want to lose; it’s essential fats, which end up in your blood, basically poisoning you. 

Puberty is one of the most common times when diabetes appears, but Type 1 diabetes can present itself at any point in life. I was 12 when I started feeling down with low energy. When I mentioned I was thirsty all the time, something clicked for my mom. She suggested I test my blood sugar on my brother’s kit, and we saw immediately my number was high.

Of course, it was scary, and I went through all the emotions that come with any type of health scare, but because my brother had just gone through it, I knew I was going to be OK.

As a family, we traveled quite a bit in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. We have some extended family in Europe, so we went there a few times, too, but my love for adventure travel started during my post-university years through my background in art. I won an artist grant to travel to India and Israel to visit cultural centers and learn more about the history of their religions. It was my first solo trip, and I was gone for about a month and a half in 2014. 

During that trip, I went on a meditation retreat in Jaipur, India. I had taken a vow of noble silence, as had everyone else who checked into the center. I sat still, meditating for 10 days straight. I carried a pack of high-sugar gummies in my bag so I wouldn’t need assistance if my blood sugar dropped. It was challenging, but a wonderful experience.

From there, I was already planning the next trip. I spent four months in southeast Asia the following year and another three months there the year after that, with countless trips in between.

No matter where I am, taking care of my diabetes is my secret full-time job on top of my full-time job. It’s a lot of work, but there have been many technological advancements over the years that have made life a lot easier. There’s the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, Dexcom, that reads my blood sugar, and with the new tandem system I have, it feeds that information to my insulin pump. That means, there’s a certain amount of auto adjustment that happens in the background throughout the day. 

There’s still a lot of manual work. I have to change out the actual site where it goes into my body every couple of days, refill the insulin every few days, and change out the CGM system’s patches about every 10 days. But now, I can eat mostly whatever I want, whenever I want. Before every meal, I look at the carbs in grams and input it into my pump, so I’ll get the additional insulin needed ahead of time. It kicks in when the food is digesting and balances my levels.

When I was first diagnosed, I was on multiple daily injections, which is a lot more manual. I used to have to think more about what and when I ate. There are also daily variables, including stress, which can throw things off. If you’re not poking your finger and checking your blood sugar at that moment, you’re in the dark. Now, I can just look down and see if I’m a bit higher or lower. It’s become a lot easier and more flexible, especially for travel.

Still, there are a few things I do when I’m on the road. No matter what I’m doing or where I’m going, I prepare myself for the worst-case scenario. The most imminent danger is low blood sugar, since it can be a matter of just 20 minutes before you’re unconscious. I always keep candy, soda pop, or juice on me. Severe high blood sugar is dangerous, but usually not as much of an immediate threat, though it can have more long-term impacts. When my husband travels with me, he refers to himself as my “juice box porter,” since he carries a bunch of boxes at the bottom of his backpack. 

A beautiful thing about travel is that even in some of the most remote areas in the world, whether trekking hill tribes in Myanmar or spending the night at a ger camp in Mongolia, you can ask for a can of Coca-Cola. But I also need to look at each day’s plan and make sure I’ll always have access to a store. If not, I have to have it on my person. 

I also bring emergency supplies, like a glucagon pen, which can immediately bring up your blood sugar, similar to an EpiPen for diabetes. Someone else has to administer it if you’re unconscious and unable to consume food. Since I’ve been proactive, I’ve been lucky to have never been in that situation.

The scariest and only real hospitalization I’ve ever had from low blood sugar was in Laos. It wasn’t the destination or the activities, as much as a combination of unfortunate events. Basically, I got bad food poisoning and couldn’t keep anything down long enough for my blood sugar to come up. The levels were the lowest they had ever been, and I actually administered the emergency pen myself. Friends who I was traveling with brought me to the hospital. Thankfully, everything stabilized by the time I got there.

We were in a fairly remote area outside Luang Prabang at the time, and the hospital I was taken to had limited facilities with open-air windows. I remember waking up in the hospital room with lizards on the walls and bugs everywhere. Lizards are actually great — they eat the bugs.

I’ve also come to love scuba diving around the world. I learned on Koh Tao in Thailand and have since gone in Belize, Bali, the Philippines, the Maldives, Hawaii, and Florida. But you can’t scuba dive with a pump, so you’re basically going down in the dark and hoping for the best. 

Again, this is where preplanning comes in. Most dives at my level are between 30 and 45 minutes. When I know I’ll have a higher level of activity and my blood sugar level could dip as a result, I’ll have some snacks ahead of time. Then, I’ll test to make sure my levels are stable. You have to trust your body more than anything. If I feel like I’m crashing or can’t seem to stabilize, I’ll call off the dive. 

That’s just the reality. It’s not something where you can take risks, even not as a diabetic. If you’re not going into a dive feeling confident, it’s not going to go well. You have to be able to respond to all of the elements — never mind that additional challenge of low blood sugar.

I’ve also traveled to both the Arctic and Antarctic on G Adventures’ expedition ship, which has a doctor on board. Of course, they’ll do whatever they can to take care of you in any type of emergency, but there’s only so much you can do when you’re in the middle of the ocean or the Drake Passage to Antarctica. You can’t just turn the ship around and bring someone home. 

Anyone who has traveled with me for a long trip knows half my backpack is just full of all diabetes supplies. They’ll be like, “Do you have any clothes in there?” And I’m like, “I have two T-shirts I’m rotating between and the rest of it is supplies.” But this is what I have to do to make space in my luggage. You do what you can.

Everyone travels for different reasons — some to escape, and others to find something. I’ve traveled for both of these reasons and met people along the way as a result. But the most powerful thing is connection. 

Whether you’re experiencing new places in a way you never have before, witnessing the power of nature and animals, or connecting with other people and cultures, it’s in building these connections that you start to realize how vast and beautiful the world is for its differences — and also how similar a lot of the people and places are.

No matter where you’re coming from, there’s not much to argue about when you’re watching an elephant come out of the woods while on safari or admiring the most spectacular sunset in your life. 

I’ve had a lot of smiles and thumbs up around the world over a can of Coca-Cola. We didn’t speak the same language or grow up in the same place, but we shared a laugh. There are a lot of little moments like that when you’re traveling, when you realize a common ground. In many ways, travel can be a path toward peace between people, where you find a mutual understanding and love for our planet.