Tips and Tricks for Air Travel with your CPAP
Hello Sleep Warriors!
This is Kennedy McCollum with your Sleep Tech Byte. We are going to be talking about traveling with your CPAP machine, especially while flying The first thing is you always want to use the bag that your CPAP came in. They are designed for going through security at the airport. They have these open compartments so that TSA can open it up, look right in, and see what's going on in there.
The next thing you'll want to do is make sure, of course, to get your CPAP machine in there. Make sure that your water chimp chamber is completely empty. So empty that out. Sometimes if I'm in a hurry in the morning and packing it up, I don't get it completely dry. I'll just take a paper towel or a tissue, put it in there to get any little droplets out, and just close that up.
Of course, don't forget you're tubing. Make sure you've got tubing that's in good repair. Sometimes i'll even grab a new one if I have one, just to make sure it's in good repair. Don't forget your power cable. Now I have a spare power cable, so I always keep a power cable in my travel bag at all times, but if not, make sure you grab your power cable. That's the thing that people forget the most often.
Don't forget your mask. This is my mask right here. It's a big mask so I take the elbow off, and I put the elbow inside the cushion and then I wrap that up in a little ball right and place it there.
Let's talk about extra stuff that I always bring with me when I'm traveling. The first thing I always bring is an extra cushion, just in case my cushion gets damaged. Secondly, I bring an extension cord. I've been in too many hotels that when you get in there, there isn't a place to plug your machine in, close by. Now, sometimes you can call lower the front desk, and they can get you one. But just in case, I recommend bringing an extension cord so that you can always make sure that you have a place to plug in.
One more thing that you can pick up is a small surge protector to protect your machine. These are relatively inexpensive. I'm just going to put this in my actual suitcase. All right, so I'm all packed up, ready to go, and we're off!
So, in case you're wondering, I will cover international travel with your CPAP machine in an upcoming Sleep Tech Byte but for now I've got my luggage, I’ve got my CPAP machine, and I'm ready to go!
