Travel With Oxygen
Posted: January 15th, 2012 | Author: admin | Filed under: Disability Aid Reviews, Disability and Health, Disabled Traveler Experiences, Transportation, Travel For Disabled | Tags: Bottle, concentrator, COPD, disabled, emphysema, Oxygen, Portable, tank, travel, Traveling | No Comments »
I use supplemental oxygen 24 hours per day. Consequently, when I leave my home at any time, I must make sure that my oxygen needs are met–in the car, train or on a bus; in a hotel room or in a restaurant. Around my own town, I simply kept an emergency bottle of oxygen in the car so I that I always knew that I could get back to my house and my oxygen concentrator. When I ventured farther, however, I felt insecure.
Oxygen Tanks
If you are like me, when you travel out of the range of your usual oxygen supplier, you need to make sure that you either have sufficient oxygen available in your baggage for your trip or that you have previously arranged a supplier in your destination area. You must make sure that the supplier at the destination has a copy of your prescription in advance. (Believe me, it is not easy to connect your supplier and your physician on a Sunday!)
Last summer, I was going to be away from home for an extended period. I bought my own concentrator for my destination, but it was hard to predict how long I might need portable oxygen (for trips to the grocery, restaurants, sight-seeing and other outings). I just guessed at the number of bottles that I might need. Eventually, I convinced my supplier that I needed 26 portable tanks for the journey.
Long Distance Travelers Can’t Use Tanks
Those oxygen tanks made for very heavy luggage, but at least they met my needs. Unfortunately, I later learned that this solution would not work if I needed to use commercial airlines or cruise ships during a vacation. Airlines do not allow oxygen tanks in aircraft cabins. Ships refuse to handle oxygen, which meant that I would have to carry all of my supplies. That is simply impossible for me, since the supplies would have been in excess of 200 pounds (about 91 kilograms).
My Supplementary Oxygen Solution
I own my own oxygen concentrator, which I bought online for less than $800. (To check this out, click here–it will open in a new window.) It is perfect for a hotel room or a cruise ship cabin. It weighs just 32 pounds and can be checked as luggage, so that you don’t have to handle it. As long as there is AC power, you have oxygen. It is important to have an alternative concentrator or tanks for any time that the power fails, of course.
I also invested in an Evergo Portable Oxygen Concentrator. That ten pound item was a significant cost (under $4000), but I decided to buy it because it actually gave me to ability to take it onto commercial aircraft and cruise ships. Now I don’t have to carry any oxygen tanks with me, and I can be assured of all the oxygen that I need when I am away from my home, my cruise stateroom or my hotel room. Yes, it cost as much as a nice vacation, but now I can actually take a true vacation–over and over again.
