Traveling with a Pump

I'm back from a 5? 6? day vacation and it was my first time flying since getting my pump. I followed advice from the cortisol pump resource site :) along with info from Insulet re: OmniPod and a few tips I'd picked up elsewhere.

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• I forgot to take a pic but someone recommended makeup bags for supplies. I bought this one which was small and slid onto my bag handle well. I was able to fit about 8 pods, 6 (?) bottles of solu-cortef, this small Sharps container, 4 IM needles, about 10 subQ needles, 30-40 alcohol swabs, IV3000 and tegaderm, bandaids, skin prep and uni solve wipes, gauze and anti bacterial cream.
• I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare; it worked on the flight out, not so much on the way back.
• Insulet recommends skipping the body scanner and getting a pat down, with the PDM in your hand. It was my first pat down, and it wasn't awful but it took extra time and orders will be barked at you ("DON'T TOUCH YOUR BELONGINGS!") but overall TSA was very nice.
• I had to plan ahead my site changes and locations so I could have my pump in a good spot in case they needed to swab it (eg: didn't want to have to take my pants off if it was on my thigh) and that was a bit tricky. Managed to have it on my upper arm for the flight out and my forearm on the way back.
• Not pump related but you can carry a full bottle of water through TSA if you need it for your meds. I did, just in case. Also for my controlled substances (not Addison's related) I had them in original containers, and for everything else I had the Rx number, prescribing doctor and medication listed on a sheet.

What I found:

• I packed about twice as many supplies as I'd expected to use. I still ran out of subQ needles and alcohol swabs. Buying subQ needles in a different state was annoying and that pharmacy made me buy a case of 100 that turned out to be the wrong size so... now I have 97 needles that are too long :(
• Changing sites was extra annoying; I'm using 2:1 and I was having to change about every 40-50 hours bc of the higher rates (even with subQ bolues). Nothing like being on a road trip to see gorgeous mountains and hearing your damn pump beep.
• Next time I'm packing 3x as many supplies as I think I'll need. (I came back with 3 pods and 2 bottles of SC, but I wasn't too worried about those as I had extra in my emergency kit/regular purse kit)
• u/just_an_amber was on point with her experiences at high altitude. I went to Salt Lake City and I bolused subQ and increased pump to sick rates before my flight... still started to feel dizzy and nauseous at baggage claim to the point of swaying visibly. Had to bolus via my pump bc I didn't want to find a spot for a shot.
• If it's a short vacation, I'd recommend to be on the safe side and bolus/use higher rates. Side effects of overreplacement suck but it's better than going into crisis or being too sick to be present. Regardless, I think I underreplaced some days and overreplaced others.

Anyway, hoping my experience might help someone else ;)