What To Do With Your Period When Traveling
On Jan 4th 2018, one of the biggest snow storm hit the east coast.
I was on my way to get to JFK from Tokyo, only to find out that JFK got closed 6 hours after we departed Japan. So we took a quick stop in Chicago, and were planned to depart for NYC after we fed the plane with fuel again.
Yet that "quick" stop turned out to be my longest flight ever…
When we arrived in Chicago at 6pm, the in-flight announce told us that we had to wait on plane to depart again because all gates and terminals are crowded people dispersed from other flights which also tried to get to NYC. They told us it was going to be 2-3 hours of waiting after 12 hours of flight.
When they told us that, I wanted to scream,
BUT I AM ON MY PERIOD. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!!!
Having long flights while on my period is one of the most frustrating experiences. Having to sit for a long time with my cramps and the anxiety that I can never know if it leaks or if my pad is at the right position etc. makes the whole travel experience x100 worse. Even if I could go to bathroom during my flight now and then, the bathroom is tinier than my dog's cage and it is really hard to change pads or tampons while meticulously trying to not touch anything disgusting in there. I really try to stop myself for worrying too much by watching countless movies, but my vagina wouldn't let go of my consciousness.
This time, I did have to deal with cramps and squeeze my dull body in an economy cubicle seat, but I did not have to go to that nasty bathroom more than twice. That is all because I was wearing a SckoonCup.
Menstrual cups is a new alternative to disposable tampons and pads. It's a cup made of medical-grade silicon that has a little fringe at the bottom of the cup like its tail.
When my period comes, I just pop my SckoonCup in, and don't have to worry about taking it out for the next 12 hours. It collects two and half to four times more menstrual blood than tampons so your mind and body are free like a bird throughout the day.
When taking it out, I just dump it out. Since the menstrual flow isn't exposed to air, there is no odor. In public bathrooms or in-flight bathroom where I don't have access to private sink, perfume-free soap or clean water, I just rinse the cup or wipe the cup with paper towels. And it's right back in.
In addition to those functional advantages, SckoonCup prepares 7 different colors. Each of them has its own unique name and meaning to personalize period experiences with SckoonCup. And lucky or odd enough, I was wearing Zen in that upsetting flight.
After hours of hours of waiting on plane, we were finally freed. The flight landed in Chicago at 6pm, but we got to our hotel past midnight. During this 6 hours, I did not have to run into bathroom being scared to pull my pants down and find a blood stain.
With SckoonCup, period traveling is not so bad.