Here are some fun travel facts about diabetes: an average Boeing 737 carries nearly 10 passengers who have diabetes. For every five cars on the road, there is one person with diabetes present. Whether you're going on a weekend getaway or a once-in-a-lifetime excursion across Europe, if you have diabetes, careful preparation is an essential component of getting ready for your trip.

Accu-check has put together a free resource guide for people with diabetes to help them travel with ease and confidence. It offers some tips, lists and suggestions to help them prepare for the journey and enjoy the ride, worry-free. The diabetes travel kit includes: a brochure detailing tips like proper handling of test supplies and medications, traveling across time zones, and special circumstances like traveling with an insulin pump. The kit also includes a Doctor's Declaration/medical certificate form that lists the physician's contact information and approves the user to be carrying diabetes supplies (helpful when going through airport security, border crossings and customs). And probably among the most important and least considered - the kit provides a foreign language phrase book, which translates some key phrases for people with diabetes into French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

Whether your travels take you down the road, or across the globe - knowing that you've covered all bases before you depart will help you keep your mind on your business or your pleasure. Your diabetes is something you can pack for as easily as your weekly attire, thanks to Accu-check for the helping hand!!

Although I have an illogical fear of flying (you cannot rationalize with turbulence), that is not going to stop me from sharing a good find on diabetic travel guides. I admire globe-trotting diabetics. And if you want to learn from the best, I highly suggest you get your hands on a copy of Marilyn Garcia's Diabetic Travel Tales and Tips.

Diabetic Travel Tales and Tips is funny, down to earth and practical. It's written by diabetics and doctors who have struggled with a variety of problems while traveling. The stories take place all over the world - Los Angeles, India, China, and Italy (to name a few). This book will entertain travelers and inspire people with diabetes to travel. One of the most harrowing tales recounts Garcia's own experience of losing her insulin in Paris when she couldn't speak a word of French, forcing her to buy insulin and syringes with different names and concentrations than those in the United States. Another hilarious tale describes an insulin pump going off at the most inopportune time.

Each of the fourteen stories has a theme: time changes, airport security, storing medications, contact information, and the like. The book then offers practical information to deal with the theme's problem. Some suggestions offer insights that only those who have been through it could offer: always have a full set of medication at home after a trip; don't believe the medical ID people when they say the company phone number works from overseas.

Marilyn has had type I diabetes for over 40 years. Her book not only shares her diabetic debacles in travel wrapped in witty candor, but she also contributes 10% of every sale to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.