I’ve just returned from five glorious, sun-soaked days in Hahei (ahhhh, this country is so beautiful – overseas readers it’s really time you visited!).

Since going down to one income in the household, I’ve re-assessed all the expenses in my life, and one of them is insulin pump insertion sets. I used to use more ‘luxurious’ ones (if you can describe something you have to inject yourself with every three days as luxurious) but they came at a hefty price tag of $19 each. $19 every three days does not a budget make. I’ve now gone for some more rudimentary, budget ones which are $11 a piece. These ones are bare bones only – steel needle, no insertion device, and…

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We had a fantastic trip to Melbourne, thank you very much…. to think that’s our last child free holiday in a long while…. not sure how long it will take me to get up the nerve to get on a plane with a little one – I was observing people wandering aimlessly up and down the aisles trying to calm their kiddies down while I luxuriated and watched a couple of movies – the last hurrah!

We had a really great holiday which was a mixture of busy and relaxed. The busy days were the first two, where we marched through the city like we were on a mission – shopping, going to galleries, getting trams and trains and walking…

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There are certain situations and places where you need to be as together as possible. One of those is at the airport. Another is the bank.

So, probably not a good idea today then for me to finish up a meeting, blunder outside, take blood sugar, discover I’m at 2.6, eat a handful of glucose then walk straight into a Bureau de Change. I can’t help myself… Always trying to be as efficient as possible, me. My husband and I are off to visit friends in Melbourne tomorrow and need some Aussie dollars, so why wouldn’t I?

There are many answers to that question.

1. I could barely string a sentence together.
2. The lady behind the counter was…

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This post could possibly be seen as just an excuse to put a gorgeous pic of Fiji in (and it partly is – ahhhh, wouldn’t you love to be going there!).

However I wanted to mention a couple of things about travel insurance which I’ve learnt lately.

1. Make sure you have disclosed that you are a T1 diabetic (sorry T2s and gestationals I’m not sure what the story is here for you)

2. I recently found out that you also need to get extra cover or mention that you have an insulin pump. I’m going to Melbourne for a few days at the end of the month (last child free holiday!) and have already booked travel insurance but have…

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Hello again.

As you may be able to tell from the fact that I’m writing this post, I have made it back from SE Asia intact and there were no major dramas with my diabetes or the pump while I was away which was nice because I was a little nervous this being the first time that I’d be overseas with one. In fact, the pump turned out to be one of the easiest things about being away when I compare it to being attacked (properly not superficially) by a monkey, getting pooped on by bats and getting stuck in a Tuk-Tuk that was in a massive puddle which had a live power cable in it.

I’m sure that…

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