Colds and blocked airways
The everyday module with the surprising border problem
Almost weightless and almost always available, so this would be the first module to leave out — except that it is the one most likely to cause trouble at a border. Several products sold openly across Europe are restricted or banned outright in countries people visit regularly, and a blocked nose on a descending plane is a genuinely miserable reason to have packed nothing.
What belongs in this module
Small things for a long flight, plus whatever your pharmacist suggests for the season you are travelling in.
- Lozenges or pastilles, which are a sweet as far as security is concerned
- A saline nasal spray, which is a liquid and unremarkable at any border
- Whatever the pharmacist suggests for a blocked nose — and the module where you should ask about the destination too
- A fitted FFP2 or N95 if you are heading somewhere with smoke or poor air, since a cloth mask does nothing against particles
How to pack it
Tiny, so the only real decisions are where it sits and whether it can travel at all.
- Lozenges in the seat pocket, spray in the transparent bag.
- Keep everything in its original packaging — this is the module a customs officer is most likely to want to read.
- Check the destination's rules before you buy anything for a blocked nose, not after.
- A mask is flat and weighs nothing; if the destination has a smoke season, it is the highest-value gram in the kit.
At the airport
Nothing here troubles a scanner. The saline spray is a liquid and goes in the bag with the rest; everything else is a sweet or a piece of fabric.
Buying it there instead
Easy in most countries — and then not at all in a few, which is the reverse of the usual pattern. Where a product is restricted for import it is usually restricted for sale too, so 'buy it there' is not a workaround.
Worth knowing
- This is the module behind most confiscation stories at Japanese and Gulf-state borders. The flying-and-borders page has the detail.
- A common cold and a long-haul descent are a bad combination; the small things in this module are worth their place for that alone.
- Anything bought at an airport after security is still subject to the destination's import rules — duty-free is not an exemption.
packset.travel is an independent trip-planning tool, not a pharmacy or a medical service. This page is about packing — what form things travel in, which bag they belong in and what paperwork crosses a border. What actually goes in each slot is a question for your pharmacist or doctor, and the official sources linked here have the last word.
Questions about this module
Because some of them contain substances that are controlled elsewhere even though they are sold off the shelf at home. It is a customs question rather than a medical one, and the honest answer is that you check the destination's own list first — see the flying-and-borders page.
A few lozenges, yes — they weigh nothing and a long flight with a sore throat is a long flight. The rest is genuinely optional if you are going somewhere with pharmacies.
Only for specific destinations and seasons — smoke, haze and poor air quality. Our seasons pages say when those windows fall, and the useful detail is the fit: a fitted FFP2 or N95, not a cloth one.
packset.travel is an independent trip-planning tool, not a pharmacy or a medical service. This page is about packing — what form things travel in, which bag they belong in and what paperwork crosses a border. What actually goes in each slot is a question for your pharmacist or doctor, and the official sources linked here have the last word.
Our planner puts the health pack next to everything else you are carrying, with a weight for the whole bag rather than a list you have to add up yourself.