Sun and heat
The one thing on this page a hot car actively ruins
Sun protection is the only module here with a real storage problem: the thing you are carrying it in — a beach bag, a car boot, a windowsill — is exactly the environment it is not meant to be stored in. That, and the fact that it is heavy and liquid, is the whole packing story.
What belongs in this module
Bulk, mostly. This is the heaviest liquid in the kit and the one most worth buying at the destination.
- High-factor sunscreen, in a size that matches the trip rather than the shelf
- A hat with a brim and sunglasses, which do more than any bottle and weigh less
- Something for after a day of it, which any pharmacy at the destination sells
- A refillable bottle — heat needs far more water than people expect
How to pack it
Assume it will leak and assume it will get hot, then pack against both.
- A full-size bottle goes in the hold, in a sealed bag, at the bottom. Cabin pressure and a soft plastic bottle are a known combination.
- Keep a travel-size in the day bag for the first day, before you have found a shop.
- Out of the car. The boot of a parked car in August is the worst place in the trip for this module.
- Check the date. Sun protection has a shelf life and a shorter one once opened, and last year's half-bottle is a false economy.
At the airport
A liquid like any other: under the container limit and inside the transparent bag, or in the hold. The travel-size bottles exist for exactly this and are the only reason to buy one.
Buying it there instead
Easy anywhere sunny, and usually better suited to the light there. The catch is price — resort and airport prices are punitive — and reef-safe formulations, which are worth buying before you go because they are expensive and hard to find at the beach.
Worth knowing
- The amount that works is far more than most people apply, which is the real reason a bottle runs out faster than expected.
- Water, sweat and a towel all remove it, whatever the bottle claims about resistance.
- Shade and a hat are the two things in this module that never run out, never leak and weigh nothing.
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
Travel-size here, full-size there — unless you want a reef-safe formulation, in which case buy it at home. It is expensive and hard to find in exactly the places where it matters.
Yes, and the date is on the bottle, along with a symbol saying how long it lasts once opened. Heat shortens both, which is why last summer's bottle from the car is not the one to pack.
The bigger difference is how much you apply and how often, not the number on the bottle. As a packing matter, that means buying a size you will use generously rather than a small expensive one you ration.
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.