Winter is that lovely time of the year when you wear more than one layer of clothing and have to spend 5 minutes getting your coat and everything on before you leave the house.

It is also the season of sneezing, coughing and runny noses. As a teacher one of the benefits is that you pay for a portion of health insurance. This means that you can go visit a doctor without the typical hassle one might encounter from a doctor back in America. For example, when I needed to visit a doctor back home if I had a bad flu I would have to go to the open clinic. Where I would sit and wait for an hour to see a Doctor. The fees would have been high too, I guess it depends on what insurance one had in America. (I had none)

Anyways, visiting a doctor here is not so hard. But like the post-office and Bank the doctor's office closes around 5pm here, that is for the English speaking doctor. So to get to him in time I have to request to leave work early.

The week before last I developed a cough and requested to see the doctor. But the doctor told me I didn't need medicine.

To this day I am still coughing. And within the past few weeks I have been to pharmacies getting non-prescription medicine, or over-the-counter meds.

Pharmacies here are not like the one's back home, where you walk into the drugstore and there are rows and rows of shelves selling over-the-counter products. Here a pharmacy usually has a few self-care things in the front, such as band-aids, toothpaste, vitamins but to get to the drugs you need to ask the person at the counter.

Apparently the "over-the-counter" drugs here are found behind the counter. Access to drugs like Tylenol can be given to you upon request.

With the use of my cell phone's dictionary I was able to retrieve a few cough medicines from the pharmacist.

Now for you is a pictorial review of the medicines I have collected.

To make sure I don't spend too much time through the security check point I am making sure that my carry-on bag doesn't contain any "no-no" items. The website TSA Travel Assistant tells me the following:

• All liquids, gels and aerosols must be in three-ounce or smaller containers. Larger containers that are half-full or toothpaste tubes rolled up are not allowed. Each container must be three ounces or smaller.

Ok I have some lotion in a once container...I better check whatever else it is I am taking.

• All liquids, gels and aerosols must be placed in a single, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag. Gallon size bags or bags that are not zip-top such as fold-over sandwich bags are not allowed. Each traveler can use only one, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag.

Only one! All right ziplock now is the time to prove your worth!

• Each traveler must remove their quart-sized plastic, zip-top bag from their carry-on and place it in a bin or on the conveyor belt for X-ray screening. X-raying separately will allow TSA security officers to more easily examine the declared items.

Hmmm I hope I remember to remove my ziplock bag for screening.

I think if most of my stuff isn't airline safe than I can just purchase some in flight necessities in the Duty Free area. For example I would like to have some toothpaste with me to keep myself fresh.

In addition to just the normal line of stuff someone carries with them on a plane I am also packing all my prescription meds (for my Crohn's) in my carry on. TSA has just a part of their site dedicated to this.

• You may bring all prescription and over-the-counter medications (liquids, gels, and aerosols) including KY jelly, eye drops, and saline solution for medical purposes.
• You are not limited in the amount or volume of these items you may bring in your carry-on baggage. BUT if the medically necessary items exceed 3 ounces or are not contained in a one-quart, zip-top plastic bag, you MUST declare to one of our Security Officers at the checkpoint for further inspection.

Hmmm red flag here. So far my meds are being kept in a Tupperware plastic container.

I will see if they all fit in a zippy.
Looks like they do but it is really ugly!

Okay, so I think that takes care of that. Now I am taking all my meds as carry on because I am too paranoid to let them fly under the plane. Now, I wonder if I can have one ziplock bag for my meds and one ziplock bag for liquids? I think the safe thing would to just have one ziplock bag and few liquids, and just rely on the Duty Free area for the rest.

Wait a minute I just read further that:

Non-liquid or gel medications of all kinds such as solid pills, or inhalers are allowed through the security checkpoint once they have been screened. We recommend, but do not require, that your medications be labeled to assist with the screening process.

Further more there is a section called Hidden Disabilities which highlights my condition. To sum up what is important to me here are the highlights:

• Medications must be labeled so they are identifiable. Check!
• Medications in daily dosage containers are allowed through the checkpoint once they been screened. Check!

Hmm I think just making sure everything is organized, labelled and able to be inspected clearly will work. I have feeling though that this may slow me down through check-in.

If I do get slowed down I hope that gives me enough time to find my gate and also do a little shopping for necessities before I go. :) Also I think I may need to find a seat to collect myself, as I know my emotions will be running high.