What to pack for a medical trip to Colombia
Not a travel packing list. The specific things that make the difference between a manageable recovery in a foreign apartment and a miserable one.
You already know to bring clothes. This list is about the things that are obvious in hindsight and invisible beforehand, split by what they're actually for.
The paper folder
Physical paper, in a folder, in your carry-on. Your phone will die, or airport wifi won't work, or your cloud storage will decide today is the day to re-authenticate.
- Passport, plus a photocopy stored somewhere separate
- Return ticket confirmation — airlines check this at the gate
- Check-Mig confirmation
- Clinic name, address and appointment confirmation, printed
- Your written itemised cost estimate
- Medical history, current medications, and allergies, on one page
- Doctor's letter for any prescription you're carrying
- Travel insurance policy number and emergency line
- Two emergency contacts with international dialling codes
- Your lodging address written in Spanish, for the taxi and the immigration form
Full detail on documents: the entry and red tape page.
Recovery items you can't easily buy there
You can buy almost anything in a Colombian city. The problem isn't availability, it's that finding a specific item in an unfamiliar pharmacy while sore and not fluent is a bad use of day three.
- A second compression garment if your procedure needs one, so one can be washed. Ask your clinic whether they supply it or whether you should bring your own size.
- A BBL pillow if applicable. Buy it at home, bring it, and use it on the flight back.
- A wedge pillow or travel neck pillow for sleeping elevated after facial or breast surgery. Two weeks of propping yourself on rolled towels is genuinely awful.
- A grabber or reacher. Sounds ridiculous until you drop your phone on day two after abdominoplasty.
- Dark-coloured old towels and a set of sheets you don't care about. Liposuction drainage is real and messy and you're in someone else's apartment.
- Your own thermometer. Fever is the single most important thing to monitor and you want to be able to check it at 3am without a debate.
Clothing that works after a procedure
- Button-front and zip-front everything. After breast, arm, or hair procedures you cannot pull a shirt over your head. This one item ruins more days than any other.
- Loose, high-waisted or drawstring bottoms that don't sit on an incision.
- Slip-on shoes. You will not be bending to tie laces.
- Socks that are easy to get on — or ask your companion, because you won't manage it alone.
- A hat and high-SPF sunscreen. Sun exposure on fresh scars is a real and permanent problem, and Colombia's UV index runs high year round.
- One outfit you feel good in for the last few days. Small thing. Matters more than it should.
The boredom kit
This is the category people underestimate most severely. Days three through twelve are quiet, and a significant fraction of your trip will be spent in a room.
- Downloaded shows, films, books and podcasts — downloaded, not streamed, because apartment wifi is a lottery
- A power bank and a charging cable considerably longer than the one you own
- A small power strip, because there is never a socket near the bed
- Headphones, and a spare pair
- Something analogue — a book, a puzzle, a sketchpad. Screens for eleven days straight is its own kind of misery
Plugs and voltage: Colombia uses the same flat two-pin plugs and 110V supply as the United States, so American devices work directly. European and UK travellers need an adapter.
What not to bring
- Large amounts of cash. No dispute mechanism, a declaration threshold at the border, and a personal safety problem you created for yourself. Better options here.
- Expensive jewellery and visible luxury items. Standard advice for any large city, and more relevant when you're moving slowly.
- Only one payment card. Bring two, from different institutions, stored separately.
- Medication in a pill organiser. Keep everything in original labelled packaging for the border.
A button-front shirt. Three of them. It costs almost nothing, weighs nothing, and it is the thing people mention most often when asked what they wish they'd packed.
To see which of these apply to your specific procedure, along with a printable checklist, run the trip planner.
Nothing here is a diagnosis, a recommendation, or a clearance to travel. Your operating surgeon decides your timeline. Verify practitioners on ReTHUS and talk to a licensed physician before making any medical decision.