DivaCup

Guys, avert your eyes and move on to the next post as you won’t want to hear about this.

I want to take a moment to talk about the DivaCup. This menstrual cup is used in place of pads and/or tampons and, under the right circumstances, could be a great traveling companion.

Girls, before you raise your eyebrows, first let me walk you through the pros and cons:

Pros
* Can be left in for 10-12 hours depending on your flow
* Saves packing space, especially on extended trips where you either have to pack a lot or worry about the availability of feminine products during your travels
* Doesn’t have to be changed as often as tampons
* Saves you the cost of buying tampons and pads
* Good for the environment because you’re not creating waste

Cons
* It may take a few tries before you get comfortable inserting the DivaCup
* It’s impractical if you don’t have the right facilities to wash up when you’ve removed it

I won’t go into a lot of details, but because you could wear the DivaCup for a full day (the Cup can hold an ounce, while the typical menstrual cycle produces about 3-4 ounces of blood), it makes it far more practical to use than tampons, particularly on long train or bus rides, on days that are filled with sightseeing where you may not have access to clean bathrooms (or any at all) and on long hikes where it’s just you and the woods.

I imagine that Robyn Davidson, who wrote about her experiences of walking across Australia with a couple of camels in Desert Places, would have liked to have had a DivaCup with her. Instead, she let her blood flow naturally and didn’t concern herself with wasteful feminine products.

While Robyn’s example is obviously extreme, I can imagine lots of opportunities to travel with this handy item. If you do give it a shot yourself, be open minded and patient with yourself as it takes just a little getting used to.

Happy travels!