The Pre-Trip Toolkit for Chronic Pain Travel
Turn the free Chronic Pain Travel Checklist (Lite) into a powered planning session: See your trip load, risks, and supports in one place before you say yes.
Quick answers the Pre-Trip Ramp-Up is built to solve
Pre-trip Ramp-Up is designed around the real questions people with chronic pain ask before a trip:
-
“How do I know if this trip is too much for my body?”
The tools in the Pre-trip Ramp-Up weighs your distance, duration, roles and recent flares to generate a trip load band with simple ideas to make it easier or, if needed, to say “not yet”.
-
“What should I change before I book?”
You’ll see small but powerful levers – shifting dates, adding buffer days, changing routes or roles – that reduce crash risk without cancelling everything.
-
“What do I need from my doctor and my destination?”
The tools in the Pre-trip Ramp-Up help you shape clear questions for your clinicians and a simple host message for accommodation, matched to your pain, sleep and mobility needs.
-
“How can I avoid a week-long crash when I get home?”
It builds in your “return and recovery” window from the start, so you don’t arrive home to an impossible week and a predictable flare.
How the Pre-Trip Ramp-Up works
Think of this as the “brain” behind your checklist. You don’t need to love spreadsheets or risk matrices. You answer grounded questions; the tools organise and weigh the load for you.
Capture the reality of this trip
You start with the same areas as the free checklist – trip dates, distance, transit time, roles, pain history, current flares, and other life demands, sitting around the trip.
Let the tools weigh your answers
The tools weigh your inputs across trip load, medical timing, sleep, mobility, and recovery. It flags where risk is concentrated and surfaces the easiest levers to adjust.
Walk away with a body-matched plan
In minutes, you get a load band, a ramp-up plan, and trip briefs you can actually use to decide, adjust, and communicate.
What you get inside the Pre-Trip Toolkit
The Pre-trip Ramp-Up is designed for travellers who want more than tips. It organises the weeks before your trip into a clear, body-aware plan you can reference and share.
- Trip Load Risk Profile: your travel risks and defenses with notes on why.
- Trip Briefs: key facts, risks, supports and “non-negotiables” for this trip.
- Body-Matched Ramp-Up Plan: a short list of actions in the 2–6 weeks before travel.
- Questions for Clinicians: prompts you can bring to your own doctors or therapists.
- Host / Accommodation Message Draft: a respectful, specific message about your needs.
The Pre-trip Ramp-Up does not provide medical instructions. It helps you see the load and prepares you to have better conversations with the people who treat you.
The Pre-Trip Ramp-Up covers all the aspects of the Ticked Bucket List’s Predict · Protect · Rescue · Restore approach.
- It builds on the free Chronic Pain Travel Checklist (Lite).
- It pairs naturally with the Body-Friendly Stay Checker for lodging decisions.
- It sets you up for a softer landing into the Post-Travel Recovery tools and routines.
How the Pre-Trip Ramp-Up compares to the free Lite checklist
Both use the same humane, pacing-aware lens. The difference is how much thinking you ask the tool to do with you.
Chronic Pain Travel Checklist (Lite)
- Gives you the core questions and phases before, during, and after a trip.
- Great for first exposure to pain-informed travel planning.
- You tick through each step and make your own judgement calls.
- Perfect for people who love paper, highlighters, and doing their own analysis.
Pre-Trip Ramp-Up (Powered)
- Asks similar questions but weighs them for you across load, timing, and supports.
- Produces a load summary and ramp-up plan, not just a completed list.
- Highlights where risk clusters and the smallest changes that help most.
- Ideal if you are decision-tired, time-poor, or dealing with more complex conditions.
Who the Pre-Trip Ramp-Up is – and isn’t – for
Made for you if:
- You live with chronic pain conditions.
- You’ve had trips that ended in a major flare or long crash afterwards.
- You want a realistic picture of the load before you say yes, not a guilt trip.
- You like tools that are private, practical, and respectful of your limits.
Probably not a fit if:
- You are looking for emergency medical advice or diagnosis.
- You prefer to improvise travel and don’t want to think ahead at all.
- You expect a tool to override your clinicians’ judgement or your own instincts.
Ready to see your next trip the way your body will experience it?
Use the Pre-Trip Ramp-Up; most travellers tell us it changes how they think about “yes”, not just how they pack.
- Use it 2–6 weeks before your next bigger trip.
- Keep the ramp-up plans handy as your “doable minimum” before you leave.
Pre-Trip Ramp-Up FAQ
-
What does the Pre-Trip Ramp-Up actually do for me?
It turns scattered worries and to-do lists into a single, body-aware view of your trip: how heavy the load is, what you can change, what to ask your clinicians and what support your future self will need.
-
Do I need to complete the Lite checklist first?
You don’t have to, but it can help. If you have already worked through the free Chronic Pain Travel Checklist (Lite), the Pre-trip Ramp-up will feel familiar – it simply does more of the weighing and organising for you.
-
Is this just for “big” trips?
It is ideal for longer trips, including flights or ferries, or those with significant social or work expectations. You can also use it for shorter but high-load trips, like weddings or conferences.
-
Will the Pre-trip Ramp-Up tell me what medication to take?
No. It will not prescribe, adjust, or recommend specific medications. Instead, it helps you map your current regimen and prepare clearer questions and summaries for the clinicians who know you.
Not medical or legal advice. The Pre-Trip Ramp-Up is a planning aid for travellers with chronic pain. Always use your own judgement and work with your own clinicians when making travel or treatment decisions.