suze

Ah-ha! You prove my point exactly. That's what AZ wants do with her vacation time? You don't have to pack it all. Surely you can easily enough get nuts, dried fruit, prunes, etc. Pack the biscuits. The ones you like. The ones that are exactly what you need.

MmePerdu

Or consider magnesium supplements. I take them for PVCs & the handy side effect is the same as plenty of fiber.

AlessandraZoe

I am the original poster. Please no posts until you after read this one. Yes, I am rather amused by but also very grateful for the number of responses to my quest.

While I appreciate your interest, I feel I must draw your attention to the fact that...
a) I have my back-up plan ( a bottle of horrible psyllum capsules that are easy to transport plus EASILY replaced with some sort of equal type in the UK)
b) I know EXACTLY what will work (psyllum fiber) and what shall not for my needs (eg--wheat dextrin, magnesium, inulen, etc).

Let me explain my "needs" just a tiny bit more in case anyone is in the same boat...

1. My current condition is NOT constipation--yeah, the condition is NOT constipation!! The goal is not to be carrying a, ahem, "heavier load", at any time, either in terms of my luggage or inside my body.
2. Ahem--TIMING is indeed EVERYTHING. And when one travels and needs to check out of hotel rooms and get on a train or a plane, that timing becomes ultra important. Rail restrooms are not good places to "rest."
3. There is a difference between "going" and let's term it, shall we, "going in style." The goal while traveling is certainly not to be, for want of a better term, "explosive." There are many products to make one "go." My body becomes, let us say "volcanic" with many of these. Thank goodness, I know those ingredients well.

Assurances...

• I happily drink VATS of coffee--all easily available in the UK
• I eat tons of fresh fruits and veggies--all easily available in the UK
• I eat dried fruit every morning--all easily available in the UK
• I chew 1/4 cup of raw almonds/walnuts per day (MAGNESIUM)--all easily available in the UK
• Goodness knows I drink enough beer--all easily available in the UK
• I know that some things "do me wrong"--inulen and so on.

Facts:

• We MUST pack lightly and sensibly to do this trip or we shall have to become...oh God...cruise ship people. My husband would perform hari kari on a top deck, I'm sure
• Replacing truly essential layers of clothing with three weeks of packets of crumbs is illogical no matter how many people like to repeat that idea.

In essence, I just need to have the one itty bitty more thing to keep me "in trim" for travel. and one month out from our departure. I have my packable solution at hand, but I saw "my goal" on Amazon UK, and hence I came to the conclusion that a UK resident just MIGHT have seen that product somewhere on a store shelf. Thanks to some of the posters, I'm willing to wait in line in Exeter to see if that's true.

AZ

BTW--
The one positive from all of this is that I could remove "parachuting" from my bucket list without guilt. According to my own reinvention of past experience, I must have done that a thousand times in order to have the woes I currently have

Nelson

If the product is on Amazon UK, can you order it from them and have it shipped to you c/o a UK postal office general delivery??

A couple years ago I left my camera battery charger in a motel on the way to Yellowstone. I ordered a replacement from Amazon and they shipped it to the Post Office at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. Three days later I just walked in and picked it up. It was a beautiful thing.

thursdaysd

Good idea, Nelson. If not, maybe your first hotel?

historytraveler

thursdaysd

Do you know that? I just went to the Boots website and tried to shop for Metamucil Fiber Wafers, which is what the OP said she needed, and got no results.

Nelson

Even a better idea.

AlessandraZoe

Thanks for checking, thursdaysd. Yep, I got the same results before I even started this thread.

Nelson, like you, I have often pre- and post-trip shipped stuff. I recall that shipping just our hiking boots and socks to a first hotel and then home was the secret to linking a cycling trip in Washington state up with a hiking trip in Montana doing just carry-on luggage. Therefore, I first considered an Amazon UK delivery to our Exeter hotel, but Amazon UK and I have not been working very well together for the time being.

Example and long story: Amazon US carried for months a PERFECT wall charger/adapter system I bought for our last year's trip. I sought the same for my sister's UK trip and Amazon US had stopped carrying it. Hence I tried to buy them at the Amazon UK site but they did not want to sell to me. Thank goodness that tech product finally showed up again on Amazon US, I got it, and she was a happy traveler. In fact, I immediately repurchased the MU for my daughters and their significant others while the US Amazon still carried it (**see below--I'll post what I love)

Back to the wafers...
Yes, historytraveler, I read your suggestion, and you (with janisje and others) were included in my general thanks. I should have posted a list of silver and gold stars for those who paid attention to most of the details. Thursdaysd knows how we travel (NO CAR! Light luggage!), so I know Thursdaysd always knows our built-in challenges.

Yes, the wafer WAS only available in either the apple or the cinnamon on the Amazon UK, but I functioned just fine on those for years and I would be more than happy with them. Those were my pregnancy go-tos when I was not allowed to drink caffeine (grrrrrrrr). Since Holland & Barrett DOES carry online the psylum husk capsules that I'm already packing as Plan B, I'm thinking the physical store might carry the wafers. The wafers ship badly, and it would make sense that they would not be offered online in individual boxes but would be stored on a shelf when they can arrive perfectly when packed in bulk. I love looking inside local grocery and chemist stores wherever we go--hey it's part of travel!--so it's not a hardship as long as I already have a backup.

So here's my payback for your help, folks...

What was the perfect wall charger adapter for doing planes and trains???
The Mu International Charger/Universal Adapter
The UK part folds flat! We'd get on a South West train with the parts folded flat in our pockets, sit down at a table, unfold and plug in, expand our lovely retractable cables, and would be set for the entire trip. I did not take the third European wall part--just the US and UK halves. That means 3 tiny parts. Packing space??? About 3" by 1/2" or less in luggage. Almost no space in the pocket. Darn good, right?

Oh, here's my current favorite retractable cable...
ASICEN 2-Pack 3-in-1 Light
This cable gives me the ability to charge my iPad, my Kindle and my Samsung Note. I'll carry two of them since the MU has two USB ports. Packing space? About 3" by 1". Again, smoooooth. I just bought them for daughters and spouses, and while my daughters were less than impressed, my sons-in-law who have to switch out drives, ipads, etc were thrilled. Nothing like toys, right?

Trophywife007

We went to Boots in London looking for psyllium fiber which according to the clerk at the pharmacy, they did not have. At least OP will have back up capsules if all else fails.

thursdaysd

AlessandraZoe

OMG, I'm losing it. I SHOULD be able to order them on Amazon UK if I'm sending these within the UK. Heck, what do I have to lose? I'll report back tomorrow.

AZ

suze

I paid attention to the details. Sorry wasn't aware of your built-in challenges like thursdaysd. Seemed like packing a couple boxes of your special crackers was a reasonable idea. Guess not

AlessandraZoe

So, I read Amazon UK a bit more closely. Most of the reviews there are from the US Amazon. The UK delivery seems to have been crumbs. Now not an option.
Packing the capsules it is!

Thank you, all of you, for helping out a "former paratrooper."
AZ

thursdaysd

AlessandraZoe

I'm laughing. You know, thursdaysd, I actually had the same thought when shopping for certain stopgap medical solutions. I saw one contraption and with raised eyebrows, I muttered, "Heck, bet that could solve the paratrooper's problem". Perhaps I should email the image to the military. I'll let you imagine it--it's sort of a harness with a bottom "cork".

Maybe after all these years, they've thought of that.

You made my day.
AZ

BTW--I just did a search today. Did you ever end up using Exeter as a base, thursdaysd? I know that trip was in the works for quite some time, and I can't find any final report, which you are always doing. Where did you end up stationing yourself in Devon, or did you cancel that?

thursdaysd

AZ - I figured it was in the same category as the space suits.

I did make it to Exeter. Unfortunately my legs gave out at that point and I had to change the next part of the trip - I went back to Bath instead of to Torquay and Dartmouth. I did get to Totnes and Exmouth while I was in Exeter and recommend the train trips to both, along with excursion train out of Totnes. I stayed in the Premier Inn City Center which wasn't as central as I would have liked, but was clean, comfortable and had good food and an excellent staff. I think it was the ferry from Jersey to Guernsey that did me in, it was a really long route march to get on and off. My TR for that trip is stuck at the end of Jersey. One problem with my current medical issue is that even with good medication I don't have as much energy as I would like.

AlessandraZoe

You have not yet gone "into the dark" thursdaysd. No cruise ships, yet, right?
Life is always about slowly giving up ground. I tossed all my cycling clothes this year. I did not sob. We had done so much travel early and often, and I felt it was sort of an "Amen."

but about cruise ships, because I just MIGHT eat my words...
My sister now loves her river cruises with e-bike. And since she's always been an independent traveler and NEVER biked up to now, I might pay attention. I shall not be, however, buying more cycling clothes. I'll buy that darn cork thing first.
Cheers and a big thank you,
AZ

thursdaysd

Well, I did a three day "cruise" up the Chilean coast back in 2012, but that boat was really a cargo ship that also took passengers. And I did a Hurtigruten cruise from Bergen to Kirkenes, but although it was a lot nicer than the Evangelista, it was still a lifeline for the locals as much as a cruise ship. I do look at the cruise brochures for river cruises, but then I look at how long you get in port, and the extra charges for singles, and send them to the trash. I am looking at some train tours as well, but right now I'm thinking that I need to go back to Greece and to Sicily.....

One thing - I took early retirement in 2000 so I could travel. When I spent a lot of 2017 on the couch with the heating pad when not visiting assorted medical professionals, I was so, so glad I had done so. If I am going to need hotels with elevators instead of B&Bs with lots of stairs, and wheelchairs in airports, and buses instead of the tube in London, at least I have fifteen footloose years to look back on.

AlessandraZoe

Yep, the idea is to keep going in some way, shape or fashion. I remember being SO angry with my parents who had decided to give up their lifelong love of adventure, doing so much even on their minuscule salaries. Once they retired, they did a delay of game for at least 10 years, even though my husband had structured their retirement finances to refuel travel opportunities. Once they accompanied us to Paris, albeit reluctantly, they realized they had cornered themselves. They then tried to make up for that lost decade, but it was much too late.

But I received the life lessons from their bad decisions. You better believe I got my hip replacement right at 60. So the back bones dissolved? I have taken a ROLLATER to Paris. Stoicism is fine; movement is better. Seeing more is always an option.

You go girl!
AZ