C-PAP or BiPap Machine

You can check out these recent threads on this subject (sure wish the SEARCH worked here).

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/air-travel-with-a-cpap

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/flying-in-europe-with-a-bipap-machine

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/cpaps-on-a-plane

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/travel-with-medical-devices

Pharmacies in Europe sell distilled water, by the way.

Re: the distillied water situation.

My friend travels with his CPAP machine. We had no problems getting distilled water at pharmacies in France and Portugal. We did have some trouble in Belgium.

I suggest you bring translations with you for the terms "distilled water" and take them to the pharmacy in order to get the right thing.

In Belgium we had to go to 4 pharmacies before getting the distilled water. My friend went alone (only speaks English) and ended up with saline at the first place. I then went (I speak limited French) and had to go to three pharmacies before finding one that had it. The pharmacies all said that the pharmacy was the right place to go, but not every pharmacy has distilled water.

I bought a small bottle (1 liter) in a Target-like store in Zandvoort (Netherlands) last year. Then I got a large bottle (2 liter) in the pharmacy across the street from our apartment in Bruges. That was all my husband needed for the month we were in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the first case, one of the checkers in the store had to show me where it was -- well hidden on a shelf behind another typical department store aisle display. The pharmacist sold me her only bottle at a discount even though it was still good because it had been there so long. I guess distilled water is not such a common thing, at least in those 2 countries.

Thank you all for the replies and general directions. Much appreciated.

The TSA types see CPAP machines every day. I took one last time I traveled to Italy. Luckily the water there was very clean, and distilled water was not required.
Some machines work on either 110 or 220. I just used my 220 converter and it ran fine.
Remember that you're only going to have to get it thru the TSA in the U.S.. I have not recently had bags opened up going into European countries.
My CPAP is carried in my carry on backpack, as they're too expensive to trust to baggage handlers.

Never any issue with my CPAP, either getting thru TSA or working properly in Europe. Took mine to London and Paris last year--all I needed were the plug converters. For the 10 days I was there, regular tap water was fine.

You should be able to either Google your brand of CPAP machine or (probably with a magnifying glass) look on your power supply "brick" to determine if it is dual voltage. Most likely it is....

I'm not sure what you mean by a "border control" person.

My husband took his CPAP for the first time last year. It's considered a medical device and he was allowed to carry it on with his backpack and messenger bag, i.e. he was allowed to carry on 3 items. We only do carry on. In Tucson the TSA paid no attention to it. We ended up having to spend the night in Atlanta and going through TSA again for our flight to Amsterdam. The TSA there insisted that he open the container so they could see what was inside.

Nobody paid any attention at all when we arrived at AMS and I don't think they bothered looking inside when we came home from there. We saw lots of people carrying CPAP cases in the airports in Tucson, Atlanta and Amsterdam.

In planning for this year's trip, I made sure to contact Alitalia, Aegean and Turkish Airlines about carrying it on for our European flights. In those cases we will have to check our large (22") bags, but he will be allowed to carry it on as a medical device along with his messenger bag.

His machine has dual voltage, so he just had to use plug adapters for it. The one problem he had was that sometimes there weren't enough plugs close enough to "his" side of the bed to set it up. So we bought a 220 extension cord with multiple plugs for him to use. That worked great. I'm sure one of the threads linked in the first response to your question mentions the extension cord issue. Although much more expensive than taking a US one, we decided that the 220 extension cord with the European two-prong plug and multiple places to plug things in, was the best for us. We bought it at a grocery store in Bruges about 2 blocks away from our apartment.

Now that this is a regular part of his life, I look at the online pictures of the rooms we stay in, both in the US and abroad. I make sure that there is an empty plug available for him. This is not something you can search for specifically, you just have to look at the pictures closely.

Once again, what a great group of people. I found out I am not in too small a minority. Appreciate all the very helpful replies. Some of you seem to be very accomplished travelers and I appreciate the suggestions. "Lo" I will have to consider an extension cord purchase. Thanks again to all.
John

You might want to consider having a specialized mouth guard made. My husband uses a CPAP machine sometimes. Most of the time he uses his mouth guard. My husband has had severe sleep apnea for about 15 years. There are specialized dentists who can make the guards for sleep apnea patients.. My husband got a new mouth guard last year. He then had a repeat sleep-over to check if the guard was working properly. The mouth guard is a lot more convenient than the CPAP machine. He will probably have another sleep over test soon. His regular medical filter and tubing supplier is not going to supply him any more. Now he has to change medical supplier firms. My husband called his regular Head and Neck doctor yesterday, to explain his current situation. He was then told he would probably have to have another sleep-over, in order to get a new CPAP prescription, for the new supplier. We travelled to Australia seven years ago. My husband used the CPAP on the Qantas plane. This last October we went to Australia and New Zealand (27 days). He successfully used his mouth guard only. The mouth guards do need replacement after a few years. My husband finds it handy to have both the CPAP and mouth guard available at home. When he had knee replacement surgery, a year ago, the surgeon asked him to bring the CPAP machine, instead of the mouth guard, for his two night stay.

I'd be really surprised if a new sleep study is required just to get a new prescription for CPAP supplies. I recently had to change durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers because I became unhappy with the deterioration in service from the old company, and all I had to do was call my sleep doctor's office and have them fax a new prescription to the new DME company. Of course, I had to make sure that the new company participates in my HMO.