I’ve seen applicator-less tampons but I just can’t even imagine the horror of being stuck using one, particularly not in your particular situation. I semi-recently went from quarterly periods due to Seasonale to periods whenever the hell they feel like coming and the worst thing about not being able to predict when Aunt Flo is coming is planning vacations.

I had a totally anal spreadsheet going a few months ago when I was trying to plan our beach vacation and although all reasonable scenarios I tested pointed to the week I chose being safe, I had a couple of ridiculously short cycles and now it looks like I’ll have my period at the beach because Mother Nature hates me. Oh well, at least I’ll have access to my brand of tampons.

I can’t believe I just wrote such a long comment about this.

I don’t think the environmental difference is really that great especially since many applicators are made of cardboard, which is biodegradable.

That’s hilarious that you traveled with a six month supply! It’s probably only possible when you have a permanent place to stay and are not schlepping a bag with six months of feminine products all over the world.

Too bad you couldn’t send Charlie to buy your six month supply. =)

I was not so brave when I went to Italy for six months. Believe it or not, I actually stocked up on enough feminine products to get me through that entire time. I was too wedded to my particular brand and too scared that I wouldn’t like what I found. I think I could handle the adventure now… But using it all up over that time meant that I had extra space to bring home all my shopping purchases! Win-win.

Buying that many boxes of feminine products at once, though, was mortifying. True story; I actually did the buying at a Wal-mart while visiting a friend in West Virginia. I figured I would never in a million years run into anybody I knew there. I didn’t; I was still mortified!