AMK Women’s Travel Medical Kit
September 12, 2009
You may remember my review of AMK’s Women’s Outdoor Medical Kit, and if you don’t, go read it so I don’t have to recycle my tampon, nail polish, and high heel repair kit jokes. I like AMK stuff enough to write a separate feature for their Women’s Travel Medical Kit, which is only slightly different from the Outdoor Edition. My willingness to feature both products has nothing to do with being loaded up with swag at the AMK Outdoor Retailer booth, or Simon’s willingness to provide hand sanitizer after particularly sweaty handshakes, not at all. But really, the welcome from the AMK crew was great and I enjoyed meeting them in person; and yes, the hand sanitizer was a lifesaver. How did I overlook that when packing for OR?
And I really do like this travel kit, especially the packaging. The Women’s Outdoor Kit had one flaw, and that was how items have a tendency to fall out of the pocket when you open the kit; a design rectified in the Travel kit with two fold-out pockets that keep the inner sleeves safe and secure. The kit itself reflects the usual AMK thoughtfulness, with everything you’ll need for a few days abroad. Blisters, small cuts and scraps, feminine “issues,” and stomach ailments can all be addressed with the items that come in the kit, and there is plenty of room for your own additions such as do-it-yourself Cipro and injectable morphine. It’s worth mentioning that AMK can set you up with everything you might need (barring the Rx items), including some great bug repellents and After Bite treatments in several different formulas, if the included wipes aren’t enough – regular (which evidently stings a bit); children’s for, well, children (and Simon, who said he is wary of the sting in the other formulas); and some other kind that I can’t remember and most importantly don’t want to go in from the 80 degree Alaskan sunshine to check on. And to take advantage of this brilliant segue, AMK provides sun protection for lips and skin in little one-use packets in the Travel Kit. Also available are some innovative first aid products like the (obviously) one-use blood clot packages which can be used to stop heavy bleeding, say, from going hunting with Dick Cheney (and that is a DIRECT quote from AMK, too, so feel secure that your medical kits are evil-free) and a really well-thought-out blister kit with the little doughnuts of moleskin already cut out.
One thing AMK did not do is make the kit pink. Evidently this decision was a result of market research during which many women emphatically stated that the kit should not be pink. Well, thanks a lot ladies; I like pink and therefore am disappointed. But for those of you offended by the “shrink it and pink it” method of developing women’s specific gear, you’ll appreciate the light blue packaging. Personally I appreciate that although the tampons are included as a necessary addition for most women, the rest of the kit’s contents aren’t dumbed-down and sissified. It’s a real travel kit with real applicability, and those of us who don’t need the tampons can just use the space for some other women’s thing, like Pureology shampoo, MAC lip gloss, and an iron-on Seven jeans logo for those times when you don’t want to be caught dead wearing Levis.
