Travelling while you recover, worked out the hard way

Two operations taught me that the hard part is rarely the surgery itself; it is the weeks afterwards, when you still have to get on a plane, cross an airport, and move a body that is only half mended. After a spine operation I flew home too soon and spent the flight terrified of a clot I did not understand. A knee two years later, I did it properly. This site is the difference between those two trips: how long to actually wait before you fly after common operations, why long flights raise your clot risk and what genuinely lowers it, how to get medical clearance and insurance that pays out, and how to keep moving without setting your recovery back. A rehabilitation doctor checks the medical detail; the travelling, and the mistakes, are mine.

Recent guides

• Staying Mobile While Travelling in Recovery

  How to move safely through a journey while healing: seat choice, special assistance, the hourly calf routine and pacing within your surgeon's limits.

• Compression Stockings for Flying After Surgery: A Practical Guide

  How graduated compression stockings work, who should wear them on a flight after surgery, how to size them, and what the Cochrane evidence actually shows.

• Travel Insurance After Surgery: Declaring It So Your Claim Holds

  Declare recent surgery and pre-existing conditions or a claim can be refused: how to declare, what good post-op cover includes, and why evacuation matters.

• Medical Clearance to Fly After Surgery: MEDIF and Fit to Fly

  How to get cleared to fly after an operation: the airline MEDIF form, the surgeon's fit to fly letter, the medical desk, and the timings that trip people up.

• Blood Clots (DVT) on Flights After Surgery: The Real Risk

  How much does a long flight raise your clot risk after an operation, who is most at risk, and what genuinely lowers it. The honest numbers, plainly explained.

• Flying After Surgery: How Long Do You Have to Wait?

  How long to wait before flying after surgery, from keyhole abdominal to hip replacements and eye surgery, with a full fitness to fly wait table.