/////

I took a few doses by car on holidays last Summer. They were in the back
buried in the luggage. I had 2 ice packs in a bubble wrap isothermic packet
and it was still cold when I took it out about 7 hours later.

Your flight of 5.5 hours is quite long. Is that an international? Maybe you
can get them to put the meds in the fridge and to recharge the ice packs in
the freezer during the flight?

cheers
Jack

Four ice packs in a small insulated pack with the Peg should work fine for a
half day. That said, given the current restrictions on carry-on of "things
that might contain stuff you could mix to make a bomb", I would be a bit
concerned of problems with carrying that on board, so if you can comfortably
fit the pack inside your checked baggage it might cut down on the aggravation
factor dealing with the TSA...

Cheers

/greyhackles

A kind little hint...
When you are doing your shot, make sure that you let the stuff warm up to
room temperature before injecting-- it considerably lessens the sting.

Even if you need only one shot its a good idea to bring two like you
are doing, but speaking from experience double up on all your meds and
split them up.  I traveled recently and on the way back they lost my
luggage, of course I did not have two shots of pegasis, luckily later
my luggage was found, but I was a basket case as that night was time
for a shot I didn't have.

I wouldn't recommend checking baggage that has your meds in it,
especially if you have to change planes.  The airlines lose more and
more luggage all the time, and with as many bags as they're handling
this time of year....checking meds will be risky business.  It took me 2
days to get my luggage back last time I flew.  Some lost bags never get
found.  
I've flown with my meds a couple of times and never been hastled.  Quite
the contrary....they were more than happy to store my meds in their
in-flight fridge.  You might want to mention that you've got meds when
you check in at the front ticket counter.  
elmo

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum

Thanks everyone for all the tips.

I had another idea though:  does Fedex have a cold-pack that I could
ship overnight to my relatives (where I'm flying to) ?

I'll call them, find out, and report back.

Also, the pharmacy I use has a "special clients" group and they manage
people on medications that have to be lined up and delivered regularly.

I wonder if they can cold-pack a shipment to my destination, or arrange
for a local pharmacy at the destination to provide?

Here's what I did:

1 cold pack, 1 box of Pegasys with two syringes, packed needles in
checked baggage, Peg box in ziploc bag, then placed against cold pack in
ziploc bag, then wrapped bubble wrap, then in large ziploc bag.

Went to the TSA site as recommended, found the section that said that
"gels and refrigerants to preserve medication - no quantity limit",
printed it and brought it with me just in case.

Brought the prescription pill bottles for all pills (even though I have
the meds in am and pm 7-day pill boxes.)

Left house at 10:30am, got the stuff back in the refrigerator at the
destination 15 hours later, and everything was still cold - cold pack
was still almost solid, bubble-wrap still emitting cold, and peg box
still cold.

When I did the shot on Friday, I didn't get the usual sides Saturday so
I thought maybe the Peg wasn't still potent.

But I got the sides wham on Sunday instead of Saturday, and I was almost
happy figuring that it was "working".

I didn't bring a sharps container but I brought an empty pill bottle and
put the needle, syringe, cover, rubber plug, used alc wipe, and needle
packaging all in there, and got it in the "biohazard" box on arrival
back home .