This is just some of the fun we get to go through being on these meds. As I've said before, try doing this with any other drug, ie diabetes or blood pressure and tell those people they have to work their vacations and travel plans around their refills and see what happens. The stuff we have to put up with is ridiculous. From my experience, my pharmacist special orders my meds every month since they are so expensive. Over the last 5 years there have only been a few mix-ups when the medication didn't get ordered on time. When that happens, I go to a family owned pharmacy that is a compounding and specialty pharmacy near the hospital. They keep a huge stock of all meds including the ones I'm on, so I know the will almost always have it if I need it on short notice.
As far as vacations go, I try my hardest to plan mine around my refills because it is such a hassel to figure out a way around it. When I first started pain management, my insurance allowed 2 early refills a year to cover vacations. When I went to do that a few years ago, apparantly they had stopped doing that for narcotics. So between the doc, the pharmacy and the insurance, I just work around it.
Melissa