I’m pretty sure every single person who travels for leisure is looking for a window to escape their routine.  Travel gives us curiosity, inspiration and a time for transformation. If you’re traveling for business, I admit that can look a little different.  The bottom line is that there are pieces of your home routine you can take with you while you travel regardless of what your travel purpose is.

These easy tips for healthy travel are based on my personal experience from my three week USA tour.  The purpose of my trip was leisure and I wanted to take the opportunity to connect with family and friends. Keep on reading to learn easy tips for healthy travel.

Easy Ways to Snack Healthy

With air travel you never exactly know your next opportunity to eat or have access to nutrient dense food.  I try my best to avoid the airplane food as much as possible. Most airlines now provide vegan options so I’ll try to pre-order this a few days ahead of time or when I book my ticket.  I’m not vegan but I order this because I’m likely to get fruits, veggies and unprocessed real food. It’s best to come prepared with options you can easily have on hand to avoid the hangryness.  Hangryness can result in short fuses, bad moods and loss of willpower. All things best to avoid on the road.

• Homemade trail mix is my go to.  I mix raw almonds, raw walnuts, raw cashews, sugar free dried mango and or goji berries and 60% or higher dark chocolate chips.

• Sweet potato chips are a great crunch gluten free option.  You can purchase individual sized portions to avoid eating too many in one sitting.

• Lara Bars and RX Protein Bars are some of the most natural options out there and do not contain soy, whey or pea isolates.  More natural means less processed. Less processed means it’s easier for our bodies to break down and digest.  Digestion can be hard enough when we’re on the road.

• Chia Seeds are great to have on hand.  If you have access to oatmeal, yogurt, smoothie, peanut butter toast etc. you can always top off with a healthy does of these.

• Individual Peanut Butter Packs are a great protein source to enjoy solo, with a banana or stirred into oatmeal.

• Rolled Oats or an Instant Oatmeal Pack are easy to carry and can be placed in a cup with hot water.  Next top off with your chia seeds and peanut butter pack.

Easy Ways to Stay Active

I have a pretty good set up at home in Thailand.  I live right across the street from a place that has yoga, spinning and Pilates plus I am a quick seven minute drive from the yoga studio I teach at.  Traveling does require more thought and planning but aren’t we traveling to try new things? I had fun mixing up my routine. I came back to my home yoga practice, enjoyed more time in nature and got inspired with new fitness formats and teaching styles.  I also used fitness as a means to connect with people. Hiking and walking are great group activities or invite someone to a restorative yoga class. Any level of practitioner usually appreciates a good stretch. If you’re traveling on business, try a fitness meeting rather than happy hour or a coma filled lunch.  You might be surprised how much your client will appreciate it.

• Yoga Studios – Studios in some parts of the world are starting to open again! Do a quick web search to see what’s open in your area if you feel comfortable. Otherwise there are tons of LIVE online zoom classes you can join too.

• Spinning Studios – These are all over urban areas and most offer the first class free.  I tried out FlyWheel and took advantage of this opportunity once.

• Hiking – I enjoyed a free hike with my dad and his buddies to a beautiful waterfall.

• Walking – This simple exercise gets overlooked and underestimated.  You can always increase the intensity but choosing a route with some hills.  Bonus of walking is that it’s an activity you can do with pretty much anyone so it’s a great way to bond.  I enjoyed several free neighborhood walks with my mother and her dog.

• At Home Yoga Practice – I did routines at home in the living room a few times.  You don’t need to be a yoga teacher to enjoy this. There are so many free videos on youtube and even free yoga apps that allow anyone to do yoga anytime anywhere.  The best part of a solo practice is that you choose the body part you want to work on. Are you hips tight from a 20 hour plane ride? Then open those babies up! On the days I felt too tired or not motivated, I did a Yin Yoga routine.  Yin Yoga is a restorative practice for all levels. You do very few postures since you hold each one for a minimum of three minutes.

Easy Ways to Stay Mindful

I live alone. I’ll be honest it probably does make it easier to wake up and get on my meditation cushion first thing in the morning.  I have no distractions of screaming babies but I still have the demands of technology. Traveling home means staying in my high school bedroom at the house I grew up in with my mother.  It also means sharing a bed and hotel room with her when we travel to see my brothers. Bottom line, I had a lot of shared space time which I’m not used to. But it doesn’t mean I let all my mindfulness exercises go out the window.  Did I meditate every single day I was on my trip? No, but most days I did. Meditation isn’t about the perfect cushion, the birds chirping or being physically alone. Sometimes (or never) those aren’t possible but it shouldn’t keep you from trying.  It doesn’t matter if you have five minutes or twenty minutes, the main thing with all mindfulness strategies is consistency. The more you do it, the better you feel and then you change.

• Headphones & Guided Meditations – I don’t go anywhere without my headphones and I have go to guided meditations.  Headphones allow you to shut off outside noise and creates some level of privacy.  Meditation apps and Youtube have tons of guided meditations to calm the monkey mind and bring you into focus.  Some of my favorites are Deepak & Oprah, Chakra cleansing and Kelly Howell but there are so many out there so find a few that resonate with you.  I would do mine first thing waking up laying in my bed or the last thing at night laying in my bed. This is a
  lso a great thing to do in the airport or a long queue. Check out my list of Top 5 Go-To Guided Meditations.

• Reading Paper Books –  The more I’m on my phone the more wired I can feel myself getting.  Whether you’re stuck on a plane for twenty hours, are having trouble sleeping or need a way to relax; books are always a means to calm a racing mind and pull ourselves away from technology and bright screens.

I hope you find these easy tips for healthy travel helpful for your next trip ahead.  Remember regardless your travel purpose these can be incorporated into your routine. Simply try out one or two and see what happens.  For more tips specific to your travel purpose send me an email or book a free health consultation today.