How to Stay Healthy While Traveling

I’ve been traveling a lot lately, which has been a huge joy! I’ve been fortunate to see some really cool places and experiences. But traveling can also be stressful, and hard on your health and your diet. I feel like many people take a complete break from healthy lifestyle habits when they go away from home. And I totally understand, it can seem difficult to stick to you wellness routine when everything else is out of whack. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Today I’m going to share my tips for how to stay healthy while traveling. Hopefully you can apply these tips — even just a few of them! — to your next excursion and reap the positive benefits of staying well, positive, and feeling good.

How to Stay Healthy While Traveling

Traveling doesn’t have to be a wellness setback! By focusing on a healthy mind, healthy body and healthy eating, you can actually have a very positive, healthy travel experience.

Healthy Mind

First, I think it’s important to adopt a healthy mindset when you’re traveling, whether you’re vacationing or traveling for work.

I try to do yoga as many mornings as I possibly can. When I was vacationing in Florida recently this wasn’t difficult at all! Who wouldn’t love to do yoga on a sunny back porch overlooking a pool and a tropical flower garden?

But I’ve also done yoga in the corner of a corporate hotel room, stretched out on rolled out bathroom towels. I use the free Down Dog app, which allows you to set a sequence type, difficulty level, and length (10-60 minutes) for your daily practice.

Even just 15 minutes of moving your body can make such a difference after the a day of plane travel, and you can do yoga just about anywhere. So, if you take one thing away from this post, my number one tip for how to stay healthy while traveling is daily yoga.

Try to unplug. Put on your out of office and don’t check your work email! If you’re traveling for work this might not be possible, but if you’re on vacation it’s really important that you truly unplug. Americans don’t take enough of their vacation time anyway, and that’s really bad for our creativity and productivity. It’s important to switch off once and a while.

I also try to check social media less when I’m on vacation. Perhaps a quick scroll through Instagram in the morning and the evening, but other than that I’m offline. I do take LOTS of pictures while I’m on vacation, but I love taking these photo memories. I just avoid posting very much live in the moment, or checking my apps.

This is especially easy if you go to Europe and don’t pay for an international phone plan (which we did for a month!). You’ll learn it’s not so bad to only check once or twice a day.

The last thing that will help your healthy mind is to adopt a slow travel mindset, and I’ve written about that at length here. You don’t need to overfill your days with busyness in order to have memorable experiences. Move a little slower and you’ll enjoy more of your vacation, I guarantee it!

Healthy Body

You don’t have to go overboard and do major workouts while you’re on vacation, but you don’t have to ditch your wellness routine entirely either.

I love to go for long walks when I’m on vacation — it’s the best way to see a new place! And you can do this absolutely anywhere. On a 9-hour layover last summer, Curtis and I managed to get our daily 10k+ steps in just walking around the airport in Finland. You’re going to be sitting on a plane for hours anyway, so you might as well walk around, explore, and climb some stairs while you’re bored in the airport!

Do a location-based work out. If you’re at the beach, go for a run alongside the splashing tide. If you’re in mountain cabin, go for a hike. If you’re smack-dab in the middle of a city, stroll along the city streets. You can ski or swim, or really anything to get your heart rate up.

Try a work out class in a new city. I find most cities have free or drop-in yoga classes, especially on the weekends. Usually I’ll just google “free yoga” and find a studio that has an offering in my area. I’ve tried out studios in Chicago, D.C., New York, and countless others. It’s fun to try a new class with a new teacher, and you’ll probably find yourself in a new part of town. Plus, it’s only going to take about 60-90 minutes out of your day, so why not try it once?

Healthy Eating

When we’re on vacation, it’s fun to go out to eat and try new foods. For me it’s all about balance.

Eat some of your meals in. I love to stay in a place with a kitchen when I travel which allows me to eat more healthy and save a TON of money. If you can grocery shop and eat breakfast and lunch in your room you won’t leave your vacation feeling like sluggish and overindulged. You can make simple breakfasts like egg and avocado on toast, or Greek yogurt and walnuts. We also like to get basic salad supplies for a light lunch.  We did this when we were in Florida, and for dinner we would usually want to go out a little earlier in the evening, meaning we beat the crowds. Win-win!

I also like to eat small meals and try fun local snacks (gelato, street food, homemade pretzels, cheese plates, baked goods, you name it!) while I’m out and about exploring. You’ll strike a balance that works for you.

Take a probiotic. This isn’t just a travel tip, it’s a general health tip, but I’ve found taking a daily probiotic has made a huge difference on my health this year. Probiotics help balance the healthy bacteria in your gut. You can get probiotics from fermented foods (saurkraut, kombucha, kimchi) or you can take a supplement. I take a Culturelle pill every day which contains 20 billion active cultures. Probiotics help with digestion, keep your immune system strong, combat allergies, and fight inflammation. This is especially important when you’re traveling and encountering new foods and new allergens along the way.

Stay hydrated! I recommend you drink lots and lots of water and tea when you travel. Coming from a coffee addict, I find this tip the most difficult of all, but I try to keep my 24oz. Hydro Flask full of water and try to drink as much of it as I can. For tea, I like echinacea tea, which is good for the immune system.

Pack your own healthy snacks. There is nothing worse than getting stuck without a snack, and who likes airport food anyway? I usually pack snacks in my bag for airplane travel, things like: almonds, dried fruit, oranges, apples, carrots and hummus. You could also make Lee from America’s fat ball recipe and take those with you!

Start Simple. 

There’s not just one answer for how to stay healthy while traveling, so you’ll have to find what works well for you. Bring along practices from your daily life, whether that’s healthy snacking or daily yoga, and just try to stick to those routines while you’re on the road. You don’t have to do everything at once, but I bet trying these little things will help you feel calm, refreshed and well on your next vacation.

How do you stay healthy when traveling? I’d love to learn from you, too! You can message me on Instagram or Twitter — I’m @brumeanddaisy in both places and we can work together on making our travel experiences better and better. Happy globetrotting, lovelies. -Emily