Undiscovered Pathways

Whether you are a habitual traveler or someone that occasionally travels, planning is the key to a smooth and uneventful trip. Trips can contain airfare, car rentals, hotels, excursions, and food. Being a travel blogger, I love planning for all facets of a trip.

Six years ago after a diagnosis of cancer (now cancer survivor), I shifted to eating healthy and exercising more regularly. I try to incorporate both of those into our travel trips much to the chagrin of my husband! This blog is a collection of travel tips for healthy eating, exercising, and other helpful tips. I am hoping that just a couple of the tips will make it into your trips.

Healthy Eating

Snacks

Whether you are traveling by car or airplane, be sure to pack healthy snacks for the car or plane ride rather than stopping for fast food, filling up with food at the gas station, or eating at the airport restaurants. Some good ideas are listed below:

• Protein Bars
• Nuts
• Cheese Sticks
• Fresh fruit
• Low-fat or baked crackers
• Peanut butter and crackers pouches

Savoring Your Food

When you do have meals, fill your plates wisely with smaller, healthier portions and don’t overeat. While I was in France visiting my daughter, the dinner experience was very different from the dinner experience in the United States. During the dinners in France, the dining experience is a couple of hours and is not rushed. They savor their meals with appetizers, salad, entree, dessert, and a drink to finish off the meal. The meal was so relaxing! In the United States, we eat so fast so we can move on to the next thing that we are doing. It is so much healthy if we savor our food.

Water

When it comes to staying hydrated, we need to keep in mind that our body is 60% water. The body loses water through urine, sweat, and bodily functions like breathing. Depending on who you choose to listen to, women require anywhere between 64-92 ounces and men require anywhere between 80-124 ounces. Wow! That is a lot of water!

Why the difference? The requirements depends on other factors such as where you live, your diet, the temperature of the season, the environment, the type of activity, and each individual’s health. If you live in a hot or humid area or the mountains, you would require more water. Part of this relates to the altitude in mountain ranges.

If the type of food that you eat is saltier, you would require more water. If you are active during the day or walk and stand most of the day, you would need more water than someone that sits at a desk all their workday. There are some health conditions that require that you drink more water such as diabetes or if you are sick and need to replenish your fluids.

When drinking your ounces of ‘water’, this will include water, teas, juice, and water from the foods that you eat. Personally, my trainer has me drink 80 ounces which some days is a struggle. So how much should you drink on vacation? That would depend on the type of vacation you are taking and the variables of diet, temperature, activity, and health issues.

Just stay hydrated!

Exercising

While on vacation, you are away from your normal routine so how can you keep up your workout routine? Whether you are driving or flying, there are ways to be creative in finding ways.

• Use the hotel gym or swimming pool in the morning or at the end of the day.
• While at the airport, take advantage of walking around at the airport while waiting for your flight.
• When you stop for gas, walk around some before you continue on the drive.
• Take long walks.
• Cycling
• Jogs on the beach.
• Hotel Spas
• Meditation
• Hiking
• Stretching in the hotel room if the gym or pool are too busy.
• Access your gym’s app that has workouts or access Apple Fitness App.

Other Travel Tips

Besides healthy eating and exercising on your vacation, here are some other travel trips that involve planning, packing, and mindset of travel. If you come across any other tips, please place them in the comments.

• Always plan ahead and there is always a planner in the group!
• Try to stick to your budget (this is a tough one!)
• Pack light as someone will have to carry it.
• Bring a battery pack.
• Bring a multiple charger for all of your devices.
• Stay safe and always be aware of your surroundings.
• Stay connected by using travel apps and utilizing free WIFI spots.
• Take care of your belongings and yourself.
• Capture memories by taking pictures and journaling about your trip.
• Be flexible as plans will always change!
• Don’t fly direct and make copies of your passports to be stored in a separate place.
• Bring noise cancelling headphones (you will be glad you did!)
• Bring entertainment for kids.
• Dress comfy.

Feel free to check out the travel products on the ‘Travel Products’ tab in the menu at the top of the website. They are affiliate links from Amazon.com.

Enjoy your trip and make some memories!

Source:

Healthline.com/nutrition

Next Blog: Planning Family Vacations