Whether you’re a tourist or not, being on the road often entails changes to your daily life, from more elaborate eating and drinking, to increased walking, to changed sleep habits. Read on for our best tips to stay healthy on the road (or, in our case, without a home!). In each of these areas, even a little effort will pay enormous benefits.
Drink More Water
At home, we were champion hydrators. When we’re travelling, we just aren’t. We’re on the move more, including in all weathers. We don’t always know where our next bathroom will be. Restaurants outside of the U.S. don’t usually offer you water when you sit down at the table. All of these combine to mean that we have to make a real effort to drink enough water, even though it is key to staying healthy. To do so, we gulp a glass of water every morning before we do anything else. We carry a thermos out of the house, which we fill with ice water and drink throughout the day whenever we remember. We order sparkling (‘fizzy’ or ‘gassy’) water with our meals, because the effervescence makes it so much more fun to drink.
Get Enough Sleep
Here again, the universe can appear to be conspiring against you. The beautiful moonlight, the great tv on offer, the temptation to catch up with loved ones in other time zones, your new friends from the bar: all can mean that you are not sleeping as much as you should. We’ve got a post on sleeping in other people’s beds. The take-home-message is that believing you can sleep when you’re dead will get you there faster. If you’re regularly up late, stay healthy on the road by sleeping in: nothing is that much fun when you’re dragging around. Most people, they say, need at least seven hours of sleep. We like eight-plus, and we aren’t going to give them up even for a yearly festival. Or at least, not more than one night in a row…
Watch What you Eat
There is so much exciting food to try when you’re in a new place! And, while many places in the world have superb vegetables and fruits, these are not likely to be at the top of your list, and restaurant meals tend to be meat-, dairy-, and carb- heavy. One solution is what the Brits charmingly call ‘self-catering’, i.e. making some of your own meals. We are big fans of salad, and it’s often what we eat at home. This is trickier if you don’t have a kitchen, but a bag of pre-washed lettuce, nuts, and a few small tomatoes (plus bread and cheese!) makes a great healthy dinner. We also make it a point to eat in vegetarian or ethnic restaurants featuring vegetables (e.g. South Indian). You don’t have to skimp on the banoffee pie, but do aim to eat something healthy at least every couple of days.
Add in Exercise
Probably you are doing more walking than usual. But if you are on a cruise ship, tour bus, or the like, you might not be. And even if you are, weight-bearing exercises are important for travelers of all ages. By that we mean push-ups, squats, etc. Check out our post on exercise on the go for details. Do make sure to stretch at least once a day, and consider taking portable exercise equipment with you.
Pay Attention
With everything going on, it is easy not to notice that your back is killing you, or that your feet are. Take good care of your feet (especially) and knees, and make sure not to stand for long periods without walking. If you have the snuffles, make sure to eat extra amounts of fruits and vegetables, and get even more sleep. Ideally, of course, you will have ample time at every location, so you can intersperse museum-going with long spells in cafés. But if not, set yourself a reasonable itinerary and take breaks during long days.
What are your tips to stay healthy on the road?
Great! I am never one to skimp in sharing my opinions and experiences! In addition to your awesome tips, I’ve learned that treating my feet correctly (correctly-for-me) is my baseline for travel health. Shoes that aren’t right for me leave me with foot pain (and also exacerbate old damage in my hips, tailbone, and lower back). It took me forever to find the one brand of shoes that reliably works for me (Finn Comfort, sadly for my wallet); the one style of shoe that I need to wear year-round without exception (lace-up boots); how frequently I need to maintain them (new insoles, new outsoles, complete refurbishment); and how frequently I need to replace them (I am VERY VERY VERY HARD ON SHOES, but I can keep a shirt basically forever). I can’t cheat ever at all (“oh, I can just put on these nice lovely-feeling Skechers to walk to Tesco” — NO, I CAN’T). But this will be different for everyone, and you have to accept that finding your answer may be expensive and time-consuming. But it’s your FEET, so…! My family members with 4E-width feet had to find a different solution, for example, and one family member HAS to have open-toes.
And socks! As with shoes, reviews in the wild are almost no help at all — selecting socks requires footwork (I am in no way sorry about that). I wear thin compression stockings (light for daily, medium for flights or hikes), and wool socks over them (the only brand that works for me is Darn Tough, but maybe your feet like SmartWool, etc.). But even within the past week I succumbed to temptation and threw on a pair of cute socks that had great reviews for comfort…ARGH! NO!
Some people will read this thinking, “huh? I just throw on my sandals and go!” And if that’s you, then I really hope it sticks, forever, because that sounds AMAZING. But if age or damage causes some part of your body to sort of disintegrate — in addition to other things you might do to rectify the problem — it may be time to invest some research, time, and money in what goes on your feet! (also, if you do all this right, you won’t need to worry about blisters, etc. but if you get a blister, a pre-packaged bandage won’t probably do squat-all. Make sure you have tearable cloth or paper tape along, and never skimp in how much you use.)
Thanks for writing, Michelle! We agree that feet are the, umm, foundation of everything and if your feet hurt you are never having fun. John has just had his favourite pair of shoes resoled, and Laurel bought some Capezio dance shoes shortly before we left the US, in the hopes that they would be more comfortable than any other pair of women’s heels she has ever owned. (They might be, but not enough to make a difference…) I’m afraid shoes remain a problem. We’re still looking for the holy grail.
Will you do a whole post on shoes and socks? Or two posts: one shoes, one socks? Or shall I write an expansive response about shoes and socks? When does “health” veer too far into “gear”…?
We think we’d like to hear your thoughts on shoes and socks. There is so much to say, even if you don’t own very many of either… Tell us everything!
Because I’m new to using the internet, I didn’t thread my reply correctly. I’m so sorry!