While travelling, it is great to partake and immerse yourself in the local culture of where you are. But sometimes you can partake and immerse yourself a little too much. Right!

Lazy days by the beach enjoying good food and drink are wonderful. And so is moving to a new city every second day or so while backpacking. But this living and working abroad and travelling lifestyle can make it hard to keep in shape. But it doesn’t have to be. With a healthy eating and fitness routine while travelling, you will stay in shape to continue travelling. 

In this post I’m giving you my 11 best tips to how to stay fit and healthy while traveling. By introducing a ‘stay healthy eat healthy’ attitude into your life, like I have, you will travel better and longer.

So…..How to Stay Fit and Healthy While Travelling?

Even before you start travelling, consider your fitness for travel. Travel throws lots of opportunities your way and to embrace them, you need good fitness to travel. Not trying to scare you, but depending on what you want to see and do, you will need some fitness to see and do them. And once on the road, it can be hard to maintain a good level of health and fitness as you can be out of your routine! So use my following tips to help you stay in shape so you can enjoy your travels.

Make Your own Meals

Cooking your own meals is one way to stay fit and healthy while travelling

One of the best and easiest ways to stay fit and healthy while travelling is to ensure you are eating healthy meals while travelling. Enjoying local foods while travelling is one of my favourite past times. I mean, who doesn’t love a good taco in Mexico, a creamy pasta in Italy or a full English breakfast in Britain. But unfortunately, all the local foods don’t always like me!

Over indulging in foods of the world can not only be unhealthy, but it can become very expensive. This is why you should be conscious of what you are putting into your body and how much it is costing. When travelling long-term I try to stay in accommodation with cooking facilities. On saying that, some countries, such as in Asia, the street food is so good and cheap you wouldn’t bother cooking. However, if you are taking your health and fitness seriously while travelling, cooking when travelling will allow you to know exactly what you are putting into your body. Plus save you money.

Some of my favourite go-to friendly meals include:

• One pot wonders such as risottos and hearty soups.
• Stir fry. Buy fresh veggies, throw in your favourite sauce (soy, satay, chilli), some meat, chicken or tofu and serve on top of noodles or rice and you have an easy and healthy meal.
• Pasta. So easy to boil a pot of pasta then add a pesto or pasta sauce (pre-made if you prefer). This gives me plenty of carbs to keep up my energy.
• Salad. Buy fresh salad items, cut them up and make a healthy salad. Lettuce, tomato, capsicum, onion, olives, avocado or whatever combo you like. Add a piece of meat, chicken or fish and voila – healthy meal.

Check out my recipe website for cheap, fast and fabulous meals for travellers @ Travellers Fare.

And sometimes I travel with cooking gear so I can cook my meals, but this depends on how I am travelling. If car camping, I have a gas camping stove to cook with. I also travel with a small solar powerbank that powers my airfryer or my rice maker plus, I have plenty of collapsable gear that helps me make meals that help keep me in shape while I travel. I take travel size appliances with me as they fit in my luggage better.

Stay Hydrated

One of the things while traveling is to not have access to, or forget to drink water. Everyone knows how essential water is to sustaining life. And staying hydrated with water will help you to stay fit and healthy while you travel. It depends on where I am travelling as to whether I will drink the local tap water. If I suspect it may cause me any problems like Bali belly, I will purchase bottled water and I often travel with water purifying tables. To help save on costs, I travel with a re-fillable water bottle and I’ve recently travelled with this collapsable water bottle.

Take Healthy Snacks with You while Travelling

healthy snacks will squash those hunger pains!

Eating healthy while travelling is a must and one way to help keep you in tip top shape is to have healthy snacks for travelling in your bag that you can turn to. Without them, you can eat the first thing you see when you are hungry!

I suggest finding a local grocery store or market and grab some fresh fruits and veggies, nuts, cheese, crackers and other healthy snacks to satisfy those cravings. These things are small and easy to carry in your handbag or backpack for the day, and most importantly, they are healthy. And don’t forget to fill your water bottle up with fresh water for the day rather than buying a bottle of water or a sugary drink. When you have healthy travelling snacks with you, you are less likely to buy unhealthy snacks and drinks. This will help keep your budget fit and healthy too!

Get Plenty of Rest

To stay healthy as you travel, be sure to get enough rest before and after your full day of sightseeing or hiking or whatever it is you are doing. Rest allows the body to heal itself and to get ready for the next day. Now I’m not saying, ditch the party so you can get some sleep but if you have a big day the next day, you may want to leave the party earlier! There is nothing worse than yawning your way through a bucket list adventure or worse, falling asleep during it. So get plenty of rest so you can enjoy all the activities travel brings.

Also, consider upgrading your accommodation sometimes. I remember a friend telling me, he often had snorers in his dorm room in the hostel that would often keep him up at night. So when it got too much, he would book into a hotel and enjoy the comforts it offered. This really helped his mental health and also helped him to stay fit and healthy for travel.

Lay off the alcohol everyday

cheers to a good time – in moderation

When you are travelling and enjoying yourself it is quite easy to add an alcoholic drink or two into the mix. Why wouldn’t you? I mean, if you are having fajitas in a Mexican beach bar why wouldn’t you add a Corona. Or you are having a German sausage and sauerkraut at the Octoberfest, why wouldn’t you add a Heineken or two! When travelling through one of the world’s world-class wine regions, why wouldn’t you partake in a Chardonay or Shiraz or Champaign! Now I am not saying, not to partake, but it is when you overindulge in alcohol that is when things can become an issue.

Too much alcohol not only affects your health, over indulging can interfere with your safety. When you have a lot to drink you can loose awareness of your surroundings and unsavoury types could take advantage of you. Peer pressure is another thing to consider. Yes, it is great to meet new people but when booking accommodation maybe avoid the ‘party hostels’ to reduce your temptation of over-partying. You don’t need alcohol to meet new people! If you don’t want to experience particular sites in a blurry haze the next day from too much alcohol and stay healthy while travelling, ditch the booze.

Bring a First Aid Kit

Travelling isn’t always roses and sunshine, it comes with its downfalls. This is why I travel with a first aid kit. Now you don’t need to have a professional one, unless you want to! From my years of travelling I am aware of what has helped me to combat illness and accidents. Things I take include:

• headache/migrane tablets
• Band-aids in various sizes
• alcohol wipes
• a small tube of antispectic cream
• motion sickness tablets
• Gastrostop

Walk, Walk, Walk

take a hike

One of the best ways to stay fit and healthy while travelling is by walking. And you will do a lot of walking while travelling. If you are worried about your fitness for travel, consider that travel can make you fit. You will be walking from the train or bus station to your accommodation. Walking around town seeing the sites and walking to go out at night! So keeping up your fitness to travel is essential, and walking is one way to keep in shape.

If you have over-indulged in alcohol or local food you may want to try to walk it off. I have downloaded a step app on my phone and I set myself a limit of 10,000 steps per day to reach. This helps to keep my health and fitness while travelling in check. This is something you should consider also. Ensure you pack some good walking shoes or sandals as when you walk a lot your shoes need to provide support to your feet and be comfortable.

Love the Skin You’re In

Part of staying fit and healthy as you travel is to love the outside of you, so love the skin you’re in. As you travel you will come across all sorts of weather ranging from hot sunny days to cold, wet days. So protect your skin. You can protect your skin with clothes you wear but by also adding the following:

• Sunscreen. Reef safe sunscreen is best. I wear a daily moisturiser that has SPF in it so if I forget to put sunscreen on, I still have a little protection.
• Hat. Wear a hat to keep the sun off your face.
• Sunglasses. Protect your eyes with a good pair of sunglasses.

Pack your favourite workout gear

I often travel with my yoga mat

If you like to workout generally, it can be tough trying to dedicate time to a workout when you are travelling. But it is worth your while to introduce some sort of activity into your travels. As I mentioned before, walking is great so have the appropriate walking gear with you to help you walk better!

I often travel with some favourite workout gear. This includes my yoga mat and my resistance band so I can stretch my muscles after a long day of walking. Another favourite of my workout gear is a scrunchy ball that gives my hand and arm muscles a gentle workout. Have a look at your favourite workout gear and see what might not be too heavy and bulky to carry. Add a quick workout to walking and this will help you stay fit while travelling. Believe me, these little things help you feel so much better and when you feel good, you travel better!

Consider Hygiene

While travelling the world you will come in contact with many surfaces – airplanes, public bathrooms, hostel beds, restaurants – where lots of people have been and will continue to go to. Unfortunately, in these places, you can pick up bugs and germs. After coming in contact with different surfaces ensure to think about your personal hygiene. Some things I do:

• wear thongs/flip flops/jandals to a shower block to keep my feet clean
• wash my hands regularly and use hand sanitizer
• cough and sneeze into my elbow
• use disinfectant wipes to wipe down key areas I will touch in my accommodation including light switches, door handles, kitchen surface to name a few. Or while on the plane wipe over the buttons and tray table.

Just applying these little things while I travel help to keep me healthy and fit while I travel.

Keep Active

enjoying the hotel swimming pool

Lastly, to keep your health and fitness for travel, I suggest you choose activities while you are travelling that will keep you active. In particular, activities that you don’t know are keeping you active. What I mean is, choose activities that you enjoy doing.

• If you like hiking, undertake more hikes. If you aren’t a hiker, don’t call it a hike, call it a walk and undertake small walks.
• Go on a walking tour of the town you are in.
• Swim a few laps in the hotel pool.
• Run along the beach, jump in the waves or go for a surf. Or get a frisbee and throw it around chasing after it.
• Ensure you ski or snowboard to burn up the calories after too much apres ski.
• Discover a new scuba dive spot.
• Use the hotel gym or join a gym for a session and have a traveling workout.
• Do a pilates or yoga class online.
• Just stay active.

Whatever activity you decide to partake in, just stay active. Your travelling self will appreciate it!

Final Words

Implementing these 11 suggested health and fitness habits into your travels will definitely help you stay fit and healthy while travelling. Introducing exercise before and while travelling and healthy eating with provide you with the stamina to travel better and longer. What do you do to stay fit and healthy when travelling? I’d love to know in the comments below.

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