Easy Ways to Stay Healthy While Traveling

We know that times are still weird for most of us right now. 2020 has been a doozy, but life is still very life-y. If you’ve got a trip planned for work or for fun, here are a few tips to making sure you stay extra healthy while traveling.

Be safe: Wash your damn hands. Don’t sneeze on people. Don’t share drinks with strangers. 

Pro-Tip: If you are traveling out of your local area, make sure to check the current restrictions for the area you’re traveling to. Just like traveling to a foreign country, do your due diligence.

Pack snacks: Well, duh. Right? But packing your own snacks can help you stay on track and not feel deprived. If you pack snacks that you enjoy, that also happen to be nutrient dense, then you can help eliminate the pressure of roadside food. Front loading your day with protein, which is often the hardest macro to hit when traveling, can also help lessen some of the worry later in the day. Pack some BUBS collagen single serve sticks in your bag. You can add them to water, coffee, tea, juice, you name it. Protein for your whole family.

Pro-Tip: If you’re flying you can bring your own food. Every time I travel, I pack a meal for the plane. Every single time, without fail, someone asks me, “They let you bring that on board?!” No Susan, I smuggled this breakfast burrito in my bra. YES. Provided it is not liquid based, you can absolutely bring your own meal onto a plane. I’ve packed sandwiches, burritos, rice bowls, salads, whole meals for my family. Remember to pack silverware! Or just eat with your fingers, live on the edge.

Don’t Skip the Fitness: You know that saying, never skip leg day? It applies to travel and vacation too, kinda. Vacation is a great time to lessen up on the regular fitness routine, it’s true. But it’s no reason to stop altogether. (I can’t tell you how many times a member will go on vacation then roll into a Monday morning fitness class and promptly die because they've done nothing but eat, drink, and lounge for a week.) A quick google search of “hotel room workouts” will get you there. Even better, hop on over to Street Parking for workouts that you can do literally anywhere. Lastly, it's okay if fitness doesn’t look the same for you on vacation. Park in the back of parking lots and walk. Rent some bikes with your significant other. Take a walk on the beach. Hike. Climb a mountain. Get outside and move your body.

Pro-Tip: If you are driving, pack some dumbbells in your car. I travel with dumbbells for me and my kids; 10, 20, and 45 pound dumbbells and I just leave them in the back of my car. They’re small and effective and you can use them anywhere. Nothing like a little parking lot fitness for you and the fam to start the day. (Fun fact: I once traveled with a barbell and plates in my truck. I was a handful of weeks out from a weightlifting meet and needed to keep to my training program. I’d trudge on down to the car, lace up my lifters, and lift. You meet a lot of people this way. I promise. Also, tailgates make excellent stand-ins for lifting blocks, sometimes.)

Hydration Really is Key: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Traveling, particularly flying and long road trips, can be taxing on your body. All that extra fun in the sun takes a toll, too, and eating at restaurants adds a lot of salt and other preservatives into your system. (Ahem: Adult beverages, anyone? Like, maybe all 19 of them that one night that you guys played poker until midnight and definitely woke up absolutely zero neighbors?) Your body will need the water to flush those out of your system, on top of also just keeping your body well lubricated. Have water, sparkling water, unsweetened ice tea, fresh sparkling juices, mix it up but get it in.

Pro-Tip: Our collagen completely dissolves and is flavorless. I mix it into my boys' water bottles and they don’t even realize that I am providing them with a solid dose of clean collagen protein. Otherwise, I’m sure they would just roll over and die with the savage unfairness that is consuming actual nutrients on vacation. The struggle is real.