How to Stick to Your Wellness Routine While Traveling

There are many forms of travel, from going on vacation with your family or friends, to 
traveling for business. But no matter what your reason, it can be hard keeping up with 
your wellness routine and healthy habits when you are in a different environment.

Here are some tips that will help you stick closer to your normal wellness routine, 
without losing all the healthy progress you have made.


Define Your Wellness Routine Before Traveling

In order to stick to your wellness routine while traveling, you need to have a better idea 
of what it is. We aren’t just talking about having a healthy morning routine, but total 
wellness, including your body, mind, and spirit. Understanding what is in your own 
routine will help you define what “staying on track” means when you are traveling.


Control What You Can, Release What You Can’t

While there is a lot you can do while traveling that you are able to control when it comes 
to your healthy habits, you can’t control everything. Try not to focus too much on what is 
out of your control. The stress and obsession you get because your company put you 
up in a hotel without a gym is not going to help you. 

Are you able to book your own hotel room? If so, this allows you to choose one that is 
close to a park where you can go for a morning walk or one with an indoor pool for 
getting your exercise with swimming. Can you bring your own food? If you can, then 
you’re able to pack some healthy snacks.

Look at what you control, and let the rest go. It will all balance out.


Focus on Getting Good Sleep

One of the best things you can do for yourself while traveling is to improve your sleep. 
Not only is sleep on its own an important part of wellness, but good sleep can also give 
you more energy and give you a reason to be physically active and stick to your other 
healthy habits while traveling. 

To improve your sleep while traveling, you might need a good way to block out noise 
and other distractions. This could be with a white noise machine or listening to white 
noise on your phone, listening to rain sounds, or trying to book a hotel room away from 
a busy street. It also helps to not partake in alcohol before bed as that interrupts your 
sleep quite a bit.


Flip Your 80/20 Rule

When you are traveling for vacation, you want to be able to treat yourself and still enjoy 
your time, but not over-indulge completely. To avoid being too restrictive, consider the 
80/20 rule that you follow at home, but flip it around. For a vacation, you can enjoy 
yourself 80 percent of the time, and then stick to your diet and exercise routine the other 
20 percent of the time. 

This allows you to enjoy your vacation to the fullest, but still get in at least one healthy 
and fresh meal a day. For example, if you are following the 80/20 rule in reverse for 
your meals while traveling, you would eat the local cuisine for most of the day, but have 
one meal that is nutrient-dense or by eating your own healthy snacks during the day. 

This might also look like enjoying the resort and everything it has to offer, as long as 
you get in a 30-minute workout in the hotel gym first. Think of small habits that will make 
up about 20 percent of your time on vacation, and you will feel like you were proactive, 
without it completely taking over your entire trip.


Pack Items for Your Wellness Routine

The more practical you can be while traveling, the easier it is going to be to stick to your 
healthy routine. Consider items that are small and easy to pack while you travel that 
encourage your wellness routine, such as a journal or small version of your planner, 
smaller items to workout in your hotel room like resistance bands, or bringing healthy 
snacks. 

The items you choose will of course depend on what applies to your wellness routine. If 
you are trying to improve your mindfulness, then putting meditations on your phone or 
soft music that makes you feel more present is a great idea. On the other hand, if you 
have a habit of reading every morning before using social media, then bringing some 
paperback books is a great idea.


Get Your Exercise By Exploring

A big part of your wellness routine is probably getting exercise, which you can 
absolutely do while traveling! If you are going on a vacation, you can see the sights and 
explore local areas on foot. When setting up your itinerary, try to choose activities that 
will get you outside and moving, whether you are going on a hike in the mountains or 
using a kayak in the lake.

If you are traveling for work, you might not get as many opportunities to just explore the 
area. In this case, try to walk when you go out to eat, or take advantage of the hotel 
swimming pool early in the morning before you need to head to your meetings. 


