Travel Tips To Ensure a Healthy Spring Break
Every Spring hordes of North Americans escape the cold, wet weather and flock to sunny destinations to relax by a beach or a pool. In most cases, they get too much sun, eat and drink a little too much and come home feeling more tired and unhealthy than when they left. By now many of the staff at Mountain Trek are experts at Spring Break travel given the fact that this time of year we’re always guiding an adventure trek somewhere in the world. Aside from the list we compiled called 14 Travel Hacks to Ensure the Best Trek Experience Ever we also wanted to share with you five ways to ensure you enjoy a healthy Spring Break vacation and return from your trip more relaxed and fit than when you left!
1. Keep Moving
For many, a vacation can involve a lot of lounging by the pool or on a beach. But as with your regular day-to-day life, it’s important to walk at least 10,000 steps a day to ensure your muscles don’t begin to atrophy. Something like this is easy when you’re walking around the historic sites of Europe or hiking in a national park but for more sedentary-style trips, be sure to go for a walk along the beach or stroll in the woods. This also applies to your plane journey to your destination: if you have a long flight, be sure to periodically raise and lower your heels while seated and walk up and down the aisle occasionally.
2. Sleep Soundly
You may be looking forward to some good-quality shut-eye after you’re stressful day-to-day regimen but it’s important to acclimatize to the time zone you find yourself in first. At the outset of your trip avoid alcohol as that will disrupt your sleep patterns even further. Nor should you fall asleep in your hotel room or condo right after you’ve checked in (unless you arrive at night of course). Try your best to get on local time but if you do feel like you need a nap, keep it under 45 minutes.
3. Drink Water
No matter what we’re discussing, whether it’s detoxing, nutrition or travelling, we always stress how important it is to drink water. It’s just so imperative to help your body function better, especially when travelling. Eight eight-ounce glasses a day is a rough guide for most people but a better indicator to ensure you’re drinking enough water is to gauge the colour of your urine: it should be clear with a small tinge of colour to it. If it’s too yellow you’re not drinking enough and if it’s crystal clear, you’re drinking too much. Consuming water can be tricky in some countries where bacteria such as giardia is a concern. In those cases drink bottled water or carry a water filter with you: Steripen makes different models that are just a little larger than a magic marker and use ultraviolet light to make water safe to drink.
4. Eat Like a Local
One of the best parts of travelling is enjoying the amazing array of food each country specializes in. This doesn’t mean you have to eat out at restaurants for every meal, though. Eat like the locals and buy fresh produce at colourful local markets. (If water-born bacteria is a concern where you are, only buy produce that have peels.) Snack often and remember to stick to the habit of eating two-thirds of your daily food within nine hours of waking up. When you are at a restaurant, remember they’re there to serve you: ask that your meal be prepared to your specifications, order sauces and dressings on the side, and in the evenings, request a “to-go” box for half your meal. Oh, and if you’re going to drink, make sure it’s with food and you have some water in between glasses.
5. Relax
Vacations are all about getting away from our stressful daily lives, but it can be nerve-racking travelling to a foreign place. To avoid undue drama and stress, be sure to research where it is you’re going first and plan out the itinerary of your first few days including where it is you’re going to stay. Once you’ve acclimatized, then you can fully explore your surroundings. Alternatively, let others take care of all the details for you. When you join Mountain Trek at our beautiful lodge in British Columbia, for example, the price is all-inclusive meaning we take care of absolutely everything. All you need to do is ensure you show up!
What is Mountain Trek?
Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia and featuring daily sunrise yoga and night-time restorative yoga, will help you unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress, anxiety, and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:
