A lot of us can agree about our sharing of the common dream of being able to travel as far as we’d like, as often as we’d like and for as long as we’d like to be away. I’m personally one of those people who really wouldn’t mind not even knowing when my return date is or indeed if there’s a return date at all. “If travelling was free” it’s been often said, “you’d never see me again!”
So here’s the deal – it’s all within reach and at the risk of sounding like an overly motivational dreamer, it’s about how much you want to do it. You don’t have to be super-rich or even in the slightest bit rich to make your traveller’s dream come true as there are means and ways to perhaps get together with other eager travellers and just make it happen.
Take a leaf out of the books of budget travellers and so-called digital nomads and you’ll see that there’s really nothing much to it. All you need is the desire to do so and then you can follow it up with some actionable steps that turn out to be much more reasonable than what is suggested by the status quo.
But now there’s a major problem which usually crops up in the lives of people who’ve decided to take the plunge and make their prolonged travel dreams happen. Amidst all the frequent changing of time zones, last-minute planning and cancellations there’s very little time left to try and take proper care of details such as how you eat. Basically staying healthy is a challenge because you’re at the mercy of all the organisational details which just have a tendency to go wrong as part of the evocation of Murphy’s Law.
Try to get in some regular exercise and you’ll be in for a whole new level of what a challenge is all about.
If you are serious about your health though, which you should be, then it’s a challenge you would be up for and one which you’ll constantly feel like you’re losing.
The key to staying healthy in any setting however, never mind as part of your extended travels, resides in your diet. It’s not just a cliché which claims that healthy living is 80% diet and about 20% exercise. So whatever you do, start with a diet plan and do your best to try and stick to it.
Be a pain in the butt (okay, only within reason) and liaise with all the staff you come into contact with as part of your travels. Ask the airline if they have special diet options as part of the process of booking your ticket for example and definitely talk to the staff at your place of accommodation about healthy eating and general healthy living options.
That’s how I learned of a $1 per day gym in Thailand where they’ll even whip up a post workout protein shake for you in addition to granting you access to their resident nutritionist and fitness instructor.