Travel Tips: Stay Fit on the Road

Planning an active vacation — or even planning some workouts during a not-so-active vacation — takes a bit of, well, planning. But it doesn’t have to take a ton! Here are a few travel tips to make working in workouts while traveling a little easier.

Stay somewhere fitness-friendly. Lots of hotels now offer amenities with exercise in mind. Sometimes it’s chain-wide, like at Westin where they lend out fitness gear and staff running concierges at many locations, or it could be more local, where your specific hotel teams up with a local gym or fitness studio to offer services onsite or discounts at the studio. When narrowing down your lodging options, it’s worth calling and asking the concierge what they might offer — I’ve stayed in three or four hotels that didn’t advertise partnerships with local gyms, but when asked, had a few options to choose from. And at the very least, you might learn which hotels are accessible to nearby running trails or stadiums to do your own workouts!

App up (beyond the workout app). Of course it’s smart to bring a few workouts along with you, whether that’s done through a cool fitness app or something you snagged from, say, your favorite fitness website. But there’s more to staying fit than just working up a sweat, right? Find an app or two that you like for finding the types of food and fun you enjoy most near you. I’m a huge fan of Yelp, but I’ve also heard good things about AroundMe, and Locavore is hard to beat for finding healthy eats. And, you know, packing healthy snacks is a pretty brilliant way to keep up your healthy habits!

Pack smart. Don’t miss out on an active adventure because you forgot something silly, like a sports bra or sneakers. But also, don’t go nuts and pack every piece of fitness equipment you own! Being able to wash your sweaty, dirty clothes is incredibly handy on longer trips, and if you don’t trust your handwashing skills (*raises hand*), try something designed to make it easier, like this. (I used it for my hiking clothes in Hawaii. It. Is. LEGIT.)

What travel tips would you add to this list? I guess I’d also have to recommend packing an extra hair tie or four. —Kristen