Travel can be exhausting even when you don’t figure kids into the equation. But moving our bodies gives us energy, improves our patience (which is needed in spades when traveling with kids), carves out some time adult-focused self-care time, sets a good example for the kiddos and just feels good.
We often get questions about how we are able to balance a packed travel itinerary and still make time to be active while we are traveling. All it really takes is some motivation and a little bit of advance planning to make it happen. And if we are being honest, being able to indulge guilt-free in all the glorious dishes and treats on our travels (including those delicious gelato nightcaps) is motivation enough for us!
Here are our favourite ways to stay active on the road:
Go for a run: Running is one of our favourite ways to explore a new location. It can be as long or short and as fast or slow as you want. Perfect. Whether it was running alongside the crashing ocean waves in Australia or exploring the beautiful landscapes in New Zealand, we’ve been able to see some pretty amazing views and still get in our exercise!
- How to make it happen:
- Research popular stroller-friendly running routes on local forums and note them for future reference.
- If your kids are young, bring a running stroller. Contrary to many traveling parents, we usually bring along our big sport/running stroller to make sure we don’t have any excuse. Yes, we admit it can be a bit more cumbersome to load the bigger stroller into a car or a bit trickier to navigate public transit, but if we can survive Japan and South Korea with a big stroller, you can make it happen anywhere.
- If your kids are older, bring a foldable scooter and have the kids scooter alongside you or take turns heading out for a jog.
Take your home workouts on the road: Sign up for workouts that travel with you! As we both work out of the house full-time and have two young girls at home, getting out of the house to exercise was proving more difficult than ever before. Enter Beachbody! Beachbody offers world class fitness programs in a Netflix style format! Absolutely genius, and much the same as we bring our Netflix subscription with us around the world, we bring our workouts! And depending on where you are traveling, you may even get to jump straight into the pool when you are done.
- How to make it happen:
- Figure out if you will have access to any fitness facilities during your trip and search for workouts based on the available equipment. If you won’t have access to any equipment, you can search for body-weight only workouts!
- If your internet connection is reliable simply stream the workouts when you are ready. If not, just like Netflix you can download all your workouts ahead of time based on your available time and equipment!
When and where possible, walk: Not only does this help your travel budget by cutting down on transportation costs, but it gives you a good dose of physical activity and often a much better feel for the city you are visiting. Of course, sometimes it doesn’t make sense to walk if you are limited on time or the kids just aren’t having it, but if you can make it happen, it’s almost always worth it!
- How to make it happen:
- Map out the different places you want to visit each day and group attractions that are in close proximity to one another making note of the distances between them.
- Be realistic about how long it will take you to walk between sites, leaving ample time for diaper changes, toddler doddling and to check out anything interesting you see along the way.
- If you are using a stroller, invest in sun and rain covers so your kiddos are protected from whatever mother nature throws your way.
Make it a family affair and plan active outings: Whether its a hike, bike or swim we try to include something active in each city. We find that these outings are some of the least stressful as they give the opportunity for the littles to run, play and explore. Oh yeah, and carrying your kids around all day counts too.
- How to make it happen:
- Search for active family outings before you leave home. It could be a hiking to the top of a mountain for a great view of the cityscape, a biking food tour, a swim with the kids, or even getting in on the fun with your kids at the park.
- Make sure to bring any necessary equipment with you (e.g., infant/toddler carrier or rain gear).
When you break it down, it’s pretty simple right? How do you like to stay active during your travels?
From YOW with Love 