We Asked The Experts: The All-Time Best Healthy Travel Tips

Whole fruits and vegetables are your best bets when you're trying to eat healthy on-the-go or during a layover.

Obviously, this is easier said than done, but as registered dietitian and nutritionist Maya Feller notes, the chain CIBO Express Gourmet Market has made huge strides here. They are found in larger metropolitan airports like New York, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Houston, which happen to be big hubs for layovers, in case you need to pick up something between flights.

"The most important thing you can do is to come up with a coping mechanism before you leave," says board-certified psychiatrist Indra Cidambi, M.D. "Have a plan in place before your trip, so if you feel anxiety coming on, you already know what you are going to do."

To start, make sure you are calm from the get-go, she says. Check in via mobile apps or fill out any form you might need to beforehand (like if you are coming back on an international flight, always fill out the customs form on the plane, not while you are waiting in line). And when you enter the airport, turn on your most calming, relaxing playlist. "This will put you in a good mindset and distract you," she says.

The dirtiest places on the plane ride are all in your seat area: the buckle, air vent, and tray. According to data collected from Travelmath, the buckle had 230 CFUs (colony-forming units of bacteria), the air vent had 285 CFUs, and the tray had a shocking 2,155 CFUs, all per square inch. Bring disinfecting wipes (CleanWell Travel-Size Hand Sanitizing Wipes are a great natural option), and wipe down prior to using any of these.

Also, if you plan to use your tray, make sure all your food stays on a napkin and does not spill on the tray itself: "The problem is they are heavily used, but they are hardly ever wiped down," says microbiologist Charles P. Gerba, Ph.D., who teaches microbiology and environmental sciences, professor of public health (EHS) at the University of Arizona.

After sitting on a long flight, you need to get your body moving right away. It will help loosen up your muscles and help you establish yourself in a new location. 

There are a few things you can do. As you get ready for bed, adjust the blue light on your phone. We know from significant research1 that blue light, whether from the outdoors or our screens, signals alertness. Well, you can dim blue lights on your phones, tablets, and screens through settings (Google how to do it). This way, if you find yourself tossing and turning at night—and, ahem, checking your phone while doing so—you're not setting yourself back even further by telling your brain it should be awake.

"Either do a simple yoga flow in your hotel room—or leverage what's around you and do a makeshift routine: Do dips on the chair, throw your feet on the bed, and do crunches," says Todd McCullough, trainer and founder of TMAC FITNESS.

And as Stryker notes, "You don't need that much space. Think about it: The max amount of space you are going to need to get in a killer workout is the space it takes to do a pushup or plank."

I am not going to be the first or last person to tell you this: You need to leave work at work. It is the only way you are going to declutter your head and recover while on vacation.

"If you really want a vacation, you're going to have to force yourself to leave behind any technology that ties you to your professional roles. Literally is best; metaphorically, if that's all you can manage. It can take a lot of discipline to step back and let go of the cellphone or laptop. However much effort it takes you to resist the urge—or addictive craving—to pick up your device and start scrolling through emails or the news is going to be well worth it!" says Suzanne Degges-White, Ph.D., LPC-NC. "Your brain totally deserves the opportunity to reroute itself, and we all know from current research that switching things up and reprogramming yourself out of ruts is one of the protective behaviors that helps fight against cognitive decline as we age."

There is one trick I always stick to when I'm returning home: Plan your next adventure. It helps ease the transition of vacation to real life and gives you something to look forward to. Coming back home, with a bit of anticipation already sneaking, eases any negative feelings about your free days coming to an end.

But don't take my word for it. Take researchers'! 

According to this often-cited study3, we actually get more joy from planning a vacation than taking that vacation: Researchers found that those who went on vacations were happiest before a holiday; post-vacation they reported the same levels of happiness as someone who did not take a vacation. Sure, that in and of itself sounds, um, bleak, but the reasoning behind it isn't.

And in a related study published years later, this only became more clear. In this study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, researchers found that when you highly anticipate an event, it can help ease your feelings when you remember said event after.

That basically means that the act of being excited about a trip will actually make you feel fonder about the trip after, even if it wasn't as exceptional as you once expected.

Here's what I do, which is not at all hard: At the airport I pick up some travel magazines before departure for some inspiration (that's more for fun and pretty pictures; I likely already have an idea in my head of where I want to go next, but broadening my search never hurts).

From there, I make note of how many frequent flyer miles I have, what might the estimated budget be (so I can start saving), how many vacation days I have, and what timing makes the most sense.