Welcome back oh weary travelers… Today I wanted to talk to you about some essential oils for traveling. You see my wife and I have two businesses that are roughly four hours drive apart so we spend an inordinate amount of time on the highway and staying in hotels. Over this time we (and by we, I mean mostly my wife) have developed a standard essential oils travel kit to assist us when we are away from home. We sometimes need either a pick-me-up or a little sleep recipe. So, let’s check and study the oils for traveling recipes.
Now in true Man versus Oils fashion I will try and keep this as masculine as possible however as it is my wife who does most of the essential oils for traveling recipes listed, we here may drift a little more to the feminine side. That said, I do use most of them myself so it can’t all be bad. Let’s have a look at what we use.
How do we choose essential oils for traveling?
When you travel, there are so many elements that can affect your comfort levels, ability to sleep, ability to stay alert for whatever it is that you are there for, differences in food, water and so on. We have chosen each of our oils and oil blends based on each of these needs.
And as per normal, due to the fact that these are the oils that we actually use, I have not undertaken any research into whether these oils should work for this reason or not. I will however highlight some others at the end of this post that you may want to consider if you have them or are traveling on a flight or overseas.
What essential oils do we use when we travel?
So, as I have said, we travel a lot between our two business leading us to spend a lot of time in the car and in hotels. This is an outline of what oils we use and why.
In the car
As we set off, we use a little roller blend containing:
- 6 drops Peppermint
- 5 drops Joy
- 5 drops Lemon
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred) or,
- add oils only to a portable car diffuser.
Why?
This one is for alertness, Peppermint and Lemon are very good alertness oils and Joy (a blend of Bergamot, Ylang Ylang, Geranium, Lemon, Coriander, Tangerine, Jasmine, Roman Chamomile, Palmarosa and Rose). The Joy was added purely to soften the scent of the first two oils. If in roller bottle roll onto wrists, neck and behind the ears.
Manliness rating:
Not too bad – I really do not enjoy the scent of Joy (it is waaaayyy too florally for my liking) but it really doesn’t overpower the overall aroma. I will use this one if it is there. I have however often referred to my own little blend of:
- 5 drops Northern Lights Black Spruce
- 5 drops Lemon
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred)
This does pretty much the same thing (for me at least) but that is because I really love Northern Lights Black Spruce so it uplifts me as well.
In the Hotel
In many cases, it is the hotel that will make or break your trip – poor mattresses, not enough pillows (my pet hate), loud surroundings, too much light, not enough light and don’t even start on the old air-conditioner settings – the list is endless. We have stayed in them all – and not all of them cheap – but even in the good ones we have found assistance in the following:
- 6 drops Lavender
- 5 drops Stressaway
- 5 drops Frankincense
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred) or,
- add oils only to your portable diffuser.
Why?
The hardest thing to do when any of the issues listed above are present is to sleep. This mixture is calming and soothing and assists with sleep. If in a roller bottle add to your wrists and temples about half an hour before bed. If sleep is still an issue, drop a single drop of Frankincense to the crown of your head – it really works a treat for us.
Manliness rating:
As with the car blend, not the manliest of aromas but again, one that I really don’t mind – the frankincense sort of saves it this time – so I guess we will give it a pass mark.
Other Hotel uses:
Mix 10 drops of Thieves with a glass of water and ‘spritz’ (in a manly manner of course) it around the shower to give it a little germination – even if it is just to make you feel better – yes Nic, I am talking to you…
Many Hotels are located in nice areas near beaches, lakes and forestry areas – this means insects. If you suffer a few bites whilst enjoying your on-the-balcony beverage, put a drop of Purification on each bite to relieve the itchiness (and allow sleep). I swear by this one and use it all the time!
During the Day
I don’t know what it is but whenever you travel, you just seem to be more tired – even if you did sleep well in the hotel. If you need to be up and about during the day or are traveling for business, there are number of blends you can try:
- Car blend – this is the blend listed above of Peppermint, Lemon and Joy
- My favourite manly blend – Northern Lights Black Spruce and Lemon
Alternatively, I also like:
- 5 drops Idaho Blue Spruce
- 5 drops Lime
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred)
Essentially, there are a number of different oil blends that you could try along these lines. We personally find that any mixture of a grounding oil (Spruce oils or Wood oils such as Sandalwood or Cedarwood etc.) and a citrus oil (Lemon, Lime, Orange, Bergamot etc.) really do give off a great aroma that will not only smell nice and manly, but keep you calm and alert throughout the day.
All you need to do is sniff them in the bottles and if you like then, give them a shot (see video below).
What other options are there?
So that was the list of things that we use when we travel between our businesses. As usual however, I do like to give you guys a full rounded list of options so I have had a bit of a hunt around and found the following ideas that may just tickle your fancy the next time you are out and about:
Motion sickness
Do the wheels on the car make your stomach go round and round? Try:
- 3 drops grapefruit,
- 2 drops ginger
- 1 drop peppermint
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred)
Peppermint and Ginger are both great for nausea and citrus gives a little pick-me-up. Rub on the stomach, wrists and temples prior to travel or during if motion sickness arises. You can substitute any citrus for the grapefruit if you prefer a different aroma.
Jet lag
I have discussed this one a number of times in other posts. But for jet lag, try:
- 10 drops Cedarwood
- 10 drops Lavender
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred)
This one works a treat for me. That jetlag haze is a thing of the past when I use this – perfect if you are traveling for business and need to be in point for those long daily meetings.
Nervous Flyer
Are you a nervous or anxious flyer? Try this blend to assist with keeping you calm before you board:
- 2 drops Clary sage
- 2 drops Lavender
- 1 drop Bergamot
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred)
Rub onto the temples and neck before and during the flight. Lavender is calming and assists with sleep. The bergamot and clary sage is really good for alertness and clarity. Use more citrus if you want to keep your wits about you or substitute Cedarwood or Frankincense for the Sage of you want to sleep the flight away – especially if you are on the red-eye!
Relaxation station
Do you just want to relax and watch a movie on your long flight? This is a good little manly relaxation blend:
- 6 drops Lavender
- 5 drops Frankincense
- 5 drops Orange
- add to a roller bottle and top up with grapeseed oil (or another carrier if preferred)
Once on board and settled into your seat, rub into the neck, temples and wrists, put on your headphones and settle in to your favourite manly action movie – or than rom-com you have always wanted to see – go on, there is no one else around – who will know?
Conclusion
So there it is, a whole list of options for you next time you are traveling away from home and need a pick-me-up, some sleep, a calmed stomach or some practical solutions. As usual, have a gander through and pick the best one for you. Is there something else you use or another travel problem that you would like a solution for? If so, please comment below and I will be all over it for you.
Now, until next time and as always.
Have fun!
Paul
Best way to travel with essential oils: |
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My name is Paul and I live on the east coast of Australia with my wife and six year old son. I also have 19 and 23 year old daughters. I am an ex government and bank worker who took a bit of a sea change and opened my own business by the beach with my amazing wife. If you can do it, try it. You will never look back. You want to know more about me, read my About Me page
I’ve never seen oils to be as useful as portrayed in this article. I always saw issues to be normal when traveling not knowing that with a little guidance oils would solve them. I’m impressed with this article as it has opened up my eye to different kinds of oils and how they can be used.
Thanks Dhayours
Thanks for stopping by
Paul
Thanks for writing about essential oils for travel. Lavender oil can be used for a lot of things while traveling. For instance, it makes you sleep easier and has a relaxing effect on the human mind. When the refreshing aroma is inhaled it also relieves stress and anxiety.My favorite use is to put some lavender oil on my wrists before I go to sleep.nd never for once did I forget it when traveling
It cetainly is a very well used and effective oil.
Thanks for you comments
Paul
Yes you are right, I do have motion sickness my stomach got round and round when traveling in my car or in commercial bus over a long distance. Sometimes I vomit and fee uncomfortable throughout the journey. I will buy this oil and keep for use for my next travelling and will follow the dosage usage. Thanks alot God bless.
Thank Achievers – let me know how it goes for you
Paul
Thank you Paul, for this very interesting article on essential oils for traveling. It was especially fascinating to me because I am not very familiar with the use of essential oils and I didn’t know they could be so soothing in stressful, unfamiliar situations. This was definitely a bit of an education for me, and one I will look into further.
Is a carrier oil (you mentioned grapeseed) an oil that enhances the aroma of the main ingredient oils?
That Northern Lights Black Spruce sounds wonderfully intriguing and is one I’d like to try. Thanks for the pleasant learning experience, I can’t wait to try some of the ‘recipes’!
Sue
Hi Sue, carrier oils are used to dilute the oils down a bit of they are too strong, or to make then go further if they are being used on the skin etc.
Check out this post on carrier oils.
Hope this helps and thanks for stopping by.
Paul