Road Trips are a favorite topic around here and finding some natural ways to deal with the ups and downs of adventures on the road is always important. Today’s guest post is from my friend Katie, who has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to holistic health and motherhood.
Guest Post: How to Use Essential Oils While You Travel
Road trips are a given in our growing family of five. We love the freedom to drive where we please at our own pace, the luxury of extra space to bring pack-and-plays/strollers/food, and the convenience of having a set of wheels (not to mention carseats) at our disposal at our travel destination. What we don’t love as much are funky smells in the van, dealing with carsick kiddos, sibling squabbles, and restless little passengers who are antsy to get to the next stop.
Our quest for healthier and more natural options for our family led us to incorporate essential oils into our lives two years ago, and would you know, they’ve made road trips much more enjoyable for our crew. Here are a few things we make sure to pack whenever we leave the house for a family getaway:
Essential Oils for Family Travel
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Get a Car Diffuser
We love bringing a small diffuser with us when we travel so we can enjoy our favorite oils while we drive. It’s easy to plug one into a USB port if you have a newer vehicle, or into a portable power pack if you don’t.
A wooden clothespin clipped to your car’s air vent will also do the trick! Just place a few drops of your preferred oil on the clothespin and you’re good to go.
Using Essential Oils for Road Trips
Motion Sickness: Ginger, Peppermint, or Spearmint
We place a few drops of one or more of these oils onto a cotton ball, tissue, or inner wrist and inhale 5-10 minutes before setting out on a trip, and throughout the trip as needed (essential oils should be diluted for use with children). This has helped our oldest handle longer rides without the dreaded plastic bag or bucket in the backseat.
Fresh Air: Purification, Thieves
Living in close quarters can result in unpleasant smells in the car (dirty diaper on day 1, fast food on day 2, stinky feet on day 3…). Placing a few drops of Thieves or Purification in our car diffuser (or clothespin diffuser hack!) brings our vehicle back to neutral and makes the ride more enjoyable for everyone
Chilling Out: Lavender, Peace & Calming
Feeling ready to break out the masking tape to mark off everyone’s personal space in the van? Diffusing calming oils like Lavender or Peace & Calming helps our kids (and us adults) ride in harmony.
Catching Zzz’s: Lavender, SleepyIze, Cedarwood
We’ve taken to covering longer distances at night when the little ones are sleeping, but sometimes it can be hard for them to relax and fall asleep in their carseats. When this is the case, we’ll rub few drops of diluted* Lavender, Cedarwood, or prediluted SleepyIze on their feet before changing them into jammies at our bedtime rest stop and play quiet music for 30 minutes or so. It’s usually all it takes to help them wind down and drift off.
*Because most essential oils should be diluted when used with children, we make kid-ready roller bottles of their favorite sleepy oils that are ready to go with no mess.
Immune Support: Thieves
We apply Thieves blend on our feet at night to support our immune systems, which can take a hit while traveling and visiting new people and public places. Why the feet? Our feet have some of the largest pores in our body and are a great place to apply oils we want absorbed by our body. It’s also a safe application site for younger children – just cover with socks or jammies and they’re good to go!
Tummy Support: Peppermint, DiGize
Eating new or less familiar foods can lead to indigestion and irregularity when traveling away from home. We use oils like Peppermint and DiGize (which contains fennel, ginger, and other digestion supporting oils) to support regularity and happy digestive systems when eating away from home.
How Do I Get Started With Essential Oils?
Ready to add essential oils to your travels? I recommend the following starter kit which comes with a diffuser and 11 essential oils, many of which we love to bring on our family adventures. Have fun on your next adventure!
A Giveaway!
Want to win your own car diffuser? Katie is giving away a Young Living USB Diffuser to ONE to a lucky reader! To enter, just complete the form below and follow the steps. There’s even a chance to earn some bonus entries! Hurry, the contest ends Wednesday, October 25th. (This contest is now closed)
Guest Post Author: Meet Katie
Katie is a Midwest mama of 3 through birth and foster care whose days are filled with lost socks, car pool lanes, and perpetually sticky floors. She shares easy ways to keep everyone in the family healthy and happy on Instagram @honestlifeessentials and at https://www.hello-essentials.
Do you use any essential oils while you travel? What’s your favorite blend or oil that you always make sure to pack? Leave any questions about oils below for Katie and she’ll follow up!
Disclaimer: Let Me Give You Some Advice and its guest posters are not medical professionals. This post is intended to share information about personal experiences and not to provide medical advice. Please talk with your doctor about your own health and the use of essential oils.
Need even more ideas for your next road trip, make sure to check out my Road Trips for Families Series
My favorite EO is definitely Theives! So many uses!! Or lemon….it’s hard to decide!
I know what you mean! so many great oils. I do love lemon though and thieves is perfect this time of year for a fall scent 🙂
Great information, Katie! I always take my oils when I travel but, have not used any while traveling due to no travel diffuser. We will be traveling by car soon with our two dogs so, I probably need to pick one up to keep the cooped up doggie smell to a minimum. Thieves and purification are my go to oils for health and clean air. We used peace & calming on my husband to keep his nervousness to a minimum the last time we flew!
Purification is so good for smells! And I love having a car diffuser. It makes such a big difference in everyone’s mood!
I haven’t yet dived into the world of EOs… but now might be the perfect time!
Julie, we love our EOs so much and I totally get that they’re not for everyone but if you have any questions, let me or Katie know! I’d be happy to talk about them any time 🙂 (I’m not a seller, just a happy customer!)
I love lemon essential oil it’s so amazing!
It goes well with so many things! I love it with lavender for a bright clean smell and with cinnamon and ginger for fall!
My favorite essential oil is grapefruit! I love all the citrus blends but, grapefruit is my favorite 🙂 My next road trip will hopefully be the southern rim of The Grand Canyon with my kids 😀
Oh, the Grand Canyon is on my list! What a great trip 🙂
I wrote an article about travel and different techniques for relieving stress. Essential oils are a go to for me as well. Good article.
Thanks for commenting, Penny! I’ll check out the article.