Rock Your Next Family Road Trip with Essential Oils

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

This post contains affiliate links which allow a small portion of your purchase (at no cost to you) to go towards keeping the blog running. Thank you so much for your support!

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)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.com/kpawlak

 

 

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