Staying Healthy While Traveling on a Budget

Whether you’re in the midst of interview/rotation travels (like me), or holiday travels/vacation, it can be kinda tough to stay healthy!

I’ve shared 5 ways to healthify your vacation in the past, but here are some tips on staying healthy while traveling on a budget! (I’m trying to make my cost of living as close as zero, in hopes to minimize my student loans as much as possible, and still have a little to spend towards friends and family!)

Find fitness classes/gyms in the area.

I did this a lot during my rotations! Many places offer a free or discounted trial class, and some even offer a free week! I tend to be honest to a fault, so I’d tell them I was interviewing for a residency program in the area and was looking for a gym/studio (whatever it happened to be) to join. If you’re still a student, there are often super-discounts too!

For instance, in the past couple months, I’ve gotten 5 free gym memberships, dropped in on a BJJ class with Rhalan Gracie (I found him in the bay area!! Super hoping to get to go back as often as possible when I’m back in CA again), did an aerial lyra/hoop class in Asheville…

…and a pole & silks class in Huntersville.

Pack yo’ snacks!

If you’re staying at a hotel that offers a free continental breakfast, they will usually have fresh fruit, whole wheat english muffins/bread, hardboiled eggs, yogurt, and oatmeal. You could probably get away with making yourself a little meal/snack for later! If that’s not an option, make some healthy snacks beforehand and bring them with you!

Do drop-ins at university/college clubs.

If you have a specific hobby/niche and happen to be in a university/college town, there are usually lots of clubs specific to whatever your hobby happens to be (e.g. ballroom dancing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, salsa dancing, Muay Thai, etc.). See if they offer drop-in sessions, or in the case of martial arts, open mat time! They’re usually much, much cheaper than if you were to go to an actual studio/gym!

Groupon/LivingSocial

Check if there are any deals going on for the places you’re traveling to! If there’s anything you’ve ever wanted to try out, there are often heavily discounted deals for intro classes, and there are also usually deals for if you want to take more than one class (e.g. 10-class punch cards, 1 month unlimited, etc.) I got a month of unlimited BJJ classes at a place I’ll be rotating at later this school year for $35! (I bought it on Black Friday, so I got an extra 20% off. :] )

Amino

I’m basically surrounded by doctors and health care professionals almost every day of my life, so I never would’ve thought of this, since I’m a fan of curbside consults, but that’s a story for another time!

If you’ve ever been traveling through the U.S. and happened to need a doctor while you were out of town, this would be a great option!

*Note: This is not a sponsored post. An Amino representative contacted me to let me know about this service, so all the information I’m sharing is from what I gleaned on the website. I personally have not used it, but I do think it sounds like something that’d be good to know about while traveling!

There are 6 super simple steps:

1. Which condition or procedure?
2. Gender (optional) + Age
3. Address (with option to “use current location”)
4. How far are you willing to travel? (1, 5, 10, 25, 100 miles)
5. Your health insurance (optional)
6. Preference (female doctor, male doctor, or no preference)

After you fill in that information, it populates a list of doctors that fit your criteria, and shows you the following:

• Specialty
• Your “match” score for that physician (based on how many similar patients–same age + condition–that particular doctor has seen over the last 4 years
• Contact info (includes their address, phone number, # miles away from you, language(s) that they speak
• Credentials (where they went to med school + where they did their residency)

Something I really liked was that there were no ads or “featured” results. (Hooray for unbiased recommendations!) The fact that you can fill in your insurance could also really help you to save a bunch of money.

Booking an appointment is free! Who knows, maybe you’ll see me on there in a couple more years! :]

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• How do you stay healthy when you’re traveling?
• Have you ever had to see a doctor while you were traveling?

[Linking up with The Fit Dish (hosted by Jessica and Jill)!]

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