The Write Way Around: Traveling Tales

One of the many things a female traveler struggles with when she is on the road is the highs and lows of staying fit while traveling the world.

I am an athletic person. I played soccer and basketball my whole life, and since living in Australia I have started to really focus on running as a sport.

In the past few months, one of the ways I channeled the rip-roar of emotions I was going through was by hitting the gym, something that was always part of my daily routine but soon became an outlet for what I was feeling.

If I was feeling sad or angry, I would jump on the treadmill and sprint until my lungs felt like they were outside of my body or box until I felt like I could not lift my arms anymore. (For those of you who feel like the world is shitting on you day in and day out, or if you have just had one of those days when things could not get any worse, boxing is like a godsend. It feels so damn good.)  Often times it really helped, and I left the gym feeling satisfied, calmer and better.

Right now, for me and for my fitness level, I am fast. I mean it – like I am really fast. I can run 7 miles in about 43 minutes, and I can run a 5K in under 19 minutes. I feel mentally and physically stronger in the best of ways.

I have lost about four-and-a-half kilos, which is a little more than eight pounds, through the process, and I finally feel comfortable with myself. I was always one to fluctuate my weight constantly (once a month I lived off of chocolate and cookies for nearly a week and a half), and I was always one to whinge about how I was unhappy with my body – but at the moment, I feel good.

But that is one of the things that worries me about this trip. I like being in shape, and I like feeling good about myself – everyone does. Yet I know that with this trip comes the challenge of staying fit.

I laugh when I look back at the pictures of myself when I was a 19-year-old human gnocchi eating and drinking my way through Italy. Running every day made no difference in my physique, and we were not even really eating that unhealthily. We were eating some of the best food in the world. Yet my roommate Kimmy and I used to dance around our bedroom, trying to wiggle ourselves in to the jeans we outgrew by the day. And that is one more pair that will not zipper or button! Found a new roll today – look at this one! Mission accomplished!

Then there are some situations when no matter how much you eat, you will not gain a pound because, realistically speaking  – in countries like China or India, my friends and I tried our best to be strategic about where we ate because we knew that we would need a toilet immediately after taking the last bite.*

But just because we were losing weight did not mean we were healthy. I was eating foods so rich in oil and so greasy, I felt all the more sluggish, heavy and sloppy as each day passed.

Furthermore, in the ten months I traveled Asia, I think I ran a total of four times. I went from being able to run for two hours straight pre-backing to arriving in Australia post-backing and feeling winded after ten minutes. It was embarrassing, and I felt like crap.

So the challenge for these next I don’t even have any idea how many months is going to be discovering ways to stay fit and stay in shape while on the road without being the Hussein Bolt of backpackers by going out for runs every morning while everyone else is nursing hangovers.

I know that most likely throughout the course of my travels my weight will fluctuate. When you are traveling on a budget, one of best ways to pinch your pennies is by limiting your daily allowance on accommodation and food. I do not expect to be eating particularly healthy this trip, as I am sure I will continue to live off of instant noodles, peanut butter and the free cereal packets I scored from work. My body will definitely suffer the consequences.

But there are ways to make it better.

Hiking

If there is one thing I will admit, it is that I am not a hiker. There is no way you are going to see me charging through the mountain sides with basically a portable home strapped to my back so that I can set up camp for the night. Come on now – let’s be serious. However, there are day hikes as well as hikes that conveniently are dotted with guesthouses and teahouses set back in the mountains for you to retire for the night. (This time, though, I will just make sure to have more than seven dollars in my pocket when setting out for a five-day hike like I did when I was traveling Nepal.) It is an awesome way to stay in shape.

Scuba Diving

Scuba diving is another great way to stay in shape, because so much of it is reliant on your breathing techniques. The more you master your breathing, the longer you can stay underwater. You are also at times swimming through strong currents, and on top of that, your body naturally burns a lot of energy trying to help you maintain your body heat. You’re basically exercising without even knowing it.

Cycling tours

These are tremendously popular in Europe, but I am not so sure about New Zealand or Indonesia. Cycling tours of a city is a great way to stay fit and get in some exercise, even if it is a low-to-moderate intensity level. You are still getting your body out there and moving.

Walking

I am a New Yorker, and I love walking everywhere. I could walk the lengths of a city ten times over if someone let me. It is a great way to keep your joints loose and save money. In Asia I would sometimes use the pedometer on my iPod to record the amount that I walked each day.

Yoga

Let’s just say that my connection to yoga did not last long once I left my ashram stay in India. For a runner, I hate stretching despite knowing its importance to my body and overall state of mind. I find it to be so uncomfortable, but I am going to give yoga classes a second chance while I am traveling. It really is an incredible form of exercise that requires  body and mind, and it builds so much of your core. I am thinking Indonesia will be a yoga hotspot, and I am hoping it is a way for me to maintain both my mental and physical strength.

Surfing

I want to allow part of my budget to go toward learning how to surf when I am in Indonesia, but this one is really up in the air now that I learned I will lose nearly a grand in currency exchanges cause the stupid Australian dollar –though beautiful – is so weak right now. Surfing, like yoga, is a great exercise for your core muscles and a fun way to stay in shape.

So this list will be my bible for staying fit while I travel.

I am going to bring my trainers with me with the best of intentions, though I am not holding myself to any high standards of exercising. These next few chapters are about enjoying life, and that is what I plan to do. I want to stay happy, which means staying happy both in mind and body to the best of my ability while still enjoying the experience.

*In writing this post, I thought of when a friend of mine, Jacob Sobel, made the poor decision to eat an incredibly spicy and notoriously dangerous Indian meal just before getting on an overnight bus that had no toilet on it. I sat next to Jake and tried to keep him pre-occupied by putting Arrested Development on my iPad and watching it with him.