Traveling is supposed to be one of life’s great pleasures, but if you feel sick in the car or plane, you may wonder why. Peppermint oil has a marvelous calming effect on the stomach and is clearly an essential for an uneasy traveler. It is very strong, so use just one drop in a cup of hot water with honey to taste, and sip slowly before setting off on your journey. Alternatively, for children and grown-ups alike, put a mere smear on a cube of sugar- this tiny amount will suffice for a long journey. The advantage of this method is that you can pop the sugar cubes into a plastic bag and into your pocket for when they are really needed.
Another excellent travel oil is Ginger, which is well known for alleviating sea-sickness but is equally effective for other types of travel sickness. Two drops of Ginger oil on a handkerchief and inhaled works well, and a drop diluted in a little vegetable oil and rubbed over the upper abdomen also helps.
Midsummer traffic jams often make driving to the beach a hot and frustrating time, but passengers and driver alike are kept cool and calm by one drop of Lavender, Eucalyptus, or Peppermint oil on one or two cotton balls placed on or near the rear window shelf of the car. These oils are not only antibiotic and antiseptic but also calm the nerves and keep them from fraying. They won’t make the driver sleepy, but will keep him or her on an even keel, relaxed but aware. For more lengthy or tiring journeys the driver can put two drops of Basil oil in his or her morning bath, or onto the facecloth after washing in the shower and rub it all over the body. This will help to sharpen the concentration and keep the driver alert.
Exhaust fumes can cause nausea, so roll up the windows if you are caught in a jam and put a drop of Eucalyptus on a couple of tissues and place them around the car to counteract the smell.
Travel sickness is to a large extent caused by conflicting messages reaching the brain from the eyes, the balancing mechanism of the ears, and the stomach. It helps to look at an unmoving object on the horizon or, if you are in a plane or on a ship, to close your eyes.
Children often become sick because they are focusing their eyes on things nearby them on the seat, so get chairs which elevate them to the level of the window and encourage them to look at things in the distance by playing I-spy type games.
Flying
Nowadays the majority of people fly to their destinations and this is a mode of transport that brings particular problems. The pressurized compartment causes dehydration and swollen feet and ankles, cramps, dry skin, headaches and, especially in tourist class, painful knees from having them pushed up against the seat in front.
Avoid alcohol when traveling by air, and tea and coffee. Do drink plenty of water and fruit juices to keep your sugar level up. If you suffer from tummy problems your stomach may feel bloated and extended because gases in your stomach can expand during flights. To alleviate this, have a cup of peppermint tea before you leave the house- 1 drop of Peppermint oil, mixed with a teaspoon of honey and dissolved in hot water.
If flying makes you anxious have ready a tissue with 1 drop of Lavender and 1 drop of Geranium in a little plastic bag in your pocket. When you are beginning to feel uneasy about the situation pull the tissue out and hold it against your nose for a moment. Take in big sniffs, lie back, close your eyes and relax. This also works well for people who get irritable on plane journeys.
There are two methods for dealing with swollen feet and ankles, which can become particularly troublesome on long flights. Both work equally well, and need preparation in advance. For the first you will need a piece of cotton -a small handkerchief is perfect- for making a compress. Wet it so it’s just damp and put 5 drops of Lavender oil in it. Fold it up and put it in a small plastic bag and into your pocket. When your ankles swell during the journey, or at journey’s end if they feel heavy and tired, apply the compress to your feet and ankles and gently massage them in an upward direction to the bottom of the calf, both back and front, for a few minutes.
For the second method you’ll have to retire to the toilet. Massage your feet and ankles in an upward direction, as above, with an oil made from adding 5 drops of Lavender or Eucalyptus essential oil to a teaspoon of carrier oil. If you are planning a world trip, you will need more than a teaspoon to see you through, so prepare a little bottle to take with you.
I can assure you this works wonders and your traveling will not be marred by this silly inconvenience. I say “silly” because that’s what you feel when you can’t get your feet in your shoes!
If you are prone to getting cramps while traveling, make a compress as above but use Geranium oil and hold the compress over the affected area –usually the calf or the foot. Also try the old Chinese trick of holding your big toes tightly between your thumb and forefinger.
Knees weren’t designed to spend hours bent squashed up against the seat in front of you on a 747, and especially for tall men this can become a big problem on long, and even short, flights. Again use the compress method with 5 drops of Lavender oil, but rub it over your knees. Businessmen in suits might find this something of an embarrassment if done while actually sitting in their seat, but they can retire to the toilet where the trouser leg can be pulled up without anyone wondering what is going on.
Children on long flights can get fidgety and irritable –which can make your journey as uncomfortable as theirs. Have ready a small bottle containing 15 drops of Chamomile in 2 tablespoons of a light nut or vegetable oil. When things start to get out of control, twist the child around on the seat so you can massage his legs and feet with the oil, tuck him in and he’ll soon settle down. You will only have used a tiny portion of the oil but it will come n handy for other holiday problems.
As we take longer flights to hotter suns, jet lag becomes an increasing problem. Even two or three days of unhappy recovery time are too many in an already short holiday or important business trip –and then there is the journey home to look forward to as well.
Jet lag occurs because your body time clock is out of synchronization with the new environment, but the essential oils seem to bring the two wheels of time together gently and slowly, avoiding fatigue and jarring of the nerves. There are several combinations of oils one can use, but a good one comprises Peppermint and Eucalyptus in the morning and Lavender and Geranium for the evening.
Before you set out on your journey, have a bath using 2 drops each of Peppermint or Eucalyptus or, if you prefer to shower, put one drop of each onto a wet facecloth and wipe it over your body, once you have washed.
When you arrive at your destination, force yourself to stay awake and go to bed at local bedtime, although do have an early night. If you nap in the afternoon you will wake up in the middle of the night. Before you sleep, have a bath to which you’ve added 1 drop each of Lavender and Geranium oil.
If it is not possible to take a bath, put a small amount of nut or vegetable oil in the palm of your hand, add 1 drop each of Lavender and Geranium and rub the oil around and up your neck, covering the shoulders, as much of the upper back as you can reach, the chest, and the solar plexus, inhaling deeply all the time. Also rub over your lower back and hips to relieve the travel pain and tension that comes from sitting long periods confined to one chair, often without enough leg room.
This treatment will alleviate the symptoms of jet lag but for the best results it must be continued. So when you wake, put 2 drops each of Peppermint and Eucalyptus in your bath or one drop each on a wet facecloth, wiped over the body after a shower. Alternatively use the oil method described above, but with these morning oils. Try to stay awake during the day, and again go to bed early. Continue with this morning and evening routine for the second and third day after you arrive, or for as long as it takes for your body to adapt to local time.
If you are involved in serious intercontinental travel you would do well to add the fabulous oil of Grapefruit to your travel kit. I recently took a 26 hour flight to Australia which arrived in the early hours, giving me a couple of hours’ sleep before I had to appear on breakfast TV looking sparkling. Grapefruit saved the day –or to be more precise, the morning! This was the first morning of a six week tour packed with flights and interviews and I really needed all the help I could get from the essential oils.
When planning your essential travel kit it’s important to know at what time of day you are leaving and the local time of arrival. I planned to get straight to sleep on the plane and so before I left I had a relaxing Chamomile and Lavender bath. On the flight I slept as much as possible and drank plenty of water and fruit juice. At stopovers I got off and walked around. The whole time went by in a relaxed time-warp with sniffs of Chamomile and Lavender hankies.
After my arrival at the hotel I got into a Grapefruit and Lavender bath and had a long soak, inhaling deeply the reviving aromas of the oils. I felt great by the time I got to the TV studio and throughout the whirlwind tour I kept myself on my toes with a little help from my friends –Grapefruit and Lavender. Before the setting off to the airport for the final long haul home, it was back to the Chamomile and Lavender combination to ensure a relaxing journey.
Another combination for travelers is Peppermint and Geranium. This works well for people returning home who, after having spent a week unwinding at their holiday destination, and a week getting totally relaxed, find that their two week holiday has come to an abrupt end and they are back at their desks with that Monday morning feeling –only much worse!
Getting back into the routine is very tough but a couple of drops each of Peppermint and Geranium will help you get over the shock of reality.
The Arrival
When we travel to foreign lands we come into contact with bacteria and viruses against which we have no genetic immunity to. Not only that, but we sleep and wash where strangers have slept and washed the night before, and when some of the bacteria and viruses people carry with them are so dangerous, why take any chances of picking them up? With killer diseases on the rampage it is not being paranoid to take steps to ensure we don’t come home with something longer-lasting than a tan.
Even if your toilet facilities look clean, that doesn’t mean they have been disinfected. It doesn’t take a minute to wipe the toilet seat –under as well as the top- with a tissue that has a neat drop of Thyme essential oil on it. Even f your toilet is attached to your room, it may be wise to do this daily. Remember too the toilet flush knob and the door knob.
If you are traveling to particularly suspect parts you might use a few tissues impregnated with Thyme, Lavender, and Eucalyptus. These three together form a very powerful bactericide and few microorganisms can escape their exterminating effect. Also it never hurts to wipe around the sink and tub with an essential oil tissue.
Every bed in the world is teeming with minute life forms which live off the dead skin cells we are constantly shedding, and mattresses soak up whatever fluids are put on them. This makes them a pretty hazardous area. As a precautionary measure, especially for your children, pull the bedclothes back and wipe the mattress with a tissue on which you have put a few drops of Thyme, Lavender, and Lemongrass. These oils can also help keep biting parasites at bay when used in this way.
Making a home away from home is easy with essential oils because you will be taking several with you that you have already been using at home, and the aroma provides a comforting aura of familiarity and security when in new surroundings. Of course this may not be as important to you as it is to your children, who often feel insecure when away from home.
Using familiar scents cannot stop the fears entirely but the essential oils do help in an as yet unexplained way to calm children at night, and perhaps their effectiveness is due to the theory of association. If you use something like the lovely aroma of Geranium when you arrive to make the room yours by putting a few drops around the place, bathe in Geranium yourself, and more importantly give the children a Geranium bath before bed you’ll be surprised how easily they settle down for the night.
When you are aware that the essential oils can be used in this way, to comfort children through the sense of smell, use the oil you intend to take with you around the house and in the child’s bath for a few days before departure.
This article was adapted from The Complete Book of Aromatherapy and Essential Oils by Valerie Ann Worwood
Whispers of the Earth 
Leave a comment