Her patience with me was wearing, but I knew it was around there somewhere. I could smell it!
Finally, a lanky androgynous looking fellow wearing tight jeans, a plaid shirt and dark rimmed glasses – truth be told, I only knew he was a fellow because he had a beard – walked out with one of those paper cups.
I knew it! There it is, let’s go!
So I grabbed Rozanne by the hand pulled her towards the door like I was a dog on a leash pulling my owner towards the squirrel that I wanted to chase up a tree.
The only difference was that that the squirrel was a cup of coffee and there were no trees in the concrete jungle.
And there it was. An obscure surf shop in the middle of Soho – yes I did, in fact, say a surf shop in the middle of downtown New York – on Crosby Street called Saturdays.
THEY had the best coffee.
You see, when I travel – as I last did to New York in January for Original Strength – the first thing that I look up is where the best coffee is. If you’ve been reading my blog and my emails for any extended amount of time, you know that I’m a coffee snob.
Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Tim Hortons… I’m sorry, but I just won’t participate in that sacriledge.
It may seem ridiculous, but that’s my M.O. The first order of business when I know I’m travelling is to find the best coffee place closest to the hotel.
That’s all part and parcel with my pre-trip preparation…
1. Where’s the coffee?
2a. Where’s the gym? and 2b. Do they have kettlebells?
AJ (my oldest daughter) and I are 2 hours out of the city right now at the Ontario Volleyball Championships. We’ve been here since Thursday night and will be leaving Sunday afternoon.
And thus marks the beginning of travel season for me. Over the next 4 months I have travel plans to: Tampa, Chicago, Sherbrooke,QC, New York, San Diego, Muskoka, New York (again), Virginia and North Carolina.
Some of these are family trips. Most of them I’m travelling by myself.
Because of the travel that my business and family life entail, I’m always trying to not disrupt the flow of living a healthy lifestyle at home with life on the road. It’s way too easy get caught up in the easy access to alcohol, fast food and inactivity by giving yourself the excuse that you’re travelling.
So with spring weather about to begin, and my travel schedule about to pick-up, here are some of my best health & lifestyle tips for travelling…
1) Pack Light
I NEVER check a bag. I have one of these GoRuck Backpacks that I bought 5 years ago that forces me to carry only the essentials. For this 3-day trip with AJ I’m taking my backpack and packing my dopp kit, a pair of jeans, a pair of athletic shorts, my Converse All-Stars, 3 t-shirts, a sweater, a button down and socks & underwear. It’s 3 days. I won’t need anything else.
2) Take Multi-Purpose items.
In my dopp kit I’ve got my toothbrush, toothpaste, a set of tweezers and coconut oil. Coconut oil, is great in coffee (see the story above), and also replaces lotion, moisturizer and shaving cream. Just yesterday after using as body lotion after my shower, I took a teaspoon to it and scooped a glob into my mouth.
3) Keep a bodyweight workout “in your pocket”.
In case the gym doesn’t pan out – it never does when I’m travelling with the kids – I always make sure that I get some OS work in everyday (rolling, neck nods and lots of crawling). If you feel the need to practice your strength, then you can’t go wrong with just Pistols & Push-Ups (maybe some handstands too) a la Naked Warrior style. You don’t need any space for that stuff, so you’ve got no excuse. In fact, I’ll be releasing “Pound-4-Pound” in late-April – my new minimalist bodyweight training program which only uses 4 exercises.
4) Walk everywhere.
On the last day of our New York trip in January after we checked out of the hotel, we walked from Soho to Penn Station to catch the train to the airport. If you pack light, it makes walking easy. In fact on a trip to New York a few years ago we did 70 total blocks of walking with 4 kids (one was in a stroller and one was in a wrap). By the way, walking is a reset (ie. it’s good for you so you should be doing it as often as you can – travelling or not…and NOT on a treadmill).
5) Pack your beef and nuts.
In addition to getting great raw milk and grass fed steaks, our farmer also makes grass-fed, nitrite-free jerky and pepperettes. I toss those in a bag with some raw almonds, pumpkin seeds and dried cherries and I’ve got instant and healthy “airplane food”. It sure beats salted nuts and plastic wrap lasagne.
6) As much as you need an alarm clock for when you wake up, you need one for when to go to bed as well.
This has been one of the best strategies that I’ve implemented over the past few months that’s allowed me to automatically wake-up between 4:45 and 5am without an alarm clock. I set my “sleep” alarm for 9pm and then I start my bedtime routine. Try this for a couple of weeks and see how it changes your schedule. If you stick to it, I guarantee you’ll get to bed on time and feel more rested in the morning.
These tips can be incorporated whether you’re travelling with the kids or not. ?Obviously with the kids, you’ll require some added preparation, but as long as you give yourself enough time, you’ll be all good.
