Expert tips to make the most of your summer getaway.
1. Go Off the Beaten Path
Ditch the crowds, enjoy dishes from small, family-run restaurants, and ease your vacation’s environmental impact by visiting locations that aren’t all over your Instagram feed.
“With travel reaching record highs, it is putting a strain on the natural resources in destinations and causing issues like environmental degradation,” says The Altruistic Traveller creator Bianca Caruana. “Understanding the consequences of over-tourism — such as gentrification, increased waste, and increased water consumption — can help you decide where and when to travel.” Skip the Amalfi Coast and choose a lesser-known destination, even if it’s just a short drive away from home. READ MORE.
2. Loosen Up After a Long Flight
Release built-up tension with some gentle post-flight stretches. “After getting off a plane, try to do some lunge positions to open the front hips. Reclined twists help release the lower back, and chest openers help with the shoulders,” says Allison English, a yoga instructor at Equinox Lincoln Park. “I love anjaneyasana (low lunge), bhujangasana (cobra pose), and supta matsyendrasana (reclined spinal twist).”
Try a standing chest opener at the wall, with one arm reaching behind and your head tilted slightly away from the wall, to open up the neck, shoulders, and upper back. “Alternating this chest opener at the wall, you could also play with some simple shoulder blade rolls with five to ten repetitions in each direction to wake up your upper back,” says English. READ MORE.
3. Explore with a Tour Guide
Enlisting the help of a tour guide gives you the opportunity to understand the soul of a destination and experience its rituals and rhythms first-hand, says Melissa Biggs Bradley, the founder of Indagare. “We have limited time when we're traveling,” she notes. “And a very good tour guide is somebody who can spoon-feed you a lot of the nuances that would take you a long time to uncover on your own.” Whether you’re on a food, art, or bike tour, you’ll learn everything from an in-depth history of the locale and the innovations occurring to the current challenges its residents are facing, she says. READ MORE.
4. Sightsee While You Sweat
Use your destination’s iconic outdoor staircases to squeeze in a workout. San Francisco is home to the Filbert Street Stairs, which lead up to Telegraph Hill and offer an incredible view of the city. The stairs on Austin’s Mount Bonnell trail lead you to a gorgeous vista of downtown and the 360 Bridge. Search ahead of time or wander through your destination to find a staircase worth sweating for. READ MORE.
5. Tap Into Your Five Senses
While traveling, tune out the noise and live in the present by tapping into your senses, suggests Michael Gervais, the Headstrong Meditation creator and an Equinox yoga instructor.
Take the time to observe every sight around you, from the worn bricks beneath your feet to the birds flying high. Taste the local cuisine. Pause to smell the sea breeze and scent of croissants wafting out of a bakery. Sit on a park bench and listen to the passerby, traffic, and wind blowing through the tree branches. Touch the century-old buildings, the sand beneath your feet, the moss you encounter on a hike.
“Actually lean into the things that make this place different than just going to your same creature comforts and looking for whatever is going to be the closest thing to home,” says Gervais. “Look around, make eye contact, engage with people — those are going to be ways that you become more present.” READ MORE.
6. Use Tech to Keep Training
Available on the EQX+ app, our Travel Collections are each thoughtfully curated with a dozen virtual classes and meditations to help you be active and centered while you’re on the road or in a hotel. The collections, broken up into equipment-friendly and bodyweight-only categories, feature on-demand classes of various durations (five to 30 minutes) across modalities, including HIIT, yoga, Pilates, running, and strength training. There’s something for everyone. READ MORE.
7. Seek Out Reflective Spaces
Visiting a museum at your destination not only allows you to learn the local history and better understand its people, but it can also reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, enhancing your overall well-being, research shows.
“Looking at the world around us in a contemplative way is a mindful activity that we all could use more of. When we look at art or a tree swaying in the wind, we often forget about our busy lives,” says Marie Westburg, a registered art therapist and creative coach. This mindful observation momentarily allows people to disconnect from their hectic routines, “and it can shift our thinking into a new place, opening us up to the possibility of new perspectives and experiences,” she says. READ MORE.