The Hidden Danger of Long Travel Days… And How It’s Completely Avoidable

I have done a lot of traveling in my time!

From Hong Kong to Tokyo, I have been keeping the airways busy over the last few years. During one of my first international trips, I noticed one major issue with a long travel day, and I’m sharing it here so you don’t make the same mistake!

When it comes to travel, I consider myself something of an expert. I’ve flown 8,798 miles just to see an animatronic monkey, and it’s something I’d do again in a heartbeat. I’ve also had travel days that were over 24 hours long, meaning I’ve run into a few problems along the way.

During my first trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, my friend Emma and I were living life on a high! We were traveling in for the opening of the World of Frozen and thought nothing could go wrong. During our first day in the park, we were covering the hotels, the attractions, and so much more! Towards the evening, Emma and I realized we both were suddenly feeling sick. 

Once we really thought about it, we realized we hadn’t eaten almost all day long. Both of us were sluggish, tired, and could feel that hanger (hungry anger) coming on. We had breakfast that day, but for some reason neither of us was really hungry until it was too late!

As we really started to think about it, it hit us that Hong Kong was 12 hours ahead of Orlando, meaning our bodies were on a totally different schedule than our brains! During the day, our bodies were used to being asleep, so our hunger cues weren’t naturally kicking in until we got to the point where we felt like we were starving. We had to stop our plans for the day and go get food before we were able to continue.

I have since traveled internationally several more times and have made sure not to make the same mistake! Now, I make sure to set timers to remind myself to eat so I won’t find myself sick on a travel day. While this might seem silly, it’s so easy to get caught up in the parks and new sights.

This timer has saved me more than once on my tips, so that I didn’t have to miss out on any of my other plans. As always, be sure to keep following AllEars for more travel tips and tricks!

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What is your best travel tip? Tell me in the comments!