Essential Oils for Travel :: Holistic Medicine

I can’t go anywhere without essential oils! Even driving to work, 40 km down the South Klondike and Alaska Highway to Whitehorse, I have essential oils going in my handy plug-in car diffuser.

I like to use oils like lemon grass, eucalyptus, or peppermint to keep me mindful while I’m on the road. These oils all have uplifting, stimulating, and immune-boosting properties.

For longer trips I always pack my aromatherapy trip kit, which includes a variety of oils; my trip kit contains oils for fatigue, jet lag, indigestion, colds and flu, and minor skin injuries.

Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia) and tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) oils are at the top of my list because of their versatility. Lavender’s name is derived from the Latin “lavare,” which means to wash. When I fly I like to smell lavender essential oil straight from the bottle; not only does it help relax me but it helps protect me from any cold and flu germs circulated in the recycled air that passes throughout the plane.

Tea tree oil has very powerful antiseptic and immune-stimulating properties. It disinfects and is excellent to use as a hand wash while traveling. I always use one drop on my hands after I wash them in a public washroom to protect me from bacteria, fungus, and viruses. Tea tree is also beneficial for coughs, sinusitis, blisters, burns, cold sores, infected wounds, insect bites, and rashes.

The air quality in many hotels is often poor. I always travel with a scent-ball diffuser that plugs into any electrical outlet, to which I add essential oils that cover the stale hotel air.

Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citrates) is one of my first choices to add to my diffuser because it does such a good job at freshening the air. It has an uplifting, grassy-citrus scent. It is an appetite stimulant and also helps aid digestion. Lemon grass has a strong tonic and stimulating effect and is a powerful antiseptic. It has a sedative effect on the central nervous system and is useful for headaches. Use as an inhalant or with a diffuser, on skin with a carrier, in massage oil or a bath. Do not take internally. When using topically always use it with a carrier oil.

Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globules) is a powerful bactericidal and has antiviral properties. Eucalyptus is an excellent immune stimulant, and it’s good for travellers who are tired, run down, and prone to frequent colds. Eucalyptus is also beneficial for muscle aches and pains, sprains, burns, blisters, cuts, wounds, and insect bites; it can also be used as an insect repellent.

I love to put a drop of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) essential oil in the palm of my hands and rub it all through my hair; it smells amazing and helps me conquer the afternoon doldrums. Rosemary’s versatility makes it useful in respiratory and circulatory disorders and muscular and rheumatic pain from sitting too long in a plane, train, or automobile. The essential oil can be used through inhalation, massage, steam, or diffuser for colds, flu, infections, arthritis, muscular pain, rheumatism, acne, dandruff, dermatitis, eczema, varicose veins, and oily skin, as an insect repellent, and to stimulate hair growth.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a stimulating, protecting oil that has a strengthening effect on the nerves. It is ideal for the treatment of exhaustion, both physical and mental. Thyme warms with its pungent herbal aroma and is another immune-system stimulant. Use through inhalation, massage, bath, steam, or diffuser.

Put the plug in the bottom of the tub while you are showering, and add a drop or two of spruce, eucalyptus, or peppermint essential oils for a quick pick-me-up, or add lavender to help restore a feeling of balance.

Fill the tub with hot water and add lavender essential oil. Lay back, relax, and let lavender’s restorative healing properties wash over you. Lavender stimulates circulation, so it helps with sore muscles, aches and pains, abscesses, acne, athlete’s foot, boils, bruises, burns, cell regeneration, cuts, dandruff, dermatitis, inflammation, insect bites, psoriasis, and wound-healing.

Bev Gray, CH, RA, is a skilled herbalist and registered aromatherapist who owns Aroma Borealis Herb Shop in Whitehorse, Yukon and loves to share her passion for medicinal and aromatic plants. She is the recent recipient of the Yukon Business Person of the Year Award.

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