Recently my husband and I surprised our eight year old with a Spring Break trip to Florida. We told her the morning we were going to leave, you should have seen her face. We would be driving our Subaru Outback the 800 miles to Pensacola, Ft. Pickens Campground to be exact. We would be staying in hotels for three nights and at the campground for three nights. Our vacation was going to be an active on because we planned it that way. In my opinion, vacation does not mean sitting around all day on a beach drinking alcohol and eating endless amounts of crinkle bag chemical laden non-foods or slamming pizza and cheeseburgers. That is no longer my lifestyle and I certainly don't want it as my vacation.
While vacations are not the time to lose weight they are not the time to add a notch on your belt either. We went for long walks on the beach, several hours at a time. We went on many hikes, a hike of a historical monument, a hike at Blackwater State Park and several hikes around our campground. The trail was literally just ten feet from our tent. Of course our bikes went. We rode them as much as we could.
Sydney definitely got the most miles. She received a new bike for her birthday the week prior and was really enjoying breaking it in by doing hot laps around the paved campground. She made two friends, a brother and sister duo, and they had street races for a solid hour.
Now I am not saying it isn't okay to splurge a little , I enjoyed several delicious high octane micro-brews and indulged in some of the creamy sauces. Beyond that I did not step out of my box of normal eating. I ate fresh vegetable platters, salads, fresh fish and basically what I would have eaten if I was at home. My spurge was definitely the beers and I am happy with that.
Along with eating right and exercising we made sure to get our sleep. We were in bed relatively early every night and asleep by ten our three nights in the tent. Morning came and we were up by seven. A quick breakfast and coffee and we were off to the beach to find shells. Walking and running in sand was a fabulous workout.
I planned most of our snacks which helped keep us on budget and kept us from overeating when we did go out. I brought along granola bars, bananas, apples, trail mix, nuts, grapes, cut up cucumbers/tomatoes, baby carrots, hummus, whole wheat crackers, cheese sticks, peanut butter, nutella and yougurt. I whipped up a special batch of tuna salad that morning and cut up some peppers. We used one cooler for cold foods, one cooler for cold drinks, and one cooler for all other items. We have an orange box that we keep all our cooking stuff in, jet boils, baggies, foil, cooking and eating utensils, pots, trash bags, paper towels, you get the idea. This system worked out well for us and probably saved us a couple hundred dollars.
I hope you will be able to use some of my tips on your next vacation. I just wanted to get you to think a little differently when you go on vacation. You don't have to come back from it exhausted, experiencing stomach distress, feeling guilty, and ten pounds heavier. Make a few changes and you can return feeling healthy, well rested and happier than when you left.
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