More Than an Escape: 5 Surprising Ways Travel Is Good for Your Health

Sometimes, stepping away from our everyday lives is exactly what helps us feel more connected to them.

When was the last time you did something just because you wanted to, simply because it made you feel curious, excited, or alive? Between work, motherhood, relationships, and the endless mental to-do list, our own desires easily fall to the bottom.

Years ago, I promised myself that once my pregnancy and breastfeeding years (over five of them!) were behind me, I would take a solo trip. This October, I’m keeping that promise by traveling to French Polynesia to swim with humpback whales, an animal I hold a deep soul connection with. It’s a dream lived for both my eight-year-old self, who pictured becoming a marine biologist, and my 80-year-old self, who will look back on it with a smile.

As a holistic women’s health provider, I believe well-being is more than nutrition, movement, and sleep. Joy, connection, and curiosity matter, too, and travel nurtures all of them.

1. Give your nervous system a break

At home, even resting, our minds keep planning tomorrow. Research suggests time away improves well-being, especially when we truly unplug.

Try this: Leave room for unplanned moments. Rest without an agenda and be present!

2. Wake up your curiosity

New places invite us to pay attention and try things we’ve never done, reminding us we’re still growing. A new trail or skill offers the same invitation.

Try this: Do something for the first time. Be a beginner again. Be childlike again.

3. Move for the joy of it

Travel makes movement an adventure instead of a chore. We hike for the view or swim because the water looks inviting. Here in Utah, our mountains, lakes, and trails offer that without leaving the state.

Try this: Choose movement because it sounds fun, not because you should. And do it often!

4. Reconnect with others—and yourself

Travel opens the door to connection with people whose lives look different from ours, and solo travel adds the freedom to follow your own interests. For women used to considering everyone else’s needs, asking What do I want? can be surprisingly powerful. Our roles as mothers, partners, and caregivers matter, but they aren’t all of who we are.

Try this: Make time for an experience that’s entirely your own, for no one but YOU!

5. Find perspective through awe

Standing beneath a mountain range or watching wildlife can make everyday worries feel smaller. Psychologists call this awe. For me, swimming with humpback whales is exactly that, and a reminder that life’s most meaningful moments often come through patience and presence.

Try this: Watch a sunrise, spend time near water, or simply slow down enough to notice what’s around you.

The deeper meaning: Expansion

If I could sum up travel in one word, it would be expansion: of our perspective and our understanding of ourselves. Women spend so much of life being needed that we can lose touch with what makes us feel like ourselves. Expansion is remembering that we still get to be curious, have adventures, and pursue dreams simply because they matter to us. No passport required.

There will always be reasons to wait, but honoring who we were, and who we’re still becoming, is meaningful self-care. This trip is a gift to the little girl who dreamed of swimming with whales and to the grandmother I hope to become, who will carry those memories forever.

Our health isn’t just about managing our responsibilities. It’s also about making room for the experiences that make us feel ALIVE in every sense of the word.