Vacation

Summer travels are almost here, and that means packing up your sandals and your beach bag and traveling. But there are many vacation prep to-dos before you can say bon voyage, and it's not all about booking hotel rooms and buying plane tickets. As usual, your health should be a top priority no matter if you're at home or traveling the world, so taking care to prepare before your trip will make it easy to stay healthy and fit. Don't forget to take these items with you before you board the plane!

• Over-the-counter medication. Sometimes minor cuts, sore muscles, or colds happen, so these are always good to have on hand in case you need them. They are also important if you are traveling overseas to an unfamiliar country— you don't want to have to decipher a foreign language when you're trying to find the right medicine to take care of a headache.
• Exercise equipment. There's nothing worse then wanting to go for a run or a dip in the hotel pool and realizing you didn't bring the right gear for your time away from home. Pack a few things before you leave so you can quickly work out without hunting for replacements once you arrive. Exercise equipment doesn't have to take up too much space in your suitcase — throw in some lightweight shoes, a jump rope, or other compact items and you've got your workouts covered.

Read on for more healthy items to pack after the break!

I'm going on vacation in a few weeks, and I can't wait. I'm excited to see the sites and enjoy springtime in Europe, and I'm probably disproportionately excited about trying the local cuisine in every city.

Of course, going on a food-filled tour is not the same as taking an exercise-focused vacation like a fitness retreat, but I still am strategizing about how I'll be incorporating exercise into my daily vacay routine. I'm planning on renting bikes to tour around London as well as hitting the hotel gym, and I know I'll be the walking a lot with all the things to do around town.

Whether it's sightrunning or always booking a hotel with a gym, how do you stay fit on vacation? Or do you use vacation time to take a break until you get back home?

While I consider myself to be a savvy traveler, the topic of tipping is perpetually tricky, even close to home! Regardless of the eventual destination, always do your homework before leaving (especially on international trips) and keep easily accessible small bills, just in case.

Over my years of travel, I've picked up several tips (ha!) so you can learn from my mistakes:

• Know the exchange rate — Whether you get money prior to departure, at the airport, or right when you arrive to town, familiarize yourself with the rate when facing foreign bills. It 's confusing to remember how many pounds or rupiah equal $1 when fumbling with money to treat someone for their services. When at the bank, ask for small change, too, so you're at the ready when you reach the tipping point.
• Know the value of a dollar — Another tricky situation is when that bill you're offering up goes a long way . . . like a day's wages. In addition to recognizing the value of the peso or baht as compared with the US dollar, brush up on how generous and appropriate it is.

Learn three more tips that are useful even stateside when you read more

For most of us, going on vacation usually means booking a stay at a hotel or resort. These stays are booked directly through the hotel or through a website, such as Priceline or Travelocity, and unless you're willing to pay major money for your stay, you're often stuck with cookie cutter rooms that look much the same regardless of location. For those of us looking for a more unique and authentic form of vacation lodging, but are reluctant to pay major money for your lodging, there are some great options. Take a look at some of my top choices, and then take them into consideration the next time you're booking a stay for a wedding, Summer vacation, or extended weekend trip.

• Digsville lists home exchanges in more than 55 countries, while Home Exchange facilitates home exchanges with home owners all over the world. Learn more about home swaps in this post.
• VRBO is a directory listing for vacation rentals by owner.
• The Hospitality Club focuses on bringing people together from different cultures, and can help you find free accommodation around the world.
• Vacation Rentals Directory is a human-edited directory of vacation rentals website indexing 1,152 vacation rentals websites covering 386 destinations.
• Airbnb offers full houses, or rooms in homes, in different destination cities across the world, with guests and hosts directly communicating about stay details.

Out of all of these,  I've been most fascinated by AirBnB. I've used VRBO on several different occasions with positive results, and have just booked our first international trip through VRBO. However, I think that next on my list of services to try will be Airbnb. Keep reading for a video explaining the service.

Sometimes I feel like I live out of my suitcase more than my house! When traveling for pleasure, it's liberating to step away from my structured daily routine and just let the days unfold naturally. But being away from my schedule can often throw a huge wrench in my fitness regime — "Why yes I'd love to go to the beach rather than spend an hour on the treadmill!"

Thankfully for the state of my overall health and well-being, I no longer use the "can't exercise because I'm traveling excuse." Rather than try to replicate workouts — which is impossible to do — I get creative and use what's around me. . . whether that's a tennis court, a pool, or rental bikes. On Fit, we want to give you lots of options for staying healthy while traveling, so here are some noteworthy articles to keep as a handy reference.

• 8 Do-Anywhere Exercises: If you find yourself in a situation when you want a full-body workout but are limited by locale, try these eight exercises including seated sweeping leg lift and standing booty kicks. Your heart will be pumping, muscles worked, and all without the use of any equipment!

Here are some more ideas to check out.