For 15+ years now I’ve been exploring what it means to “tour full-time”, or as I like to think of it, living both at home and on the road. This drriiift blog was originally born in 2018 to document and learn from my year of living without a permanent home and “exploring life as travel.” It occurred to me as 2024 unfolded that I was still traveling as much as I did that home-free year, just squeezing in time at a real home as well.

The big lesson I learned from my original drriift year and every year since then, is that when my actual home is such an infrequent stop, I must create a feeling of home everywhere. I stopped thinking of “home life” vs. “tour life” and started thinking about it all as my daily life. The more similar I could make the two, the more relaxed and enjoyable life became.

As I pondered this post, the words that kept coming up were: consistency, comfort, familiarity, agency (control). When you work and live in one place, you have the gift of predictability and control over most of your daily life. While that level of predictability is nearly impossible on the road, there are practices that allow us to retain some agency and continue to create a healthy and productive life while traveling every day. After all, unpredictability is part of the magic of travel life, and finding ways to accommodate it allows us to enjoy all the twists and turns.

I’ve assembled 9 practical travel strategies here that also address the mental difficulties of living on the move. Preparedness is key, and so is the ability to “go with the flow.”

I most often use the word “tour” to describe my travel life, but swap in the word “travel” for the rest of my non-industry globetrotters. Here are my strategies for healthy living on the road:

CREATE CONSISTENCY

1. Pick a routine.

Identify certain things that we can *almost* always include daily, despite so much else changing. They will be different for everyone, and even if they’re not health-related, they allow us to feel agency in the daily schedule. The more alike we make our days, the easier it is to feel a sense of comfort and control. 

Some routines I have seen work well include spending time reading your book or magazine of late, stretching, taking vitamins, listening to your fav podcast, practicing mindfulness, exercise, etc. It’s worth taking a moment to assess 1-2 things that make life easier, healthier, or more enjoyable for you at home, and figure out how to make them happen daily while you’re traveling. My daily routine involves green smoothies (sometimes just a shake), a cold shower, mindfulness/journaling, and exercise. (More routine ideas here.)

2.  Make a playlist.

A soundtrack of familiar music can be powerful in counteracting the inevitable newness of travel. It may be an album you know and love, or a new album that you dedicate to this particular travel experience and listen to throughout. Putting your headphones on can create a feeling of safety and solitude, and the sounds can offer comfort. For me they are select Bon Iver and Dave Mathew’s Band albums; their voices and songs take me to a peaceful time in life and bring me joy.

3. Pack your comfy stuff. 

I spent many of my years taking the bare minimum along with me before I realized that truly “living” on the road meant bringing along the small parts of life that make me happy and comfortable. It may feel silly to pack things like your slippers, electric toothbrush, face mask, coffee canister, or portable blender, but all of these contribute immensely to my comfort and should exist throughout my year vs. only at home. Other ideas include favorite snacks, face care, a pillow, incense/scent, favorite teas, or shamelessly pack that 25 year-old stuffed animal or blanky. (More tips for minimal packing to make room for these things here.)

4. Plan for efficiency. 

Dealing with avoidable challenges and mishaps can add to feelings of chaos or frantic-ness and can chip away at a happy travel day. Take note of where you’re spending unnecessary time and brainstorm ahead of time how to avoid it. I was wasting time searching for outlets in hotel rooms for my 5 charging cables, deciding what to wear, and had a habit of forgetting things. To remedy this, I found a triple charger (watch – phone – headphones), pre-planned all my outfits so there were no decisions to make on the road (more here), and made a checklist in my phone of all the bags and gear I have along with me. Other efficiency hacks might include digitizing documents vs. sorting through paper boarding passes, sheet music, etc, finding a dream travel bag for all your belongings rather than taking multiple, and making sure all things have a dedicated place in your luggage. 

5. Include your people.

Invite your loved ones along for parts of your tour or extended travels if possible, and embrace FaceTime/video calls. The faces and voices of your family, friends, partner, kids, etc bring the comfort of familiarity and help create continuity between home and away. It’s great for the heart and nervous system, and helps you all feel like a constant thread in each other’s lives rather than one that separates and takes work to reattach when you return. Prioritize a 5-minute check-in with a loved one every day whenever possible.

6. Keep up with adulting.

Pay your credit card bill, schedule your house cleaning, and check in with your cat-sitter. Feeling like you’re maintaining your responsibilities at home strengthens your connection to home life and avoids the chaotic feeling of letting your obligations slip. Nothing kills travel bliss like remembering your bills are overdue. I plan 5 minutes daily or budget an hour at a coffee shop weekly to mentally check in with my house, finances, and family to keep up with life maintenance.

HEALTH COMES FIRST 

6. Make moves.

I’m a runner and gym-goer, and keeping an exercise routine is my single-most powerful tool for staying comfortable and happy on the road. A workout (or movement of any kind) helps me physically and mentally recalibrate, and exercises the “I’m in control of this day” muscle alongside my physical muscles. I’m also a sucker for a feeling of achievement and highly recommend what that does for your mental game on any given day.

I rarely fully “train” on the road, which takes the pressure off what type of workout or intensity I’m able to make happen. Ideally I’d get in a trail run or gym workout, but I’m usually at the mercy of the gym equipment, hotel proximity to sidewalks or trails, and sleep schedule. Some days I just walk the stairs, walk on the treadmill, or stretch in my room, and that’s plenty. Carving the time is enough to feel the benefits. This makes the statement to my head and body that it’s being cared for.

7. Eat as well as you can.

One thing you can often control is what you put in your body, even if it’s small adaptations to menus or opting out of the band meal to find a cafe further down the street. It’s easy to slip into the mindset that you can’t eat healthy on the road, but fortifying snacks like apples, protein bars, and nuts are easy to pack. If you’re lucky to have a rider for green rooms, venues are often thrilled to grab a veggie tray or bunch of bananas to have alongside the pasta and sandwiches. And bring a few ziplocks along to stock up on the remainder of the tray. (In-depth guide to my healthy travel eating here.)

MENTAL PREP

8. Prepare with mindfulness.

Being a “ragdoll to the road” (a term thrown around my touring musician community in Nashville) takes a psychological toll for even the most relaxed and spontaneous among us. At the start of a tour I do some quiet thinking about what I hope to feel every day, and how to get there. Usually it has something to do with keeping my gratitude for this exciting life I live, and prioritizing having genuine fun. That’s sometimes hard to do, so on my first flight I’ll jot down some reminders to have ready and available as my own personal pump-up when needed. (More on mental preparedness here.)
Some reminders use frequently are: 

1. “I’m living such an exciting life”
2. “Trust the travel gods”
3. “This day could be so fun”

9. Go with the flow.

And last, as aforementioned: be prepared to change course at any moment. Any one of these preparedness strategies are at risk of cancellation, and that cannot lead to derailment. The hotel will be doing construction on sleep-in day, the gym will be inexplicably closed, travel will be delayed, and there will be only crap food to eat. An ability to take a breath and recalibrate is essential, and I employ this skill every. single. day. Spontaneity is NOT in my nature, and is a skill I learned the hard way with lots of intentionality. And, most of the time, the adjusted plan ends up being better than my original. 

Happy traveling, drifters! Leave your feedback below 💙🌎
Diana