Traveling with Fibromyalgia: 5 Tips from a Blogger Who Does

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When I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, for a while I felt like my life would have to change drastically. I thought I’d never be able to travel again, and that how I felt on a bad day would end up being how I felt forever. Three years on and I now know there are varying severities of the condition, and Gina covers lots of hints and tips around living with Fibromyalgia on Chronically Gina.

She’s kindly allowed me to write this post for you, and I’m sharing my tips about traveling with Fibromyalgia. A lot of these tips would work for anyone with a chronic illness, so please read on if this is you or someone you care about.

5 Tips for Traveling With Fibromyalgia

Planning in advance will save your life.

The best trips I’ve taken, in terms of coping with my pain and fatigue, have been those where I’ve made a detailed plan beforehand. Knowing how I’m getting from the airport to the city, whether I can drop my bags at my hotel or if I need to store them in a luggage locker, and figuring out which things I want to see are closest to other things to minimize walking means I can see and do more without becoming exhausted too quickly.

It’s so useful to know that the café you like the sound of is just next to that museum you’re excited to see, so you can do the museum, then have a coffee, and then head to that park that’s a block away. It can mean your days are a bit of a mishmash sometimes you may not manage 3 museums in a day if they’re not really close to each other but I think a day with a park, some street art, a museum and then some shopping is better than a day of doing all the same thing anyway.

Rest time is as important as sightseeing time.

Healthy people can often manage 48 hours or more of constantly rushing around, nights out, and very little sleep but those of us with chronic illnesses usually can’t. I plan to rest in either the morning, with a lie-in and an hour of reading or watching Netflix when I wake up, lunchtime with a siesta if I’m staying close to the city center, or an evening at my accommodation if I know I’ll be out all day. I split my day into four sections-morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, and evening, and make sure that one of those slots is set aside for rest.

Sometimes I cut the rest short if I’m feeling amazing and I’m raring to go back out, but I always have that time boxed off for when I need it. Any trip longer than 48 hours means I make myself use that time even if I don’t feel I need it, as for me the tiredness mounts up through a trip and by day four, I’m struggling if I’ve not had that downtime.

Traveling light is a must.

I used to always travel by hand luggage only, with a backpack as large as I was allowed, crammed full of my clothes. I was constantly in pain (my shoulders are one of my most painful areas) and I was miserable for the majority of my trips, dreading any time I’d have to carry the bag. Now I still travel as lightly as possible, but I take a wheely suitcase instead. I make sure it’s as light as possible, if the airline says I can pack 15kg that doesn’t mean I want to have to lift 15kg into overhead lockers, so I usually take one pair of comfortable shoes, only one handbag, and usually just one cardigan or hoody.

I pack dresses and tights as they tend to be lighter than jeans, and I take as little liquids as possible. If my hotel has shower gel I won’t pack it, travel sized cleanser and moisturizer are all I need skincare-wise, and if there’s a hairdryer in my hotel mine stays at home. I also choose a Kindle over books, and any blogging gets done on my phone, I don’t pack my laptop.

Find unusual ways to get around.

For me, walking too much is difficult. A trip always has more walking than I’m used to, but I don’t want to find myself in a situation where I have to cut a day short because I’m too tired. Finding different ways to see the place I’m visiting is crucial for me to make a trip easier. I’ve done open-top bus tours, boat tours, and short walking tours which means I see all the key sights in an hour or two, and I’ve utilized public transport like trains, buses, and trams to get me from A to B with minimal steps.

If you search on Air b n b for experiences in the area you’re visiting, you’ll find other, more unusual options, like Tuk-tuk tours, VW Beetle Tours, segway tours, and all sorts of other things. I see these as a great experience in itself, as well as helping me avoid walking, and so I do as many things like this as I can on a trip. They’re often the most interesting parts.

Don’t be afraid to cut a trip short.

My biggest solo trip was two weeks across six countries, but by country number four I was tired and struggling. I took things a little bit easier whilst there but it soon became clear that if I did countries five and six, I’d be likely to have a bad flare, so I took the decision to fly home early instead. It meant spending money on a new flight and new buses, I was in Helsinki, Finland, and needed to fly home from Bratislava, Slovakia four days earlier than planned, but it was the right decision for me.

I flew to Budapest on a previously booked flight, but instead of 48 hours in Budapest and then 48 hours in Bratislava I booked a two-hour coach from Budapest to Bratislava, paying extra for two seats rather than one, and the very front seat, so I felt comfortable to nap, and then I booked a hotel next to Bratislava airport for the night and a flight home the next morning.

At the time, I was very upset and felt like I’d failed in cutting the trip short. Looking back, it wasn’t a failure, it was listening to my body-something I’ve not always been great at doing. Not being afraid to cut a trip short, if needed, is the kindest thing you can do for yourself.

I’d love to hear any tips you have for traveling with Fibromyalgia. Leave them in the comments below.

Laura is a mid-30s travel blogger who runs the blog Inside Laura’s Head, sharing all about traveling without it costing the earth. She mostly covers 48 hours in different cities, with some longer trips thrown in for good measure. Laura does a mixture of solo travel and travels with her partner, J, and she loves to talk about her trips on Inside Laura’s Head. Oh yeah, and she has Fibromyalgia too.

In this guest post, Laura talks about traveling with Fibromyalgia, how she copes on a bad day, and the adjustments she makes to make the bad days less frequent.

You can find more from Laura on Inside Laura’s Head, on Instagram, on Twitter, and on Facebook too. She also has a new, weekly newsletter covering a variety of topics she’s interested in, not just travel.