Hydration Tips for Travellers: Stay Energised and Balanced on the Go

Staying well hydrated is one of the simplest ways to feel your best while travelling. Aiming for 2 to 3 litres of water a day is a great baseline, and your body will naturally nudge you to drink more when you're active or in the heat. The good news is that keeping on top of your fluid intake pays real dividends: a steady supply of water helps you sleep better, digest well and stay sharp – so follow these hydration tips to make the most of every moment, whatever the destination throws at you.

Experts also say that waiting until you're thirsty means you're too late, as your system is already lacking what it needs by the time you realise. The trick to proper hydration is to anticipate, and remember to drink before you get thirsty. For the traveller, this takes thinking, planning and even packing ahead. Before the flight, before bed, before a big day of meetings or sightseeing, it's worth keeping these hydration tips in mind:

"Pre-hydration" is the first tip for any long journey, and you should drink as much water as possible in the 24 hours before a long flight or road trip. Try to think of water as essential, like your passport or boarding pass, and stay ahead of thirst by always carrying a bottle with you and taking regular sips as you go. (Most airports have fountains where you can refill after security checks for liquids.) Set your phone to sound occasional alarms that will remind you to take a drink when you're tired or preoccupied.

A whole subset of hydration tips apply to flying, which presents a few different problems, health-wise. Aircraft cabins are pressurised with air drawn from outside at high altitude, which is much lower in moisture than at ground level. They're also dehumidified to create a much drier atmosphere than you'd find in the average home. This will dry out your body too, including the mucous membranes in your sinuses that help defend against viruses (which partly explains why travel so often leads to exhaustion and illness). These effects are made worse by bad habits common even to frequent flyers, such as drinking alcohol and/or caffeine, eating salty snacks and avoiding water to reduce the need for bathroom breaks.

It's best to break those habits if you can, or at least mitigate their effects:
 

• Drink plenty before takeoff, again before landing, and at regular intervals throughout the flight – the recommended intake is about 250ml of water for every hour in the air. 
• Bring healthy, hydrating snacks such as oranges as alternatives to crisps or nuts.
• Balance out every coffee or beer with at least one cup of water. 
• Use toiletries like saline nasal spray, eye drops, lip balm and moisturiser to protect against dry air.

Solid foods provide about 20% of the average person's daily water intake, but this supply can be disrupted by the change of diet that comes with travel. If you're travelling to France, the local cuisine offers plenty of menu options based around hydrating (and nutritious) ingredients:
 

• Vegetables with cleansing and antioxidant properties such as celery, fennel and cucumber are common to French soups and broths, especially in the Provence region. Asparagus, especially popular in springtime, has a high water content and plenty of potassium. Artichokes are also increasingly noted for nephroprotective effects that help with healthy kidney function.
  
  
• Fruits are generally good for hydration. Depending on the season and region you may find the starters, desserts or even some of the mains rich in lemons, watermelons, berries and grapes, all of which will boost your water intake nicely.
  
  
• Lean proteins like chicken and fish are better for water regulation than the denser, saltier, fattier red meats common to French cooking.
  
  
• Teas and infusions in France are often made with ingredients like dandelion, meadowsweet or blackcurrant, which all support the natural processing and elimination of renal water.
   

Novotel Aix-en-Provence Pont de l'Arc Fenouillères is the ideal hotel for implementing hydration tips in relaxed surroundings, and tasting Provençal cuisine on a lovely, leafy garden terrace. Plus, Novotel's Longevity Everyday philosophy is designed to promote healthy travel with menus favouring nutrient-rich, plant-forward eating. Chef Alfie Steiner is among the expert collaborators of the Novotel 37 Collective, advising on the best ways "to put more plants on plates around the world". You can also enjoy a new range of refreshing, relaxing signature teas at this hotel and other Novotel properties throughout France.

Travelling to France often means spending time in unfamiliar climates that require their own hydration tips. You'll need to drink more water, for example, in the sunny southeast and along the French Riviera in the hottest months, and the northwestern beaches of Brittany and Normandy also experience high humidity in summer.

Visitors to the Alps and Pyrenees are also especially prone to dehydration. The air up there is dryer and thinner, causing you to lose more water while breathing faster to take in more oxygen. At the same time, the cold of winter sports season at family-friendly ski resorts will diminish your thirst response, even as the body produces more urine to process increased blood acid at high altitude. That's why it's important to take regular hydration breaks while exerting yourself in those mountains.
 

Novotel Megève Mont-Blanc Hotel provides a chalet-style home base for Alpine activities, with shuttles to the ski slopes and easy access to the adjoining fitness and aquatic facilities of Palais Megève. The hotel's own wellness centre includes a balneotherapy area, where water-based treatments enhance the benefits of regular hydration.

One of the most useful hydration tips for busy travellers is to keep a refillable bottle on hand through every packed day of meetings or guided tours — water alone, in good quantities, will do wonders for your physical and mental stamina. Resist the temptation to quench your thirst with something sugary – those drinks don't hydrate efficiently, and also cause blood sugar spikes followed by crashes similar to the symptoms of dehydration.
 

If the itinerary is especially demanding on body or mind, you'll get much better results with sports drinks that help ensure fluid is absorbed and retained more effectively. The active ingredients are electrolytes, which you can also carry with you in liquid, tablet or powder form and add to bottled water when you need that extra boost. Experts also recommend replacing your sodium, potassium and magnesium levels with supplements as you travel, while simple B vitamins can help with energy and cellular hydration too.

Staying hydrated while travelling really does come down to one golden tip: drink more water, and more often. And when you factor in the exciting new environments your body gets to experience – fresh climates, new altitudes and adventures in local cuisine – a little extra attention to your fluid intake means you'll feel energised and ready for anything. So let's get you feeling great, fully hydrated and set for your next trip.