Competitive sports can involve a lot of travel to and from competitions, so SELF asked Team USA if they have travel hacks to help them arrive at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics feeling their best.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I think a travel hack for me is sleeping on the plane
00:03when you can, so I always pack my travel pillow with me
00:05and I put it around front ways on my neck
00:07so I can kind of lean on it like this.
00:10And then I have an eye mask.
00:11And put your hands in your seatbelt, right?
00:14And then you just kind of lock in.
00:16Just lock in here.
00:17And then you'll sleep on a plane.
00:19♪♪
00:24I have a lifting hook that I use when I lift
00:26and I don't know why.
00:28Maybe because I'm, like, anti-prosthetic.
00:30But I started traveling with my hook
00:33so I could hook on my carry-on
00:35and then I could have my phone,
00:36especially, like, when things change
00:38or if I'm looking for something or somebody calls me.
00:40Like, it's only one thing,
00:41but it's literally a game-changer.
00:43Like, I feel like I have so much more ability
00:45to, like, do things or pay for things.
00:47Like, I have my hand available.
00:49Traveling is always going to throw a curveball at you,
00:53no matter what, no matter how well you plan.
00:55For me, I just always like to bring comfortable foods,
01:00no matter what,
01:01whether that's, like, a breakfast food, a snack food,
01:04because you never really know what you're going to get,
01:05so I'll always fill my suitcase up.
01:07Having, like, a familiar blanket, pillow, PJs,
01:10like, I think I get so much better quality sleep
01:12and it, like, really helps me perform a lot.
01:14Yeah, I have my pillow that I travel with.
01:16Yeah, keeps me sane.
01:17Underrated, for sure.
01:19I love organizing to the maximum degree.
01:22It could be two weeks, three weeks.
01:24I consolidate all my things into, like, a little carry-on
01:27and, like, one little personal, and that's it.
01:30Bring my sleeping mask with me all the time
01:34to make sure I get the best sleep possible.
01:36Puts me in a deep sleep,
01:37because pitch black gets me ready for the big game.
01:40If you know me, you know my suitcase will be overweight
01:43because I carry all my coffee with me.
01:45Like, I pack for three weeks of coffee,
01:48and I usually have one bag left,
01:51because there's so much you can't control
01:52when you're traveling.
01:53The one thing I can control
01:55is the one thing I'm passionate about, and that's coffee.
01:58I have this device that I travel with.
02:00It's, like, this big, and there's two of them,
02:03and you put them right here on your leg,
02:05and it's called a Firefly.
02:06It helps with recovery.
02:08It's almost like a Norma Tech boot,
02:10but you can travel with it, you can take it anywhere,
02:12and you can wear it as long as you want.
02:14Traveling the world is such a blessing,
02:17and learning new cultures and seeing new things
02:21is something I get really easily inspired by,
02:23and I think it's easy on the road or during tough times
02:27to get homesick and think of home,
02:29or if I was home, I could be doing this or doing that,
02:32and for me, when you're traveling,
02:35it's just so important to try to be as present as possible
02:37and just be grateful for where you are and what you're doing
02:40and trying to enjoy that as much as possible.
02:43And for me, my travel hack is fly business,
02:47but also just, like, make your environment
02:50that you're going to as similar to home
02:53and what makes you comfortable as possible,
02:55especially, like, when we're in a two-week training trip
02:59or something like that,
03:01you're gonna struggle to get sleep,
03:02you're gonna struggle to eat well,
03:04you're gonna have all of these struggles,
03:05so taking away some of the struggle in your routine,
03:08like establishing what do you wanna do for skincare,
03:11how do you wanna be when you're going to sleep,
03:13how do you wanna wake up,
03:15what do you want the space that you're gonna spend
03:18a good amount of time in and, like, decompress in
03:20to feel like.
03:21I normally like to travel with my bands and stuff with me,
03:25on me at all times,
03:26so I can do kind of, like, kind of workouts
03:28and stretching as well.
03:30Best travel hacks have to be all of my recovery tools.
03:34I always have, like, some type of TENS unit
03:37or, like, my Theragun.
03:39Also, hydration's super important.
03:41I always have water, electrolytes.
03:43I like to keep my morning routine as normal as possible,
03:46so I bring my own coffee, I bring, like, a pour-over set.
03:49It's a whole thing.
03:50I always travel with my Omega watch
03:53because it helps me stay on time.
03:54Like, that's so important in every sport
03:57and, like, literally any part of life.
03:59I also bring all my skincare, all my haircare.
04:04Like, you get so dried out in the pool.
04:06That's super important.
04:08And then also just things from home.
04:09Like, I like to always have a stuffed animal with me.
04:13My friends always make fun of me
04:15because they're like, I'm always complaining
04:16about how I'm overpacking.
04:17They're like, well, you do have two stuffed animals
04:19in your bag, so I'm that kid, I guess.
04:22That's okay.