Aromatherapy Basic Travel Kit

As you can see, the basic travel kit differs only slightly from the basic care kit. It includes lavender, peppermint, geranium, chamomile, ginger, eucalyptus, thyme and citronella or lemongrass. The main changes are the omission of cloves and lemon; the addition of ginger oil for it’s aid in upset tummy and nausea; sand citronella (or lemongrass) for their excellent mosquito and insect repellent properties; and replacing the tea tree oil with eucalyptus, which I suppose was done because of eucalyptus’ similar properties to tea tree in some regards (i.e.: help with colds and coughs) plus it has the ability to help with sunstrokes and sunburns, which can definitely come handy if you’re traveling to the hot places in the world (which I usually do). I suppose the cloves was taken off the list based on the assumption that one has taken a good care of their teeth before embarking on their journey.

The “Emergency Reference Chart” on p. 58-60 is really helpful: it gives you many unpleasant situations and the oils that can be used to alleviate the little discomforts or at least be used as a first aid until you get medical help. This kit covers pretty much anything from headache and nausea on the plane to jet lag after landing as well as protection against catching all kinds of bugs on the way. And of course many little tips for how to combat the little discomforts of travel, from insect bites to upset tummy to sunstroke and sunburns.

And just as before with the basic care kit, you must remember that each oil is used differently for different scenarios and conditions. There are many ways to use essential oils - in compresses, baths, steam inhalations, diffused into the air, in massages (added to oil, usually), and only in very rare cases are they ingested or applied neat on the skin. Each ailment calls for a different oil or combination of oils and different method to administer them.

It's important to follow the formulas instructions carefully as overdose of essential oil or a wrong method of administering them may be counter effective. Oils work gently on the body when used properly; but they are highly concentrated compounds and should be used with much care and respect for their precious power. Keep in mind that each drop may represent as much as a kilo of plants that were distilled!

On this note, I've left my kit back home with my family, and I'm preparing them a collection of index cards with recipes and formulas that I think will come handy. In Hebrew, of course.