How to Make an Herbal First Aid Kit for Travel

Whether you are driving across town or crisscrossing continents, an herbal first aid travel kit can provide the difference between a miserable, painful ordeal and a pleasant experience. The most common travel aches and ailments can be relieved using natural remedies. Essential oils and herbal extracts are portable and easily administered.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Stock up on herbal capsules:
   
   *Goldenseal - Take 1 capsule three times a day to fight off the microbes that cause traveler's diarrhea.
   *Ginger - To relieve motion sickness and nausea, take 1 or 2 ginger capsules every 15 to 20 minutes until your symptoms end.

2. Pack some herbal extracts and tinctures:
   
   *Echinacea liquid extract - Take 1 teaspoon up to 4 times a day at the earliest signs of a cold, until the cold symptoms end.
   *Eleuthero extract - Take 100 grams three times a day to help prevent jet lag.
   *Valerian tincture - Take 1 teaspoon in a cup of warm water 30 minutes before bed to ease your exhausted body to sleep. Use as a painkiller for headaches and general body aches.
   *Chamomile tincture - Take 30 drops in warm water to ease indigestion, to relieve stress or just to ease you to sleep.

3. Slip in some essential oils:
   
   *Lavender essential oil - Add 10 drops to your bath and take a soak to ease stress, tension and anxiety. Apply to minor burns.
   *Peppermint essential oil - For headaches, dilute 2 drops of peppermint oil and massage onto your temples, neck and forehead. Relieve indigestion by adding 1 drop to a cup of water and sipping this slowly.
   *Rosemary essential oil - Dilute in some massage oil and rub into aching feet.

4. Don't forget some herbal salves:
   
   *Aloe Vera gel - Ease the inflammation of sunburn by applying this cooling healing salve to the affected areas.
   *Arnica gel or cream - Apply every 2 to 3 hours on the first day to strained, sprained or sore muscles. Apply three times daily thereafter.
   *Tea tree oil - Apply to ease the itching and irritation of insect bites.

Tips & Warnings

• Use small pieces of flannel to protect glass bottles from breakage.
• Don't buy fragrance oils instead of pure essential oils.