361 Degrees Athlete Katie Zafares Shares Her Travel Hacks
Professional Triathlete and 361 Degrees Ambassador, Katie Zafares understands the rigors and stress of travel. She’s ranked number one in the ITU World Triathlon Series and spends more than eight months on the road training and competing around the world. Recently, we asked Katie to share some of her favorite travel hacks.
Travel can be stressful – from planning to packing and that’s all before you’ve actually left the house. Katie has dialed in her pre-travel hacks to include creating a plan for the day of travel prior departing the house for the airport. This includes researching the upcoming location and understand better where she’s staying; locations of grocery stores and restaurants nearby; and because she has three sports to prepare for, local pools, trails and/or roads to run and bike on. She’s also learned from numerous travels to pack only the essentials, “If I travel with something extra, then it needs to earn its keep in my bag by being something I really value or am comforted by.” One of those essentials is a neck pillow.
Once you arrive to your destination, she says “never look back”. When she arrives to new location, she immediately gets on the time zone. Meaning that if she arrives mid-day, she needs to stay awake until a proper bedtime or if she arrives late in the evening, it’s directly to bed. “once we get to location we are going to be for a bit, I don’t look at the time zone I just came from and compare what time it is there. I want to function on the new time zone.”
Finally, she says “go with the flow”. Understanding that traveling is not super fun and can be stressful, she says, “Be ready for things to go wrong. Know it’s out of your control and just go with it and try not to become too reactive or let it get to you.” That also means getting to the airport early and creating time for any unexpected delays.
‘Must Dos’ when traveling to a new country
- Research the city: know where you are staying and the nearby grocery stores and restaurants.
- Get on the new time zone and don’t look back.
- Get tips on local pools, trail and/or road routes to train on.
- Explore and try new things!
Follow Katie Zaferes on instagram: @kzaferes6
