What I Took on Vacation (and What I Actually Used)

I like to pack as light as possible when going on vacation but I don't want to be without my essential oils either.  So I packed the bare necessities-one dram vials of lavender, peppermint, rosemary, tea tree and eucalyptus, my little bottle of whiteflower analgesic balm that I have been refilling with my blend, 2 ounces of almond oil, thieves spray (plus and extra bottle of concentrate) and a whole bottle of aloe vera gel.  My daughter and I managed to go through half the almond oil-we used it to take off our makeup, to moisturize our skin and I used it once to make a massage blend for sore muscles. I had actually packed my insect repellent but never used it-I'll get to that.

I had already gotten pretty chewed up by mosquitoes before we left Kentucky so I used the lavender and tea tree on those.  What I actually got the most use of was the thieves spray.  I used it in the car to freshen the air and to help keep the driver alert, on toilet seats in public bathrooms, to disinfect the air in our bathroom after stinky potty trips, as an insect repellent, and to freshen the carpet in the hotel after it started to smell weird.

I had no problems with mosquitoes the whole time we were in Myrtle Beach but it was a completely different story when we drove to Charleston.  They were lying in wait for me when I stepped out of the car and, of course, my insect repellant was 2 hours away in MB.  So I grabbed my vial of lavender oil out of my purse and smeared it all over the fresh bites and sprayed myself from head to toe with the Thieves spray.  We took a little cruise through Charleston Harbor and spent an hour walking around Ft. Sumter.  No more mosquito problems but my daughter and I were both bitten by fire ants so we spent the rest of the week putting lavender oil on those.

So what I actually USED was my Thieves Spray, Lavender oil, Tea Tree oil, and analgesic balm (with a few drops of rosemary).  I could have packed even lighter than I did.  And thank goodness I packed some more concentrate for my thieves spray because I actually had to mix so much because I used it so heavily.

About the Thieves blend-it contains essential oils of cinnamon bark, clove bud, lemon, eucalyptus radiata and rosemary cineole.  These oils are mentally stimulating, deodorizing and disinfecting.  I have had tremendous success fighting infections with this blend and I always have a spray bottle of this in my purse and in my locker at work.  When you work with the public you get exposed to a lot of germs and when I spray the air with this blend I don't get sick.  When I neglect to use it, I get sick.  This ended up being the most important thing I packed and I probably could have used it for everything but many of these oils are skin sensitizers.  I don't have a problem with them but I don't want to push my luck either because you don't know how many times you can use them before you start to react to them.

I had a fabulous time in South Carolina.  I visited with family and learned some details about my family history I never knew.  It was good to go home and I really hated to leave but I missed my dog :)