UK Trip Favorites - Hydration

I recently went to England, primarily to Yorkshire to visit Whitby and York, and I had some items that made things much easier on me, so I thought I'd pass them along (but also document them so I can look back at this next time I travel and remember to bring them).

(**If you're looking for my Insecure Writer's Support Group post, go to my writing blog HERE**)

Hydration

One of my big 'tisms (elements of my autism that affect me) is that I can't drink water unless it's ice cold. The warmer the water gets, the more unpleasant flavors I find as I try to choke it down. Courtesy of an acquaintance who'd spoken of her first venture to Germany, I knew in advance ice wasn't as big a thing in at least some European countries the way it is in the U.S., so I needed a solution that would help keep me hydrated. 

Some of the things I tried that helped:

Soda/flavored drinks/carbonated water: 

For whatever reason, I can drink other drinks without them needing to be so cold, as long as they have flavor. In the UK specifically, I was able to find ginger beer on most menus, so I drank a lot of that (and some Irn Bru in Scotland), but that's a problem if you're counting calories (though to be clear, those drinks had only about half the calories as soft drinks in the U.S.) 

They also offer bottled carbonated mineral water, which, ironically, I hate. BUT the bottles were usually chilled, which helped, and I found carbonated water more bearable warm than just plain water. Barely. And I'm supposed to have electrolytes each day, so those fulfilled that need.

Portable water bottles: 

My first trip out to England was last year, and for the first week I was going to be with a group of strangers (at least at the beginning--we quickly bonded) on a writing retreat in which we moved locations every couple days, and none of the places had mini fridges (not a thing I found in hotels in England, so far, but I've only stayed at a couple hotels there). Since we were going to be on the go a lot, I got these roll-up Vapur water bottles with carabiners. Whenever I could, I got some ice from the bar (there was always a bar/pub and they typically had ice for their drinks) to put in the bottles with water, and I clipped them to my camera bag. These are not insulated, so the ice melted at a normal rate, but it was nice to have an easy-to-carry option.

Vapur roll-up water bottles with carabiners

Even better, once my husband flew out at the end of the retreat and we continued our travels, we were staying in AirBnBs, which did have mini or full-sized fridges. I'd fill the water bottles the night before and stick them in the freezers, so the next day we had ice cold water as they thawed during our treks. They were refillable, of course, but were lightweight and able to be flattened and rolled up if I wanted to put them away in a bag after they were empty.

One of the big reasons I stuck with these instead of something of a different material was that they did not add any weird taste to the water. Glass bottles are a problem for me because of that, as are metal ones, and even some plastic adds some manner of taste, but these didn't change the taste of the water at all. I actually use these at home all the time, and if I've got a busy week coming up I freeze a couple so I've got that ice cold water to go without trying to fit ice cubes in the mouth (big square cubes were a hard fit; slim half-moon types were super easy).

Requesting ice:

I learned to just ask for water with ice whenever I ordered. The vast majority of places didn't put any ice unless I asked for it. And hilariously, even when I did ask for it I sometimes got one or two tiny ice cubes, which wasn't sufficient. The first time I asked for a glass of ice and they actually brought me a full glass of ice (again, I had much better luck at pubs/bars versus restaurants, and this was from a hotel bar), I took a picture because I was so excited.

My first full glass of ice in York. I was so excited!

Portable ice cube trays:

I had varied luck with ice cube trays. I tried one set when I went out the first time last summer and a different set this time. The reason I say my luck varied is that I really wanted fully collapsible trays to take up less space in my suitcase, but neither set was fully collapsible. These are the two I tried:

The first set were Amytor BPA-free stackable trays and were a portion silicone and a portion harder plastic. They really didn't collapse much, but they traveled okay and were easy to use. At one of the AirBnBs (in KEW Gardens), they actually provided the exact same trays! Theirs had been used more, and one broke when I bent it to loosen the cubes. Luckily, I was able to just leave one of mine to replace the broken one.

Amytor ice cube trays

While they worked for my purposes, I decided to take these up to my cabin and try a different set for this trip in the hopes they would be more flexible.

The second set I tried were Reespring all-silicone. They were bigger to begin with, but were a bit easier to squish and bend in my suitcase. I'm keeping them at home now to make frozen yogurt and fruit treats. These ice cubes were too big to easily fit into my foldable water bottles.

Reespring ice cube trays

Neither was perfect, but both worked well enough for the trips. They were easy to clean out, both came with lids, both were flexible so I could get the cubes out, and both packed okay. I'll probably be trying to find a different set when I go to the UK next, but if I don't find one that seems to work, I'll take the second (Reespring) again.

My favorite drink:

I found a nice low-calorie iced tea I liked partway through the trip that became my go-too. It was bearable to drink when warm, but I was frequently able to find it in the chilled drink section at train stops, at Sainsbury's (a grocer), and even at the airport so I was able to take a couple on the plane. It was called Vit-Hit and there were several flavors. It was just tea and juice with no sugar added, and it ended up being a life saver for me several times.

Vit-Hit became a favorite drink due to being tasty and also low calories and easily available

Plus, they had a sense of humor. This photo is of the back label.

A little humor on the back of the Vit-Hit label

Hot drinks! 

Of course hot drinks were going to be an option, too. A small pot of tea cost about the same as a cup with crappy tea in the U.S., so I had it with breakfast each day and hotels and AirBnBs almost always provide an electric kettle and tea bags. Most even provided milk, sugar, and tea biscuits. Coffee was readily available everywhere, too, and there were even Starbucks and Costa Coffees all over. Hot chocolate was frequently available, but especially on the coast, where we could just walk on over to Clara's for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate with whipped cream.

Hot chocolate with whipped cream from Clara's in Whitby

My little cranberry teapot at Cranberry Swamp in Whitby

These were just a few of the ways I attempted to stay hydrated in the UK when that's an issue for me no matter where I travel. If I didn't need my water cold I would have drunk far fewer pre-packaged drinks. The tap water was good everywhere we went, though it was best in Whitby, on the coast. You definitely don't have to spend money on drinks. Just make sure you ask for tap water at restaurants so that it will be free. If you just ask for still water, chances are they will bring you a bottled water. (The good part of that is that it will be chilled!) And if you want it cold, ask for tap water with ice.

To end the post, here's a photo of a lovely dish a restaurant brought me when I asked for ice with my tap water. It even came with a spoon.

Dish of ice brought for my water

Do you have any tips for staying hydrated on vacation?

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