Travelling to New Zealand with Essential Oils

I recently flew from London to Auckland, New Zealand and I hadn’t travelled on a plane with my oils before, so I needed to do some research. 

I had a number of questions:

- Could I take my Essential Oils in my hand luggage?

- Could I take them in my checked/hold luggage - were there any tips for packing them safely to avoid spills or breakages inside a suitcase?

- Were there any specific recommendations for using on the flights themselves? You can’t get a much longer journey than the 26 hour flight to New Zealand, so if I could take some oils with me in my hand luggage I wanted to have the best ones for the journey.

So I did some research online into what I could - there is lots of information out there some of it conflicting, so my best advice is to do your own checks in case your combination of airports, counties & airline(s) results in different restrictions to me, but flying from the UK, as long as my oils were in containers of not more than 100ml and collectively they all fitted inside a one litre ziplock clear plastic bag along with my other liquids for security then I could take them onboard with me - great news!

I also decided to take a few more in my suitcase & I packed these in an oil carrier - a travel case with a pre-cut foam inner with holes to hold oil bottles. To be doubly safe I then put this case inside a roll top dry bag (the kind you can get from a camping/outdoors shop) just in case anything leaked.

Lastly, I asked some of my oil friends who I know are seasoned travellers which oils they recommend taking on a plane and I got some great suggestions. Thankfully I don’t have any issues with fear of flying, so these are the oils I decided to take with me:

ZenGest – this is doTerra’s Digestion blend, I decided to take the Softgel form of the ZenGest, as I thought it would be easier to travel with because it comes in the form of a  pre-made tablet. This blend is perfect for travelling as it helps with so many digestion issues that you may encounter whilst travelling; different foods and eating at different times of day to those your body is used to. It can also help with bloating and motion or travel sickness.

Frankincense – to support my immune system, and it’s a oil that I put a drop under my tounge every morning so I wanted to be able to keep up with that routine as much as  I could. 

Balance – this is doTerra’s ‘Grounding’ blend and I love the smell, it can also be used to help with Stress, Anxiety and Jet Lag, it is an oil that I use every morning putting a drop on my wrist. I also have a diffuser necklace which I wore on the plane with a couple of drops of Balance in.

Copaiba – this is another oil that I take every morning, and as and when I need it during the day. It’s the oil I use for aches and pains, so it came in very handy when my second flight was 15 hours long! I just put a drop under my tongue.

Past Tense – is doTerra’s ‘Tension’ blend, and one of the oils I never leave home without, I use it for headaches. And although I have a very fancy travel pillow I thought I could also use this oil if my neck and shoulder got a bit sore from trying to sleep sitting up.

Serenity – this is doTerra’s ‘Restful’ blend, and I have put it into a roller ball bottle so I dabbed it on to the outside of my eyemask, this is the oil I use every night before going to bed, so my brain (most of the time) knows that smell is a trigger that it is time to go to sleep (even if the child a few rows up in the plane didn’t know that!)

On Guard Beadlets – this is doTerra’s ‘Protective’ blend, so I also used this to help support my immune system whilst travelling. The beadlets are small capsules which you take like a tablet and I decided to take On Guard in the beadlet form for ease whilst travelling.

Peppermint Beadlets -  Peppermint encourages alertness so I took one of these just before landing to help me negotiate my way through the airports, on to my next flight and through immigration and customs etc. whilst being tired from lack of sleep. They also helped to freshen my breath until I could brush my teeth again.

Overall I think being able to have these oils with me whilst travelling certainly helped me to arrive feeling fresher and more relaxed than when I have travelled without oils in the past - I certainly slept better in the nights after the journey and I think the effects of jet lag were less than on previous occasions as well.