Here are some steps you can take to prepare for a summer trip.

1. Location, Location, Location.

If you’ve already planned your destination for summer vacation, this one may be too late to consider. However, it’s important to think about where you are going, and if it’s the right place for you at your particular stage of recovery. People in early recovery might not want to go on a cruise, for example, where drinking and eating are the main activities on the boat. There’s nothing worse than being trapped at a resort or on a boat where everyone else seems to be intoxicated. Choose wisely when deciding on where you want to spend your summer vacation.  I heard a story about a woman just out of treatment for bulimia whose family decided a cruise was a good idea – yikes! Food is everywhere on cruises, and overindulgence tends to be the norm. She was at high risk for relapse, and indeed she did.

2. Get Your Ducks in a Row

Call ahead to the Central Office of the 12-step group you attend so you can have a list of meetings on hand. You don’t want to be in a panicky situation trying to find a meeting last minute.  Map them out if you can so you know exactly where to go, or be sure you have a GPS device or smart phone that will make it easy to find the closest meeting.

3. Have a Back-Up Plan

If you have a hard time getting to meetings because of the location or if you are on a tour that limits your freedom, have your phone numbers handy. If you will be overseas, be sure to find out what the data and phone plans are for International calling. You might want to set up a plan in advance so you aren’t surprised by a shockingly huge bill a month after returning home.

4. Bring Your Tools

If you have certain things that help you on a daily basis – meditations, Big Book readings or the like – bring them with you. If you don’t want to carry a bunch of materials around, copy some of the content and carry those critical pages with you. If you are carrying a laptop, iPad, or smart phone with you, you can also scan in some good materials and email them to yourself so they are available electronically. If you have a Kindle or other reader, you may be able to download materials or save them to that device as well.

5. Know Your Limits and Have an Exit Strategy

If you are honest with yourself, you will know your limits – what you can and can’t do if you want to stay sober. Do an honest appraisal of your triggers and risk factors, and avoid any events or places that might tempt you and lead to relapse. The best defense is a good offense, and the last thing you want to do is be caught off-guard.  If you need to get out of whatever situation you are in, be ready to do it – your sobriety and your life are more important than another day away. If you get in situations -say you meet new people who pressure you to have “just one,” be ready to say what you need to say to get them to back off. Or simply leave the situation. I remember once someone was haranguing me to have a glass of wine – oh, one isn’t going to hurt you! That’s ridiculous. I finally looked right at her and said, “I’m not drinking it because I’m an alcoholic.” She was so shocked she backed off and never brought it up again.

Vacations in sobriety can be amazing – you get to remember everything you did! Just be sure to plan ahead so you can have fun without risking your sobriety.

First thing to do is find out where the meetings are in the place where you are traveling. Frankly, you have to go someplace pretty darn rural and off the beaten track to not be able to find a meeting.  If you are going overseas to a place where you don’t speak the language, investigate where English-speaking groups meet. They are EVERYwhere.  Americans living abroad have built quite a nice network of 12-step meetings, especially in popular destination cities such as Paris and Rome.

It can be pretty fun to go to a meeting in some of these countries. Back in the early 90s I went to a meeting in Dublin and they asked me to speak.  Now there are some language differences even though we all speak English.  I remember speaking about drinking a pint  a day and I wondered why people were looking at me funny.  Truth is, they couldn’t understand why I was in AA if I only drank a pint a day (they consider that one beer).  I didn’t think to clarify that it was a pint of Vodka.  It was pretty hilarious to find this out after the meeting.  I’m sure many left thinking, “Those Americans sure are lightweights! If I could keep myself to a pint of lager a day I sure as heck wouldn’t be in this meeting!”

I’m not sure what meetings are like in Scotland these days – back in the early 90s they were a far cry from American meetings. First off – everyone seemed either depressed or pissed off that they were at a meeting. They sat in a big circle quietly brooding with sullen looks on their faces.  This was very different from my meetings in NYC where laughter and comaraderie were the usual staples of a meeting.  I’m hoping over the last 10 years things have gotten a bit more sunny in those rooms.

There are quite a few English-speaking meetings in Paris because it’s filled with ex-pats.  The people in them are very friendly and helpful.

Remember that pre-planning is important – you don’t want to be in a country trying to communicate you need to find a meeting in pidgen French!

When you are planning a vacation, when considering your choices also consider your sobriety. If you are 1 year sober, a cruise is probably going to be more challenging than a trip to Disneyworld. Face it, cruises are giant booze parties in most cases. You are trapped on a giant floating bar.  Might not be the best place to be if you are still on shaky legs.

If you are going someplace rural – camping or hiking – make sure you bring along your paperback Big Book or daily meditations to help. Fortunately, unless you are camping with a bunch of boozers, you won’t have many temptations in the back woods.  The bigger temptations can come in countries where alcohol has a strong presence everywhere.   Sometimes people do not understand why you won’t have just one glass – so be prepared to defend your right not to drink.  Generally the easiest thing to say is I’m allergic – or I have a medical condition and the doctor said alcohol could kill me.  Whatever it takes to get the person to back off!

There aren’t any hard and fast rules on traveling in recovery – the best thing to do is plan in advance for any issues you think might arise.  If you are planning to travel with other people who will be drinking, it could be a good idea to have at least one person who knows you are and can be a sounding board should things get stressful.