What is the Best Walking Pole for Year-round Travel?
Global Traveling throughout the Year
Travelling comes with its perks. The joy of experiencing new places. And of course checking off sights on your proverbial “bucket-list”.
Yet, don’t you just hate the physical pain that comes from long travel. Long lines at the airport. Escalators. Long flights of stairs. And don’t forget public transportation. Many busses and subways, as well as ride hailing services are not designed for comfortable entry and exit. If your legs, knees and back are in pain, especially after a long travel leg, you could be in pain, just by getting in and out.
Many major cities, with their well-developed subway systems, still have not made walking easy. Long tunnels, combined with multiple flights of stairs, steps, and your legs will be in pain. You will simply be pooped and exhausted by the end of the day.
Travel Walking Support with Walking Poles
This is the beauty of walking poles for travel. They are like trekking poles. They are like nordic hiking poles. But they are simpler. Wouldn’t it be a joy to have a pole that is simple, folds down when you need it, yet is fast and easy to set up. No more guessing what length to adjust. And also the confidence of trusting them at the pole is thick enough to hold your weight without bending. Yet many of today’s trekking poles are made so thin, and with so much carbon fibers, that the flexibility in the pole is scary. Will it hold up when you need it the most?
Long trips during your travels require great distances of walking. In fact, the average overseas trip often includes over 7,000 steps a day, longer than normal. (2)
With this great amount of walking, your knees, joints, feet and back all have undue stress put on them. There are several tools and gear that help with reducing this stress, but the most important item are walking poles. Specifically collapsible walking poles for travel . . . designed for long trips and long travel. While they can be helpful for hiking and outdoor mountaineering, they are more useful for trips.
By having two poles, or alternating one pole, your upper-body weight is distributed across four points of ground contact instead of two. And even though most of your weight is still through your legs, by simply using walking poles, you can reduce 10-20% of your body weight impact away from your legs, resulting in less pressure, shock and stress on your knees and legs. This will create lower-impact walking. If you have an entire day of travel, this is a huge improvement for your body. It reduces fatigue. And increases stamina and energy.
Travel walking poles also are slightly heavier than mountaineering poles. This increase in weight is minimal, but is essential for handling heavy weight, and lots of use. While mountaineering trekking poles are designed for high-elevation, and ultralight weight, as backpacking counts every ounce, overseas travel is less weight dependent, and more focused on having the right gear rather than weight avoidance.
In addition, walking poles that collapse easily are essential for travelling, especially through airports, busses, trains and cruise ships. Even with the need for poles throughout an airport, we recommend you check your walking poles onto the plane, rather than bring them as a carryon. If you feel you need them throughout the remainder of the airport and airplane, you may need to check with TSA ahead of time, and possibly obtain a doctor’s note, clearly prescribing that you need the poles for all walking for health reasons.
Types of Walking Poles for Travel
There are two main types of walking poles: Collapsible and Non-Collapsible. While there may be other sub-types, these two main differences make the difference between enjoyable trips and trips with burdens.
Collapsible walking poles
Within a collapsible pole, which is recommended for all travel, all year, travellers can collapse the pole, either through telescoping, pull apart or foldable, so that they can stow it away during transport. This makes them easier to bring through public transportation. In addition, fitting the pole into tight spaces like car back seats becomes easy.
Non-Collapsible walking poles
Non-collapsible, the pole is fully rigid and does not collapse. These are most useful if you are planning to use them as an alternative for nordic ski poles, or in muddy locations, as the sections will not come apart. Also, non-collapsible walking poles are designed to be higher, raising your elbows higher for nordic ski and cross-country ski activities.
Travel during many seasons
While there may be a few benefits to some on-collapsible walking poles, collapsible walking poles edge out in versatility and travel portability. And even in snow, There are walking techniques to reduce or prevent collapsible trekking pole sections from coming apart; simply pivot the pole forward, to lengthen the snow hole, before pulling out of the snow.
As for mud, many travel walking poles come with mud baskets. These end tips reduce the sinking of the pole, which makes it easier to move through heavy muddy locations.
Yet, the vast majority of travel that walking poles will be used for will be on paved surfaces, such as city sidewalks, escalators, and developed paths and walkways.
The key is to have a walking pole that is strong and heavy duty, yet portable.
Ice and Cold
Look for walking poles with carbide tips. While poles have a rubber foot on them, you can usually remove this rubber tip so that the carbide tip edge is exposed. This is a strong material, sharp enough to dig into ice to provide traction, yet will not easily wear away. After an icy section, you can put back on the rubber foot.
Earth Trek Gear Collapsible Walking Pole
Earth Trek Gear walking poles are designed for security and portability for travel; protecting your knees and legs while travelling. You need a hiking pole that is thick, and will not easily bend. You need a pole that collapses easily. Yet your pole needs to be lightweight. Earth Trek Poles provide walkers and travelers with the knee and body support they need; providing confidence for long walking and long trips, while still retaining portability and lightweight functions.
Other Walking Support Gear
For walking in the cold, it helps to have walking or running gloves. They will protect your hands from the cold air, and reduce blistering on the inside of your hands. Choose gloves of low to medium thickness. Thick enough to provide some insulation, but thin enough to properly grip the pole handle.
Anti-DVT socks, also called airplane socks, are designed to tighten around your legs high enough to help blood flow faster. It can reduce clotting and “dead legs”. (1).
Finally, for some walkers with leg issues, a knee sleeve can bring added compression, and reduce joint pain while walking and jogging.
Enjoying your trips can start with smooth walking to your favorite destinations. Sightseeing and daily transportation requires good strength training, fitness, and the right tools. Having a complete set of durable, yet portable walking poles will make your year-round travel come alive!
-------------------------------------------
About the author:
Mike Cutler writes on active senior lifestyles and is a healthy lifestyle Blogger as well as product tester for Earth Trek Gear. He lives with his family in Reno NV and enjoys going to the Sierra Nevada mountains for hiking and family activities.
----------------------------------------------
Leave a comment
Please note, comments must be approved before they are published