Author: Ryan Lee

Sober travel is not all created equal. I have been on trips where “dry” translated to lifeless. Where the focus on wellness became another form of restriction, and the whole setup felt designed to keep you in one spot. That is not how I want to spend my time away, and I doubt it is what you are looking for either. If you are sober curious or already living without drugs and alcohol, you do not need more rules. You need the space to feel strong in your body, to spend time with people who see the world the way…

There were mornings I could not move. I would wake up on the couch, heart pounding, covered in cold sweat, stomach knotted, mind already running ahead of me. The TV was still on. The food I ordered was untouched, sitting stone-cold outside the door. I could remember just enough to know I had passed out waiting for it. Not a blackout, not exactly, but close enough. It wasn’t the headache that got me. Or the nausea. Those were manageable. It was the panic. The crawling dread under my skin made it hard to breathe. I would lie there for an…

You don’t have to be in recovery to feel over the drinking culture that pervades our society. You’re probably fairly familiar with this exact moment: Someone passes you a drink you never asked for. You take it to be polite, and before you know it, the night you didn’t plan turns into a morning you regret. In another version of the same day, you politely refuse the glass, sleep well, wake up clear and bushy-eyed, and end up watching the sunrise from a mountain trail. That is the draw of sober curious travel. It gives you the space to be…

If you have ever tried to plan a trip and been met with ideas like wine tasting in Tuscany, brewery tours in Belgium or mojitos on a beach in Mexico, you are not the only one. For a lot of people, alcohol is stitched into the idea of travel. Climb a mountain, have a drink. Land in a new city, head straight for the nightlife. It is treated like part of the itinerary. People will tell you Italy is incomplete without the wine, Rio without a caipirinha, Scotland without a whisky tasting or any Caribbean resort without the swim-up bar.…

Staying sober on the road isn’t about gritting your teeth and hoping for the best. It’s not a constant stream of “no thanks” until the trip’s over. It’s about knowing the kind of headspace you want to be in and making calls that protect that. When I quit drinking, travel made it easier. I got away from the routines and places that used to pull me back in. I wasn’t surrounded by the same people doing the same things. I was somewhere new, and I could build different habits. It was like I had a new lease without people being…

Recovery centers exist all over the world, offering just about every kind of retreat you can think of. Some are affordable, while others cost as much as a private rehab. You will find silent meditation camps in the jungle, yoga escapes in Hawaii, beachfront wellness programs and spa packages that wind down before dark. What is harder to find is a sober travel experience that brings real adventure. Not everyone wants to spend a week on a lounge chair or start every morning with breathwork and end it by 7 p.m. Some of us want more. We want to be…