As we enter the summer traveling season, many of you may be going on holiday adventures in the next few months. As you do so, be sure to take herbs along with you.

I always travel with an herbal first aid kit and inevitably it comes in very handy. I often end up sharing herbs with others who don’t bring their own remedies. In fact, even the 5,300 year-old iceman, Ötzi, discovered high in the Alps was found with a bag of herbal medicines!

While you can travel with a stocked kit, even just three remedies can cover a variety of possible ailments. If you only have room for a few herbs, these are the three I recommend:

Comfrey salve – although an herbal salve will often have more herbs in it than comfrey, it is very useful for scrapes, cuts, sores, bites, wounds, tears, ulcers and boils. This makes it especially important if taking children on your journeys.

Echinacea tincture – very effective for infections, inflammations, swollen glands, fevers, and boils, take it both internally and apply externally as appropriate. It is the most effective remedy I’ve found for bites and stings of all sorts by squirting it on a cotton ball and applying locally. As well, you can use it to prevent colds.

Elderberry capsules or syrup – a fabulous anti-viral herb, it is one of the best for colds, flu, fever, and coughs, including spasmodic croup and chronic sinusitis. This lessens the length of colds and flu, and is delicious as a syrup.