This article originally appeared in Well+Good.
The whole point of taking a vacation is that it's meant to be relaxing; a blissful time away, when all you have to worry about is what you want for lunch, or whether you'd rather lounge by the beach or the pool. Which is why it's super annoying (as in, more annoying than usual) when your bathroom habits get thrown for a loop because while you're traveling, your digestion isn't functioning like it normally does.
And, that abnormal-for-you digestion can present in a number of different ways. Perhaps your reliable morning poop is literally days late. Or maybe you're prone to the complete opposite problem while traveling (meaning you have to be on the lookout for bathrooms everywhere because of it).
Whichever end of the digestion-issues spectrum you fall while traveling, according to gastroenterologist Marvin Singh MD, there are a few possible reasons that may explain it. "Traveling often comes together with a shift in diet and hydration levels—and often, stress as well. All these things can impact how we feel because we may get more bloated or constipated, for example, during travel as a result of this shift in our gut microbes and motility," he says.