Traveling is downright addictive, and I’ve got a serious case of wanderlust. One of my favourite things in the world is stepping off an airplane and smelling the air in a new place for the first time. It’s never the nicest smelling air I’ll come across on the trip, but it’s my first impression, and if we’re being honest, anything is nice after hours of recycled airplane air.

Anyhow, in an attempt to assuage my wanderlust, I’ve devised five world travel inspired scent blends to use in my Saje Aroma Cloud ultrasonic diffuser. They’re inspired by cities and landscapes from all over the world—some I’ve visited and some I’m still just dreaming of. I hope you enjoy them as much as I am.

I’m writing this blog in association with Saje, a great natural wellness company based out of Vancouver, Canada, and I’m really excited to be teaming up with them to encourage people to diffuse beneficial essential oils in their home. Ultrasonic nebulizers are my favourite way to diffuse essential oils because they’re heat free and therefore don’t damage the essential oils at all.

Saje’s ultrasonic nebulizers are also negative ionizers. Negative ions are oxygen atoms charged with an extra electron, and for such a small sounding difference, there’s some great benefits. They occur naturally out in nature, around bodies of water and after thunderstorms. They clear the air of contaminants and odors, and leave you feeling refreshed and generally good. A negative ionizer like Saje’s ultrasonic nebulizer is a great way to get the benefits of negative ions without having a lake in your bedroom 😉

Once you combine great essential oils with negative ions and the gentle, burbling mist that floats out of the Aroma Cloud, you’ve got a recipe for relaxation and well-being. I’m loving running mine in the hours before I go to sleep, and as I go to sleep. I find the burbling to be quite soothing, and I love choosing where my nose thinks it’s falling asleep. Mountain meadow? Or perhaps Thailand? Hmm.

Before you get started with your blends I would recommend you do the mixing in a small vial or bottle (I used these) and not in the diffuser. This allows for a better melding of the scents—plus, some of the essential oils I’ve chosen are quite viscous, and blending them with thinner oils reduces the chances they’ll clog your diffuser. And, when I say “toothpick swirl”, what I want you to do is dip a toothpick in the essential oil, and then swirl it into the rest of the essential oil blend. It’s a way to get just a hint of otherwise overpowering essential oils.

Blue Mountains

2 drops labdanum essential oil
10 drops eucalyptus globulus essential oil
1 drop tea tree essential oil
1 drop honey myrtle essential oil
1 toothpick swirl cade essential oil

I fell in love with the Australian Blue Mountains while I was living in Penrith, NSW on a university exchange (along with the rest of Australia, of course). Coming from the foothills of one of the most majestic mountain ranges in the world (I’m only a little biased, I swear), the Blue Mountains are rather petite in comparison, but no less beautiful. They’re giant plateaus blanketed in gum trees, with winding pathways, sheer sandstone cliffs, stunning waterfalls, and never-ending vistas over blue-tinged valleys.

This blend started with the no-brainers; essential oils from Australian plants and trees. The most prominent is Eucalyptus Globulus, with hints of tea tree and honey myrtle. Together they create a fresh, camphoraceous scent blend that is also a powerful antiseptic and antibacterial, helping to cleanse the air. I’ve topped those three oils off with some labdanum, for deep notes of dry sunshine, and just a touch of smokey cade, for a bush fire burning off in the distance. The final blend is fresh and clean, with a hint of warmth—perfect for relaxing to while you plan your next vacation.

French Countryside

3 drops labdanum essential oil
3 drops michelia alba leaf essential oil
3 drops rosemary essential oil
3 drops litsea cubeba essential oil
5 drops lavender essential oil

My love of French lavender and French food ensured France would make my list of world travel scent blends. This blend smells like a bike ride down a country road in France. There’s a base of warm sunshine and hay from the labdanum, blended with balancing rosemary, calming lavender, and bright litsea cubeba from the fields you’re rolling past. The whole thing is tied together with uplifting michelia alba leaf to add a hint of exotic mystery—how very French of me.

London Fog

2 drops lemon essential oil
5 drops bergamot essential oil
3 drops benzoin essential oil
5 drops palmarosa essential oil
1 toothpick swirl rose absolute

This blend doesn’t smell strictly of a London street on a foggy day. Instead, this blend is inspired by the famous tea latté and an English rose garden. Palmarosa and benzoin essential oils form the sweet base of the blend. Palmarosa smells a bit like tea, and is a fantastic antiviral and antibacterial oil, while benzoin imparts a deep, warm vanilla note. Bergamot adds the characteristic Earl Grey note to the blend, and lemon brightens the mix. A small hint of rose ties it all together. The resulting blend is sweet, warm and mysterious, and is brilliant if you’ve got a cold thanks to its antibacterial and uplifting qualities.

Thai Market

6 drops ginger root essential oil
5 drops lemongrass essential oil
6 drops lime essential oil
3 drops nerolina essential oil
1 drop honey myrtle essential oil
2 drops labdanum essential oil

I haven’t been to Thailand yet, but I love their food, and that’s where this blend takes its inspiration from. Warming ginger, antiseptic lemongrass, and uplifting lime formed an obvious base from their prevalence in Thai cuisine. From there I added labdanum for warmth and sunshine, and brightened the entire blend with nerolina and honey myrtle. The final blend is distinctly Thai, but not easy to pin down. It’s perfect if you’ve got a cough thanks to its antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Silk Road

2 drops benzoin essential oil
1 toothpick swirl myrrh essential oil
3 drops cardamom essential oil
3 drops frankincense essential oil
3 drops nutmeg essential oil
3 drops clove bud essential oil
5 drops black pepper essential oil
4 drops ginger root essential oil
2 drops cinnamon bark essential oil

Sarah came up with the name for this blend, and I just love it. I’d been thinking of a middle eastern spice market, and Silk Road just ties that together brilliantly with wonderfully exotic imagery. This deep, mysterious blend of spicy essential oils is utterly beguiling. Hints of scents you recognize, like clove and cinnamon, are blended with new, more elusive scents like frankincense and myrrh. Each time you smell it you’ll pick out a different note or two, from the warmth of the ginger, to the dry spiciness of the black pepper, to the deep sticky sweetness of the benzoin. The blend is stimulating, cleansing, and intriguing—guaranteed to spark wanderlust.