As someone who grew up traveling (my first flight was a 13 hr flight at 5 months old), travel has never been a scary thing to me.
But I'm cognizant of the fact that not everyone has the same natural attitude towards travel that I do. And that it can be a true source of fear of anxiety to the point that some people never travel or it takes years to bring themselves to travel again.
So whether you're a veteran traveler or a travel newbie, here are my 3 Tips to Overcoming Travel Anxiety.
I think the root cause behind anxiety or fear is the idea of the unknown. So my tips are offered with the aim of taking the big, scary abstract and breaking it down into something tangible and less-scary.
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Know Your Travel Purpose
Whether you're traveling for a wedding, to achieve pure relaxation, to learn, or to explore nature, you need to know your trip's purpose. This is the first step to turning a big unknown into something with more shape. Your purpose will act as your North Star and give you an idea to orbit around and set expectations for.
It also makes the trip less overwhelming than if you show up without a purpose because everywhere will have everything. And having too many options can set off anxiety so allow yourself to apply a mental search filter.
Am I going to Sayulita, Mexico for some famous surfing? Am I going to Madrid to finally see Pablo Picasso's Guernica? Am I going to Singapore to try Michelin-star food carts?
Let yourself know which main highway you're going to go down so you can better curate your detours and experiences.
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Do Research
Consider it the next level after finding your trip's purpose. Once that's defined, you can then figure out planning and start research.
This may sound obvious and yes, I'm talking about doing research to know what activities you want to do, but I also am trusting you to research the culture and soul of your destination.
Your activities and itineraries will be affected by the culture and way of life. For example, if you're not aware of the siesta culture in Spain, you might be hard-pressed to find something to do in the mid-afternoon. Or why your Italian server is looking at you strangely when you order a cappucino after noon. Or whether to choose between Porto Moniz or Seixal natural pools in Madeira (what's the difference?? that's what the research is for!)
It's the little details that color in the culture of a place and allow you a more authentic and intimate way to travel.
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Get Organized
Get mentally and physically organized. This will make everything go much more smoothly and prevent any frustration during your trip. Doing research will mean nothing if you don't take organized action.
My recommendation is to have one MVP activity per day and allow flexibility, with at least one back-up plan. I'm not one to plan every hour of every day (that can be overwhelming on the other side of the spectrum and if one thing is slightly off-course, it's a domino effect), but I think one main thing to focus on and center your day around keeps your time organized and efficient so you can enjoy your travels by maximizing efficiency.
And physically, I'm a sucker for packing cubes because nothing gives me more anxiety than not knowing where something is and turning my suitcase/hotel room into a tornado of my belongings (I have more recommendations for physical organization here)
I dive into it more in this episode of the podcast so if you want more details, head over there.
In the meantime, I hope something resonated with you and you're inspired or feel a little bit better about booking that next trip.
