In my childhood I always loved looking back at my photo albums of my family vacations. I still have these pictures packed away and when I want to reminisce, I just pull them out. I know this is truly dating me! Today I literally have pictures of my vacations on my smartphone on the screen saver. We all love capturing moments in time to memorialize our family and friend vacations. These are the memories of our lives. Looking at vacation photos always exudes happiness, a carefree nature, smiles, laughs, events, family, friends and the joy of travel. It is the best way to keep these memories fresh and to have a place to go to think about happy times.
Traveling takes a lot of planning and prep time. The main objective of traveling is to create happiness, however, for some it can create Travel Anxiety. The definition of anxiety is. “Intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, and feeling tired may occur.” Mayo Clinic Traveling can cause anxiety for many reasons. Traveling out of your comfort zone, traveling to new places, fear of flying, travel challenges, finances and just wanting everything to go perfect. All these worries can take the fun out of traveling. That truly defeats the whole purpose of taking a vacation. The question is, what can you do to help to decrease your Travel Anxiety?
Personally, I find it very helpful to plan my trips well in advance of my departure date. I have been doing this for years and I find now that I get excited planning all of the details way in advance. It gives me something to look forward to when I am going through a rough patch in my daily life. Let’s break it down.
Organizing your trip
1. Make reservations well in advance. This ensures that you can acquire the hotel, flights, train, bus, tours, clothing, cruise tickets and transportation that best suites you.
2. Do not exceed your budget when planning your trip. Always calculate in the spending money you will need on the trip. Over extending yourself can be a huge stressor, especially after the trip is all said and done.
3. Always make a copy of your Passport. Leave a copy at home, take the original and a copy with you. Keep your passport and the copy in a different compartment from each other. This ensures that if you lose one there is a copy. Believe me this takes care of a lot of anxiety you can avoid on a trip.
4. Printing out ahead of time all of your travel documents can be a great way to reduce Travel Anxiety, I print out hotel, air, train, tour tickets, cruise tickets, transportation reservations, dining reservations and an itinerary before I leave. I put theme in folders so that it is all organized. Yes, this is a lot of prep work but it gives me a sense of control over all of my plans and avoids any travel hiccups on my part. I find having a sense of control before I leave really eases my mind.
Packing
1. Purchase ahead of time any specific clothes, shoes, sunscreen, toiletries, travel comforts and large enough suitcases for travel. This will help greatly by avoiding having to run out for any last minute items.
2. Packing for a long trip can become extremely overwhelming. I have gotten into the practice of laying out my clothes and other travel items about a week ahead of time. Taking a long trip maybe over seas needs a lot of prep time and a lot of thought put into it. If you wait until the last possible moment you are setting yourself up for Travel Anxiety.
3. Make sure well in advance that if you take any prescription medications that you have enough meds for the trip. Sometimes you will need to go to the pharmacy to advance you some extra medications to cover your trip.
4. PS don’t forget the hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes for the airplane, train or bus.
Flying can be a big Anxiety provoker
1. Plan trips that have shorter flight time
2. If you are traveling with others, sit next to the person that makes you feel calm
3. Bring a book to read( tip start the book before you leave so that you are already invested and want to continue reading). That way you won’t want to find excuses not to read when you are anxious.
4. Download a series that you can binge watch from your favorite app.
5. Earbuds and an eye mask. This works great for me because it helps me to tune out the airplane environment completely.
6. Download an audio book if you are not a big reader
7. Purchase a lavender scent oil roll on. When the anxiety is elevating this is a natural way to center yourself.
8. I almost forgot one the biggest areas that causes Travel Anxiety. Please, Please, leave way ahead of time to catch your airplane or cruise. Pad in time for check in, getting your ticket printout, luggage weighed, going through security and getting drinks/snacks. There is no bigger way to create Travel Anxiety then being late getting to the airport and feeling rushed.
Destination of Travel
1. Give yourself time to get settled in your accommodations.
2. Pad in down time at your hotel, Airbnb or hostel.
3. Refresh yourself with a shower or a nap before you begin to tackle your travel destination.
4. Always give yourself enough time to get ready each day so that you are not rushing.
5. Hydrate frequently. We get cranky when we are dehydrated and hungry.
6. Remember to stop and take everything in around you.
7. If crowds cause you anxiety then adjust the places you visit or limit your time spent in crowds.
8. If you are feeling anxious while sightseeing or you are about to go zip lining, pop in your earbuds and listen to some calming music or listen to a quick meditation exercise.
Quick Reminders
1. Take lots of pictures
2. Take video to capture all of the sites and sounds
3. Journal your adventures
4. Keep ticket stubs and other souvenirs to look back at when remembering your trip
5. Check in at times with family and friends so they know where you are in your trip itinerary.
6. Don’t overpack (I need to listen to this)
7. Bring comfortable shoes
8. Raincoat or poncho
9. Reusable water bottle
10. Handheld fan or the new fans that go around your neck
11. Sunscreen
12. Hats
13. Comfy Pjs
14. I love to bring my own small blanket for when I sleep(feels like home and comforts me)
MOST IMPORTANTLY HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE, LIFE IS SHORT AND WE MUST ALL MAKE NEW MEMORIES AND NOT LET ANXIETY TAKE HOLD OF US!
LET’S COPE WITH TRAVEL ANXIETY, BY TAKING CARE OF OUR MENTAL HEALTH AND BEING PREPARED
POSITIVE THOUGHTS CREATE POSITIVE ENERGY
GO OUT AND EXPLORE THE WIDE OPEN SPACES IN YOUR WORLD
CIAO
Ili
