A common theme throughout my life is that I have a passion for traveling. Do you have any passions like this? Traveling has become one of my coping mechanisms. Sometimes my travels will take me far from home and at other times it can become more of a staycation. Like most people my travel journeys were put on hold during Covid. I had to find new coping mechanisms that would give me the same type of feeling that traveling would do. I wasn’t quit successful in reimagining ways to feed my travel addiction but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. All travel restrictions have been lifted and traveling abroad has become much more commonplace. Time to pack your suitcases and let’s go.
I feel there are some things I should share with you from my recent travels. Traveling looks very different then it did before the Pandemic. Some of these changes can be overwhelming and anxiety provoking. I have decided to share the great, the bad and the ugly about traveling post pandemic. In the hopes that it will help you in your travels to be able to help with travel anxiety.
I spoke to someone this summer about how they felt about travel post pandemic. Their exact words were, ” People have forgotten how to interact with others after being locked up in their homes for so long. I experienced people acting like heathens, rude and disrespectful to their fellow humans.” Unfortunately, I experienced very similar behaviors. I really was shocked and taken back by my interactions with others. It is apparent that their brains did not maintain the muscle memory of proper interactions with others. I realized at the very onset of my trip once I left the US that I would have to prepare myself for unexpected behaviors by others. I felt this was the best way to work through my anxiety and frustration tolerance levels. The coping skills I set into place were, walk away when angry, do not engage with others that are argumentative, repeat a mantra when anxiety levels raised and know when to take a time out from the crowds. I can’t say these coping skills worked all the time but they were great tools to have handy and make my trip a success. My suggestion is to lower your expectations of others and to have tips for yourself to cope with others bad behavior. I will be doing more research into the idea of the changes in social norms since the pandemic. This was a very unexpected and I did not realize how interactions among individuals have changed.
Taking tours in the places you visit can be very helpful to gain insight and knowledge into the lands that you visit. This is also another area that has seemed to have changed post pandemic. I have been fortunate to have traveled a lot throughout my life and I have always taken group tours and small group tours. Besides being able to see many sites in one day the tour guides were always a big part of the experience. Their knowledge of the places you visit and the history were alway invaluable information from the guides. I visited seven different countries and most of the tours post covid were to drive you to a location and then you are on your own to tour. This is a big trend change that I experienced. I felt very frustrated and let down by the tour guides and their lack of interaction with us during the tour. I have to correlate this to the pandemic. Tour guides seemed to have limited their direct contact with their clients and have not reimplemented the charm of interacting with their tourists and enhancing the knowledge of the places they were visiting. My suggestion is to research the history and the culture of the places you are visiting. This will avoid frustration and disappointment if you come across the same change int he tours that we did. I will say that it was not all negative. We took a TukTuk tour in Budapest exploring Buda and Pest. Our guide was amazing and very personable. We were able to gain insight and knowledge into the history and the Hungarian culture. I loved Budapest and the it’s people.
Lastly, I will discuss customer service. In my opinion customer service has been lacking for years in the US. However, whenever I traveled abroad I saw an improvement in customer service. It seems that it has taken it’s hold abroad as well. I observed a lack of courtesy and respect for tourists. I witnessed a Airline employee yelling at a customer over and over again to sit down when all he was doing was asking if he was at the right gate.(Mind you they changed our gate 3 times, so I felt this was a very valid question.) It was shocking! I really could go on and on about the disturbing behaviors I witnessed and personally experienced during my travels. My message to you is to be prepared for changes in behaviors and the way tourists are treated. If you are ready for this and have plans in place on how to cope, it will make for a successful trip. Always have your coping skill tool box ready to go, so that you can decrease your anxiety, agitation and frustration tolerance level. Traveling is always somewhat stressful but if you are prepared then you will have plans in place to ensue it is a success.
My most utilized coping skill was when I was anxious or stressed, I would stop and observe my environment. If it appeared chaotic I would look for the beauty around me. I focused on colors, nature and beautiful faces of strangers. This helped me to take control over my reactions to uncomfortable situations.Some of these beautiful moments were the Virgin Atlantic flight attendant that was so sweet and courteous throughout our 8 1/2 flight. She always had a smile on her face and would say “Lovely” in such a sweet way that it made me smile. The staff at the hotel we stayed in who always greeted us with a smile and offering us water during the hot day. The server in the Italian restaurant in London who made our lunch a wonderful experience. The manager at a restaurant in Scotland who was getting ready to close the restaurant but squeezed us in at that late hour so that we could have dinner. I fell in Scotland outside a Mexican restaurant and a women that I did not know ran up to me so that she could help and make sure I was ok. We went on a small tour to a winery in Budapest. Our tour guide was informative and told us why he loved living in Budapest. We were taken to a private winery owned by a small family. The wine tasting experience was phenomenal. The aspect that made it so special was the owner of the winery. He shared his talents, his pride and love for wine at his winery. I loved feeling his pride and tradition of the winery that surrounded us.
Traveling always has it’s ups and downs. Post covid there are some added challenges but I believe if you prepare yourself you will be able to handle the unfortunate moments and let the beautiful and amazing moments overshadow the negative. I will always travel and I will always learn how to adapt to these changes post pandemic. I have always said that books will be written about how social norms, the environment, people and social interactions have changed since Covid. I truly believe that the pandemic has changed the face of the world and has changed our individual make up. There is no way that a world can go through that type of trauma without consequences. I have witnessed many of the changes in the US and now abroad.
My travels took me to New York, Paris, Budapest, Slovakia, Poland, Scotland and London. All beautiful and amazing places to travel. I am committed to traveling in my future because I do believe it is important to step out of our comfort zone and see how others live around the world. This can be very humbling and rewarding. I had a conversation with a beautiful lady in London who was homeless. She was kind, intelligent and caring. She said she started to speak to us because she knew we were from the US because of our accents. She said that she knew we would be kind to her and that she lived in Boston at one time. Beauty is everywhere, you just have to look for it and accept it. She was beautiful and so grateful that we bought her dinner. I was humbled and I will always remember her.
Travel has changed post pandemic but it should not inhibit you from traveling. The key is to be prepared and understand that the world looks and acts different since experiencing this trauma. The world is ever evolving and we must evolve and adapt with it. I would love to hear about your summer travels. Drop me a message here, FB or my Instagram account and let me know your personal experiences and thoughts.
POSITIVE THOUGHTS CREATE POSITIVE ENERGY
GO OUT AND EXPLORE ALL OF THE WIDE OPEN SPACES IN THE WORLD
CIAO
Ilise
