It’s only the most steely-hearted travellers or those that have already explored and have become familiar with the world around them that are unlikely to experience travel anxiety, and even then, that’s not certain.
Most travellers would tell you that they love to travel, and that’s true, but the truth is that heading to any new place in a completely new environment can be nerve-wracking, at least for the first time.
So—how can you prevent or settle travel anxiety in the best way? How can you stop it from making you unwilling to move forward, or how can you settle it when it gets out of hand? Perhaps you’re just tired of feeling lost for the first few days when heading to a new country, and you wish to limit that so you can effectively plan your days.
If you’re travelling for the first time in a while, which may be the case after experiencing COVID and the associated travel restrictions, how do you avoid this strange return to normal from catching you out?
Good questions all. Let us try to discuss and answer them together, one by one:
Plan Your Route
Planning your route is a worthwhile place to start. It’s important to know where you’re going. If you know you’ll be taking that plane to that town to that hotel, you’ll not have to fear about creatively coming up with the direction, you can just follow it.
This sounds quite obvious to seasoned vacationers, but to people who travel for fun, hard and fast rules like this may not be something they employ all that often. That being said, you can also manage your days and schedule more appropriately, and this works for both parties if they’re suffering from travel anxiety.
For instance, it might be that you wish to go on a food tour, but you’re not entirely sure where to visit, where’s good, and if you need to reserve places. This means that heading online to a website such as TripAdvisor and reading reviews can help you plot your course for the road trip before you even land in the country.
Planning your route can also be important if you have special needs, such as a requirement for wheelchair access or the chance to visit in-country healthcare providers should an emergency take place. Plan as much or as little as you need, but know that the more you do it, the better you’ll feel.
Go With People You Trust
Head to a location with people you trust. Perhaps you and your partner would like to go with close friends of yours, just so there’s strength in numbers. Maybe you travel solo, but because of the recent global situation, you’re more inclined to travel with a friend.
Having a companion, or a group with you can help you feel less alone, less overly responsible for making everything perfect, and you can also have more fun. That can lessen your travel anxiety especially when returning to foreign shores after a long time. Just remember to keep in mind the COVID travel restrictions and guidelines, as they may have placed a limit on just how many people you can bring with you – and why.
Head Somewhere Familiar, Build Up To Big Changes
Heading somewhere familiar can be a nice foray back into your travel schedule without all of the associated need to invent pathways and visit new landmarks. This might sound boring to those who are well invested in their wanderlust, but why should it? If you visited Florence before, it’s no doubt still as beautiful as it was the first time. In fact, heading to a similar location can help you get more out of it, because now you know where is good to eat, or what experiences you missed out on, and more.
Travel of this nature can help you become a real location-o-phile. That’s a great way to truly appreciate a culture. Furthermore, places change all the time. You may have visited Venice in the winter beforehand, so why not visit next Carnival season? You will see the city come alive in the best possible manner, and that creates a completely new experience you can feel absolutely stunned by, time and time again.
Go For A Real Purpose
Go for a real purpose, not just because you can travel now. This can help lessen a sense of anxiety, because you’ll be so focused on your pursuit. Perhaps you wish to drive down the coast of your home country visiting every single relative you have on the way?
That might be a nice thing to do after COVID settles down and doing something like that would no longer be irresponsible.
Don’t forget, your purpose doesn’t have to be overly noble. You might just wish to sample the best pasta dishes in Rome, eating your fill (and drinking plenty of wine) each and every night.
Perhaps with some Penguin CBD, relaxing in a nearby city could be enough. Of course, don’t take that as health advice – but it can certainly help you get back into the swing of things with a little jovial fun.
Understand COVID Travel Restrictions & Advice
We have made allusions to this in the words above, but it’s true to say (and worth repeating), that COVID has dictated many of our travel habits and patterns in recent months. As it should. That being said, as most of our renewed travel anxiety can come from the recent travel restrictions and uncertainty there, it’s also important to say – follow the guidelines of the health authorities in each country.
Know where the hotspots are. Know how restaurants you hope to visit are operating. Call up venues, and ask what their COVID policies are. Yes, this may be the time to enjoy some fantastic late-minute deals, but you can never be sure as to if you’re putting yourself in undue danger unless you try your best to move forward and figure that out.
If you can achieve that, you’ll be in the best possible place going forward. We wish you luck as far as that’s concerned.
