I love to travel but I also get stressed out by the preparation and the actual traveling but I still go and I have fun the majority of the time. I am going on a cruise and so for the last week I have felt my anxiety levels rising. When I feel like this I know I have to start to bring that anxiety down.
I tell myself to relax as often as I remember to. This helps a lot over the day if I remember it enough. Relaxation music is also helpful and I listen to that before I go to sleep and I find it helps too at the airport to relax me and diffuse that travel anxiety I might be feeling. Download this music to your iphone, ipad or Kindle so you have it with you when traveling.
I find it difficult to sleep on planes and this music helps me to relax and get some sleep on long haul flights so look at the many kinds of music that can help you here —> Binaural Beat Sleep or Relaxation Music
Some of the ways I manage travel anxiety are:
- I stop and think why I’m having a vacation. I had a dream and I put a plan into action so it would become reality. Now is the time to enjoy this time and look forward to it. This is the time to enjoy the experience.
- Be organized when I am at the airport and/or the cruise terminal. I have all my documents handy and together. This helps me be more confident and relaxed.
- I limit what I drink as far as alcohol is concerned as that makes me feel hot and confused which just makes my anxiety about traveling a lot worse. I usually settle with one drink at dinner if I feel like it.
- I keep a travel diary so that I can go back and relive the memories and it reinforces how well I managed on that trip. Looking at all my diaries reminds me how many times I have traveled and it makes me feel good about myself.
- I accept that not everything will go as planned and that sometimes you have to accept that change happens and planes get relayed or canceled or the hotel you picked online is really quite seedy or the excursion you booked is not really what you wanted but I have learned to be open to that change and go with the flow. This has been the most challenging part of traveling for me.
- Traveling also makes me trust my decisions and to make more choices. I wouldn’t have done that before. I found it hard to make any decisions in case I made the wrong ones. Now I can make the decisions I need to and if I made a mistake I have realized its not the end of the world.
- I don’t worry about everything little thing but just enjoy and have a good time. I try not to over analyze everything that’s going on around me. Worry doesn’t achieve anything anyway.
- Traveling has really empowered me and given me many great things including opening up my mind to new places, different people and being more tolerant, but the greatest thing I have achieved from traveling is confidence in myself.
I now manage my travel anxiety pretty well now and have all the tools to send it packing but in the other direction.
If you need some help with your anxiety then check out PANIC AWAY
I love to travel but I do get nervous too but when I get on the plane/ship or train I calm down. I usually take my walkman and this relaxes me greatly. I had a look at Panic Away and it seems to be work for people so Im going to read some of the testimonials.
Being organized is my way of keeping stress down when traveling. I make lists and have everything handy so I can refer to them. Thanks for the post it was interesting and I will follow some of your suggestions myself.
I used to worry when I traveled but I found the more I went away the better I got at managing the anxiety. Thanks for the post.
I love travel and so far even though I get a bit nervous I dont have any great anxiety associated with it. I love my iPod though and do take it with me. I do however like a drink at the airport as it settles me more but I understand that too much would negate that.
I really like this site and I fell I must comment on this post. I have found that I cant drink at all when I travel. I know a lot of my friends say a drink relaxes them but it just makes me feel hot and flustered so I now just drink water. Thanks from an ol girl from Tennessee.
It is so good that so many travelers have found this site and I thank you for your comments and it just shows that we all have different experiences and I am glad we can share them.
Relaxing music is a great idea as it would help distract you from the thoughts of being scared.
I used to be an avid traveler and explorer. Things change. Right now, I deplore the idea of travel, especially air travel, let alone actually doing it.
I’ve had to cancel few important trips so far, losing money, and making the situation even worse.
Both my personal and business lives require travel. I can’t go like that. So far, I haven’t been able to put my hand on the reason, or reasons, behind that change in attitude.
Any instructive suggestion is highly appreciated.
Thanks
I am 12 years old and for the March Break I am going to New York City with my father to see a couple of hockey games and to go looking around. I feel that I am going through a lot of anxiety because of my religion and family. And I don’t want to ruin my trip to NYC with having anxiety stopping me with enjoying the sights of NYC. I am sometimes getting anxiety chronic pain and I am totally feeling anxious in the morning and when I come home from school.