I really like to travel, at least in theory. In my head, I picture myself calmly strolling through the airport, settling in for a long flight with a good book, and arriving at my destination to tour busy streets of foreign cities and drive through tranquil countryside while periodically stopping to sample local food and culture. Then we end each day in the comfortable bed of a B&B or exotic hotel.
Reality for me is a quite a different scenario. Traveling, especially the initial stages of getting out the door makes me anxious and leaves me stressed out. Listen to Jimmy – he’ll tell you how I feel:
I did feel sort of ashamed of this. Firstly, because sometimes I get really annoyed by unwarranted anxiety intruding into my everyday life and secondly, I realize that travelling is a luxury not everyone gets to do and I should feel privileged and concentrate on enjoying the experiences of travel (especially if it is international). However, once I started to do some research for this blog, I saw that I have a lot of company in this area. I found it interesting (and somewhat comforting) that there are even a few travel bloggers out there that have these twinges of anxiety about their journeys. Check out these 2 blogs posts: Travel with Kate and Never Ending Footsteps. The problem is so common there are even Travel Apps to help you travel so you don’t have so much anxiety (although I’m not sure I need the African heard tracker).
For me specifically, I know there are a couple things I can do to mitigate travel anxiety and stress, especially in the days right before we leave.
Make a list of all the things I worry about prior to the trip:
- Things I need to get
- Things I need to do
- Things I need to take
Get my affairs in order for all the things I will worry about once we are at our destination
- Work
- Pets
- House
Once I have these things down in writing, I feel 10 times better and then I can just tick them off the lists until they are complete. From there my only job is to make sure I get Jimmy out the door on time 🙂
Take a quick poll (I just learned how to create that in WordPress) and let me know what you usually forget when going on a trip.
Contentment and French Fries 
Last time we flew to London, I discovered British Airways’ health and well-being channel (or something like that) on the in-flight entertainment. The “relax on long haul flights” recording worked so well to put me to sleep that I found it and downloaded it at home. I would definitely recommend it to relax once on a flight. Also, I totally do the list thing and it works – especially keeping one by the bed because I always think of things to pack at bedtime and can’t fall asleep until I write them down!
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I think I take lists to the next level. I have an enormous white board, so every single thing gets written down. I didn’t take your poll, because I don’t forget things. (Now that I’m all cocky, I’ll forget something on our next trip! Thanks Becky!)
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Be sure to fill me in on what you forget. You know it’s gonna happen sometime. Still I am in awe of your packing prowess.
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