Oh travel anxiety. I swear no matter how often I travel I still get anxious before flights. What’s that about brain?! While I try to figure out a way to trick my brain out of anxiety, here are some things I do that could help you reduce travel apprehension.
Do your research. A lot of my anxiety stems from a lack of control. I like having information, the more the better. So I always do my research about what’s around the hotel I’m staying at so I know options for food and shopping if I happen to need something. I look into weather forecasts and the distance from the airport to the hotel. I print off schedules if I’m going to a conference. The more information I can find the more at ease I am.
Have a packing list that you can continually update after every travel adventure. For the longest time I kept forgetting my hairbrush. Nothing annoys a planner more than when things don’t go according to plan. So now I stick firmly to a packing list on my laptop that I’ll print out and use for every trip.
Set a loose schedule of what you want to do at the destination. The key word is loose. I tend to have a problem of over planning which leads to expectations being crushed when we don’t get to everything on my impossibly long schedule. I like to choose two to three main things I want to do every day and leave room for a little planned spontaneous (see what I did there) adventures in between.
Prepare where you can and try to let go of worrying about what you can’t. This is a discussion Alex and I have constantly. I can’t control if our plane is delayed or not, but I can control whether or not I have things to do if it is. Have things in place just in case some of those silly anxieties actually come true, but don’t stress about things you can’t control.
Now plan that next adventure and face that travel anxiety head on. Don’t miss out on amazing memories.
