For every person who sees exploring a new place as an exciting adventure, there’s someone else breaking out in a cold sweat at the mere thought. If that’s you, you might be experiencing travel anxiety.
According to WebMD, “Travel anxiety is the fear of visiting an unfamiliar place. It can also involve the stress that comes with planning your travels.”
It’s common to feel anxious about a trip, even if part of you is simultaneously eager for it. And while the commonness is frustrating, it’s also good news. Because we, as a community, are familiar with travel anxiety, we’ve uncovered loads of strategies for easing its symptoms and helping you be the traveler you dream of being.
Causes of Travel Anxiety
The causes and severity of travel anxiety can vary from person to person and even trip to trip.
One person might be terrified of flying, while someone else panics about being stuck in a car during a long road trip. You might be fine on family vacation but anxious during business trips.
Common triggers of travel anxiety include:
- Flying, whether it’s a fear of being late and missing a flight, claustrophobia in a small cabin lavatory, or fear of turbulence and crashing
- Driving, including being caught on the road in bad weather, road rage, getting lost, or having an accident
- Getting sick or hurt
- Falling victim to crime or scams
- Being outside your comfort zone, such as not knowing how to get around or use local public transportation, not knowing the language, or not knowing if you’ll like the food
- Worry about leaving loved ones, including children or pets, at home
- Anxiety based on bad past experiences, like what happened when this AFAR editor, as an adult, developed a fear of flying after suffering extreme turbulence
- Genetics or brain chemistry that leave you predisposed to anxiety
Knowing what triggers your own travel anxiety is one step to managing it.
Travel Anxiety Symptoms
If you’ve experienced travel anxiety in the past, some of these symptoms may look familiar. Or you might have experienced a symptom not on this list.
There are techniques and methods for managing these symptoms, some of which you can try on your own. However, it can be helpful or advisable to seek professional help, especially if symptoms interfere with your life or ability to travel like you want.
Common symptoms of travel anxiety may include:
- Trouble sleeping before or during your trip
- Inability to control feelings of worry about your trip
- Restlessness, commonly experienced as pacing or foot tapping
- Struggling to focus or getting easily distracted
- Irritability
- Panic attacks, along with related physical reactions such as a racing heartbeat, sweating, and shaking
- Overeating or loss of appetite
- Nausea or upset stomach
- Muscle tension and aches
- Headaches
Tips to Ease Pre-Travel Anxiety
For some, the lead up to the trip is what causes the greatest amount of anxiety, what Ohio State Health & Discovery’s Dr. Cheryl Carmin calls “anticipatory anxiety.”
All the planning, list making, and packing is what sets us most on edge. Pre-travel anxiety could also be fear of what could happen once the trip starts, particularly if you’ve seen recent news stories about travel disasters.
You might try some of these techniques for calming pre-travel anxiety and maintaining your mental health while away from home.
1. Know what triggers your anxiety.
Understanding the cause or what increases your feelings of anxiety is often the first step toward addressing it. Sometimes it’s obvious, and sometimes all we know is that we feel anxious but can’t pinpoint why.
If you aren’t sure why you feel anxious about travel, pay attention to everyday life for clues. Does a loud, crowded restaurant on a regular Tuesday night trigger anxiety? Do you get super self-conscious ordering off a French menu where you aren’t sure what the dishes are? If you have a doctor’s appointment, do you think for days ahead of time about when you need to leave so that you aren’t late?
2. Make a plan.
If you’ve identified what about travel makes you anxious, you can take some preparatory steps to address those things.
If it’s concerns about money, set up an emergency cash fund or get a back-up credit card. If you’re worried about injury or illness, research local medical facilities, find out how the local health system works, and get travel insurance.
If you’re afraid of getting lost, download maps before you leave home.
Before my first solo trip to London, I was very worried about getting lost. I looked up all the tube routes and stops I’d need for the places on my itinerary before I left home, and wrote them down in a small, inconspicuous notebook.
Not only did I feel more confident having the directions already, but by not hauling a map around, I didn’t feel like I stuck out as a foreigner quite so much. And that helped ease some of my fears about safety as a solo female traveler.
3. Choose bookings that work in your favor.
Especially if you’re traveling on a budget, it can be tempting to make the cheapest reservations possible. But if you have travel anxiety, paying a little extra for comfort is a good investment.
If you’re flying and have a layover, give yourself extra time — at least 90 minutes — between connections. This will help dispel anxiety around missing a flight or give you time to decompress along the way if you need it.
Other ideas include booking a hotel you know will be safe and clean versus just choosing the least expensive, or joining a tour group if you’re worried about traveling alone.
4. Practice self-care.
In the rush to make all the plans and get packed, it’s easy to let other activities slide. Make room in your schedule to give yourself a relaxing treat — a nice dinner out, a massage, time to sit on your porch in the morning sun — and not think about the trip.
5. Don’t heap on the pressure.
This goes for everyone, but maybe especially the moms out there.
Scary Mommy reported that 86% of millennial moms are more stressed by parenting responsibilities than their partners. On top of that, 70% of women said they feel additional stress when it comes to trip planning, meaning their anxiety kicks in before the trip ever starts.
(The survey was commissioned by MiraLAX, in part because travel anxiety can lead to travel constipation.)
We know you want the trip to be perfect for both you and your family. But if that drive is causing anxiety, it’s time to cut yourself some slack. Try to let go of the quest for perfection. Ask your partner or other family members for help.
6. Remember your “why.”
There’s a reason you booked the trip. The vacation has a purpose. Focus on why you wanted to travel in the first place. There’s probably something that will make you say, “This is worth it.”
You might not love to fly, but if it means you get to see your sister, thinking about the quality time you’ll have with family could dampen your anxiety.
Visiting Paris when you don’t speak French might fill you with dread, but not going means you’d miss seeing the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Versailles. Is your bucket list trip more important than potential discomfort?
7. Talk to a doctor.
If your travel anxiety feels debilitating or paralyzing, it’s probably time to seek professional guidance. You might also want to talk to your doctor about travel anxiety medication, and whether that’s a good option for you. Counseling could also be a good option.
Seeking help is nothing to be shy about or ashamed of. It’s the kind of move you make when looking to live a better life, and we all deserve that.
How to Manage Anxiety During Travel
Some people experience travel anxiety before and during their trip, while others are only hit by their fears after they’re on the road. Either way, these tips might be helpful when managing your symptoms when you travel.
1. Pack a snack.
Ignoring your basic needs can often make anxiety worse. If you’re hungry, have low blood sugar, or are dehydrated, it can be more difficult to manage your anxiety and how you respond to your emotions.
Protein-rich snacks are usually more effective than sugary foods for managing blood sugar and helping you feel satisfied longer. Water is more hydrating — and causes fewer jitters — than caffeinated drinks.
2. Get enough sleep.
Just like eating and drinking well can help you manage symptoms of travel anxiety, getting a good night’s sleep can keep you focused and balanced. You think more clearly and make better decisions when you’re well-rested.
If your travel anxiety makes sleep difficult, talk to your doctor about strategies or medication to find relief.
3. Practice mindfulness.
Whether you call it meditation, prayer, mindfulness, or something else, pausing to focus on the current moment can help you to stop spiraling thoughts of dread. Sometimes simply focusing on taking deep breaths is beneficial. You might repeat a positive, self-affirming mantra — “You are OK. You can handle this.” — to re-center yourself.
Mindfulness is a good practice to start before your trip, especially if you know you’re prone to travel anxiety. It takes some dedication to get good at it, so expecting it to work the first time you try it, when you’re already in the midst of what feels like a crisis, isn’t setting yourself up for success.
4. Distract yourself.
Redirect your thoughts to something other than the catastrophe you’re anticipating. Your brain is what is creating the anxiety. By distracting yourself, you’re basically giving it another task to focus on instead of making you miserable.
Read a book, watch a movie, listen to your favorite music, play a game on your phone, or chat with a friend.
5. Remember past success.
If you’ve traveled before, you probably have past experiences that prove how capable you are. You might have a long list of all the times something could have gone wrong but didn’t.
Draw strength from those situations.
6. Find moments and places of calm.
Anxiety can feel worse when we’re rushed or overstimulated. Build time into your itinerary and actively seek out places where you can find calm.
It might be a deserted gate at the airport where you can sit quietly and meditate. You might enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee in your hotel room before heading out for a day of sightseeing, or an ice cream cone in the park after dinner.
7. Manage your medications.
Traveler Vicky Smith wrote a moving personal account for Euronews where she detailed her experience managing depression and anxiety abroad, saying that “medication mistakes can ruin a trip.”
If you're taking medication for anything, but especially anxiety or depression, now is probably not the time to go off it. Talk to your doctor about managing your medications while you’re away from home.
Your conversation should include when to take your medication if you’ll be in a different time zone, what to do if you are unable to refill your prescription or if your destination doesn’t permit that medication within its borders, and telehealth options in case you need to talk to a medical professional during your trip.
Peace of Mind for Any Trip
If you’re concerned about things like cancellations and delays, losing your luggage, or having a medical emergency during your trip, travel insurance can provide the kind of protection that puts your mind at ease in the face of those unknowns.
All Seven Corners plans also come with 24/7 emergency Travel Assistance Services. We can help you find a doctor at your destination, arrange for an evacuation if it’s medically necessary, and provide additional guidance as needed.
Our blog is also packed with helpful tips and tricks for making travel easier. Read up, get a quote, and let us know how we can help you be prepared when trip happens.
The authors who contributed to this article are not doctors, and for a proper diagnosis or medical care, please see a doctor or licensed mental healthcare professional.
