Travel is fun. Personally, it’s my favorite thing to do. But visiting forgiven places isn’t always glamour. Overcoming travel anxiety and relaxing while traveling aren’t always easy. Sometimes we pack too much into a short itinerary, or a flight delay can sink all of your best-laid plans.

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. It happens to pretty much everyone.

So exactly how do you relax while traveling? De-stress while on the road? These 14 tips are what I’ve learned helps me unwind as I travel.

I’d love to hear what works and what doesn’t for You. Drop me a comment at the end of this post!

 

How you can reduce travel anxiety when planning a trip

Every trip requires some level of planning, whether that’s just the flights to another country or everything is throughout planned down to the restaurants and accommodation.

Reducing travel anxiety is a great way of making relaxing while traveling much easier to accomplish. Even if you’re not really one for planning every aspect of a trip, there are some small things you can do to make it easier to relax when on your adventure.

So, here are my 14 best tips for relaxing while traveling!

1. Make sure you’re protected before you leave home

If you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel

If something goes wrong while you’re traveling, if you’ve made sure you’ve protected yourself, it will likely be much easier to deal with.

I’ve had many conversations with travelers who don’t buy travel insurance for their trips. It honestly makes me nervous for them. What if something is stolen? Passport, camera, phone, wallet – all of these things would suck to have to replace while traveling, but at least the cost is covered.

What if you get sick while traveling? Doctor’s visits can be expensive! I have a good friend who broke his leg while in the United States and almost got sued! In my mind, running the risk of no travel.insurance just isn’t worth it.

Covering yourself financially is a huge step in creating a fun and enjoyable kindest to travel!

Book travel insurance before you leave – or you can purchase it while you’re traveling if your cover has expired.

These travelers are glad to have had travel insurance!

 

2. Photocopy your important travel documents

So your bag gets stolen, and while you’re covered financially from travel insurance, you still have no passport or cards to access your money.

Having a photocopy of your important travel documents is a great idea to save you the stress of having no identification at all.

There are few places you want to have access to these copies:

• In a different bag with you. Have a desperate pocket to keep a spare set of these documents in. Keeping the photocopies with your passport doesn’t help if everything is misplaced or stolen. Keep them well hidden, and accessible.
• With a trusted family member or friend back home. If anything happens, your loved ones back home have a copy of an official document to identify you. They can also send you a copy electronically if the need arises.
• In your email address. Another great place to have a set of copies stored. You can’t lose these. If you have internet, you can access them. It’s also a good thing to name the subject of an email something that won’t entice an unwelcome visitor in your email to click.
• On your phone, saved as an offline document. Keep it well hidden, or in a locked app on your phone. Even if you don’t have internet access, you have your documents safe.

Photocopies are a great way to reduce the stress of losing important documents. Sometimes photocopies are good enough to use and means you don’t even have to remove your originals from your back/hostel.

 

3. Plan your trip well

Planning your trip is a good way to reduce travel anxiety and helps you relax while traveling. This isn’t for every traveler, as I know I like to leave a few days at least spare in case I want to change my plan. But having a rough outline of what you want to do while you’re traveling reduces the options that can create a very overwhelming situation when deciding where to go next.

Are you looking to hire a vehicle? Booking ahead of time saves a lot of frustration if everywhere suddenly is booked.out and ruins your schedule. The same goes for public transportation and flights. It’s usually a good idea to have the modes of traveling booked and sorted so being stranded isn’t likely.

You don’t need to plan everything. In fact, there are good reasons not to (see right below), but planning to some degree is a great way to make sure you are able to visit all the places on your list, and also not be too late and everything book out.

The thing you may want to plan and book before you leave:

• Any long-distance buses/trains or flights (Asia)
• Accommodation (I love Booking.com and Hostelworld)
• Any specific tours you want to take

Taking out some of the major variables can make travel much more relaxing and enjoyable.

 

4. Keep some days up your sleeve

Things go wrong in travel. It happens to everyone and sometimes no amount of planning can avoid it. Shit happens and the only way forward to roll with the punches. In other words, don’t over-plan your travel itinerary.

What happens if your flight is canceled and there’s no other one you can take that day? If you’re running on a super tight schedule, the trickle-down effects of missing that flight might ruin everything else you have planned. Replanning can cause a lot of stress. You should be enjoying your travels, not worrying about a contingency plan.

Having loose plans with a day or two spare can help make problems you run into on the road much more manageable, and might prevent from a last-minute, stressful replanning session.

 

5. Pack your bag smart

Packing your travel bag with the right items is one of the most important steps of planning a trip.

Traveling in the southeast Asian monsoon season can be challenging, especially if your rain jacket isn’t completely waterproof. Finding a suitable replacement could be a challenge and cost a chunk of time better spent experiencing a new destination.

Weather isn’t the only factor to consider while making sure your bag is packed right.

What activities do you plan on doing? If you’re trekking, good shoes, sun protection and electrolyte packets are all things to consider.

How you pack your travel bag carried greatly on where you will be traveling to. But a badly packed bag that’s missing some key items needed on your travels will only make hunting these items in a foreign country usually much harder.

Here’s an easy to follow PDF to plan and pack for travel.

 

6. Learn some of the local language and customs

By learning a few simple phrases or customs of your future travel destination, you are more likely to be more comfortable with this foreign country as soon as you step off the plane.

The phrases can be simple. Even one-word basics like hello, yes and no can help break the ice of a new place. One of my favorite that’s often overlooked is learning “where is the toilet?” in a local dialect. It isn’t the most common, but knowing it will defiantly help you out in a pinch.

By learning basic customs, you’re already adjusting to the new destination. This can also help reduce culture shock. It will mean you’re more open to learning from travel and allow you to embrace the differences quicker and easier.

 

7. Reduce travel anxiety and relax while actually traveling

So, you’re all packed and insured for travel. You’ve planned everything well. But you’re still struggling to relax, unwind and ultimately, still have bouts of travel anxiety.

Luckily, there are things you can do while you’re actually traveling to help reduce the stress of travel. It’s not always as easy as it sounds and some of these travel anxiety tips take practice and patience.

 

8. Take recovery days

I love to travel fast. To fit as much into my short window of visiting a city or town as I can. But this leads to travel burn out. Exhaustion can make a place less interesting, or interactions with people frustrating.

Taking recovery days out of your busy travel schedule recharges your batteries and makes the next encounter or destination more enjoyable as you can engage better.

You can take a day out to relax on a warm and sunny beach, or go on a pub crawl and let loose a little. Whatever works for you should be your recovery day tactics.

 

9. Talk to other people – locals and travelers

Talking to others is a common way to enjoy travel more. Talking to others, whether that be locals or fellow travelers, gives different perspectives and creating new travel friendships is a great way to enjoy your time traveling more.

Fellow travelers can give tips on what to see (and what to skip) and why. This is why hostels are so great – there are so many chances to interact and make friends. Sometimes these travel friendships last much longer than your return flight home.

Talking with locals is often my favorite way to learn and immerse yourself in a new culture. The stories locals provide are great insights into life whoever you are in the world and gives a new appreciation for not only the people but places as well.

 

10. Keep an open mind while traveling

This is a cliche tip. But it’s true. Travelers with their minds closed off to new experiences are missing out on one of the travel’s most important aspects – growing as a person.

Experiencing everything with an open mind allows you to take in stories, sights, history, customs and learn from them. Drawing parallels from your own life to these foreign ways of life enables you to appreciate travel more. Appreciating something is a sign of a positive encounter and leads to being more fulfilled in travel.

While this is a common phrase, traveling with an open mind isn’t always easy. Sometimes you’re faced with something you just can’t agree with, and that’s also okay. Changing your perspective when it crosses your moral and ethical lines isn’t always the right thing to do. Keeping an open mind while traveling is about being open to the possibility of change, rather than forcing change upon yourself.

 

11. Keep a travel journal of your experiences

This is one of my personal favorites on how to reduce travel stress tips.

Writing down your travel experiences, good, bad, and ugly is a great way to keep memories safe from forgetful minds, but an unreliable way to vent and work through problems you face while traveling.

Just writing something down can put it in a new perspective and allow your mind to apart and overcome an issue. Many things cause frustrations in travel. Delays, foreign concepts and inconsiderate hostel roommates to name just a few. Sometimes facing your issues head on isn’t really helpful and won’t get you a good solution. Writing your thoughts and feelings down is my favorite way to deal with issues that would otherwise bottle up inside and cause irrational and agitate behavior.

Plus, I have a terrible memory. Writing experiences; sights and sounds of an attraction, smell and taste of a local dish or the touch of the golden grains of sand on a sunny beach – you just can’t describe it as well when you’re back at your home. Write it down, you won’t regret it.

12. Exercise in any way you can

I’m terrible for this. One week I’ll overnight trek and be so exhausted for the next week I just want to sit by a pool and drink beer. One extreme to the next perhaps?

Regularly exercising helps you stay in shape physically and mentally. A heavy mind is the breeding grounds for a happy travelers mindset.

13. Eat well – that means more fruit and less beer

Once again, I often find myself breaking this rule too often! I’ll have a beer with dinner without a second thought, but packing fruit for a snack throughout the day is often much harder.

However, it is important to eat healthy while on the road. Not only does this prevent getting sick but it helps your body has the energy and calories to burn as you explore throughout the day and night.

Undereating is a perfect way to get hangry (anger caused by hunger) and not enjoy your time while suffering from a grumbling stomach.

Lunch is always my biggest hurdle. I get so wrapped up in a destination, seeing sights and making memories, I forget my stomach is screaming for nourishment. It’s never worth It!

 

14. Just keep on smiling – even if you don’t feel like it

Smiling isn’t always easy. Being miserable does happen. Sometimes just forcing yourself to smile can positively impact your mood, making all the mountains of problems seem much less steep.

Don’t get me wrong, pretending you’re happy when you’re sad isn’t what I’m getting at with this travel stress tip. Being honest with yourself is important to ride to ft and overcome travel anxiety.

But throwing a smile at the next person that crosses your path isn’t the same as lying to yourself to make you happy. Smiling is contagious. Not just for that random person you just randomly grinned at, but yourself as well.

Give it a try next time – smile at someone you pass by or just by yourself. You might just become a little happier.

 

Why is dealing with stress and anxiety when you travel so important?

At face value, it’s pretty obvious. No one wants to be stress or anxiety-ridden ever, let alone when you’re supposed to be traveling and experiencing new parts of the world.

But being stress-free when traveling has many benefits below the surface. You’ll be able to concentrate more on the memories and travel stories you create, and less time worrying about what can go wrong.

In the end, travel is supposed to be fun and teach us about a world that is diverse and unique. So focus on that and leave the possibilities of worst-case scenarios out of your constant thoughts.

Did you enjoy this post? I hope so! You can help spread the word about traveling stress-free on social media – just click the buttons to the left (or down the bottom if you’re a mobile user).

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Thanks for reading!

Happy and safe travels,

Ben from Horizon Unknown