Travel Anxiety Tips

I love traveling. And by traveling I mean going on unplanned adventures that won't break the bank aka NOT Europe :( The one thing I don't let get in the way though: Anxiety.

I was boarding the plane to New Orleans last week aaaaaaand there it was. That gut feeling something is gonna go wrong. I feel like I can't breathe, my stomach starts churning, my heart is beating so fast and this all leads to me having a (minor) panic attack as we're boarding.

I suffer from super awesome anxiety :-).

Here's the thing, I love flying! When I'm in the window seat, looking at the clouds, I feel so *aT pEaCe*. I got the aisle this time. Not a super big deal, I still get great leg room. But it was different, something that feeds my specific anxiety.

The trip to New Orleans was spontaneous, we had no itinerary! The thought of going to a city alone with my best friend and having no plans sounded amazing, but did feed into my anxiety quite a bit. We weren't prepared for the crowds of people attending an event we hadn't heard of. We also had no idea the nightlife would lack so much security and police officers!

I ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE THOUGH!

I decided to share a few tips for anyone feeling like their anxiety stops them from traveling.

1. Be prepared

Plan out your trip, but leave plenty of downtime, you don't want to get caught up on following a schedule and feeling anxious to move on to the next step. We created a list of all the places we wanted to go in NOLA (New Orleans) + our amazing AirBnb host gave us FOUR pages of suggestions for local bars & restaurants. We'd go with the flow but also move down the list!

2. Read when you watch

This may not be for everybody! Something that helped me the most was watching movies on the plane with subtitles and no headphones. I was paying so much attention to the movie because I had to if I wanted to watch it! For me, when I just play the movie, my mind will drift too much. This kept me focused, therefore NOT anxious (yay)!

3. Think about why you’re going

Thinking about why I wanted to be in NOLA in the first place calmed my nerves because I knew that it's been a goal of mine for years, and anxiety is just a piece of sh*t. Don't let nerves ruin your trip because when you get back home, you'll feel like you never went. There's no pressure, no job duties, just you in a beautiful city doing whatever the f*ck makes you happy!

4. Reflect

I did this every night. I thought about my whole day. All the new foods I tried, the people I met, and how lucky I am to even be able to travel. I realized that starting the day is when I'd get the most anxious, so I made it a point by the second night to really take in everything in the city and assure myself that the next day will be even better. A lot of people rather write this down and I can say from experience that that helps. I honestly just didn't make the time to write, but just taking a minute to reflect was enough.

If you have any tips feel free to comment below!

I hope this post helps someone who gets traveler's anxiety. It sucks but staying home sucks more, so go live your best life!

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