HSP Tips: Managing Travel Anxiety
Travel is fun and most people say that they enjoy traveling, however for HSPs travel can be overstimulating and overwhelming. The chaotic nature of traveling, desire to plan the trip meticulously, and having to deal with unfamiliar environments can make travel feel challenging. I have personally experienced a good amount of anxiety around travel and wanted to put together a list of my go-to tips for managing the overwhelm.
Planning the Trip
You’ve decided that you want to go on a trip - great! Before you start to plan, take the time to think about your situation. Are you traveling alone or with a group? Are you visiting a new place or somewhere you have been before? Should this be more of an adventure trip with lots of movement or a restorative, laying around kind of trip? Some things to consider:
If traveling with others, how well do you know the people you are traveling with? Do they listen to your boundaries? Will they understand if you feel uncomfortable or need to take a step back from certain experiences? Be sure to check in with these folks about your boundaries (and theirs!) before the trip.
If you are looking to adventure around, try to make a rough sketch of the activities for each day. Consider including a rest day, or rest times throughout during each day. If this means that you miss out on some activities, be ok with that! If being burnt out will impact your ability to enjoy other aspects of the trip, it is not worth it to just grin and bear it.
I’ve coined myself a “tab hoarder”, and I’ve found that lots of HSPs fit that term as well - having way too many tabs open in your browser when you are planning/excited about something. Consider creating a quick google sheet to store tabs for all of the things you want to explore. This will decrease the overstimulation and make it easier to actually find information. This also makes it easier to share the information with others.
Ideas for Before the Trip
At first thought, HSPs often don’t need to be told how to plan things - usually our brains are working on overdrive to plan for each possible scenario. I’ve found that going down those rabbit holes are often not helpful, but that there are a few things that you can do to prepare for your journey that can help you considerably. Consider implementing some of these options:
Create a custom google map of the city you are visiting, add pins (can be color-organized) for places you want to eat, visit, are staying etc. This map can be downloaded onto your phone so if at some point you do not have phone service, you will still have a functional map!
If you plan to use public transportation, check ahead to see if any of the transit options use apps for payment/tickets. Download these ahead of time and connect your credit card so that you don’t have to feel stressed and rushed in the moment.
Chronically worried about losing your checked luggage? Invest in a Tile or Apple Air Tag to put in your luggage. This will allow you to use your phone to check your item’s location at any point. Flights can feel a lot less stressful if you are certain that your luggage is flying with you.
Make a packing list 4-5 days before you leave - this allows you to make sure that you actually have everything that you need and allows you time to procure things you might not have. Try to pack a day ahead of time, checking things off your list as they get packed. Be smart about things that you should have accessible in a carry on (medication, change of clothes, etc) vs things that can be in your checked bags.
While You Travel
HSPs tend to put a lot of pressure on big events like trips - wanting them to go perfectly and feeling like a failure if it does not go to plan. Unfortunately, shit happens and things don’t always go to plan. That doesn’t mean that the whole experience is ruined! These are some things to keep in mind if you start to feel overwhelmed:
Communicate your needs! If you are in a situation where you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, it is important to communicate that to the folks around you so that you can be supported.
Being in a new environment can be overstimulating - this is ok! Give yourself the grace to take your time getting adjusted to a new setting. If this means taking the start of your trip slowly so that you can get your bearings, that is completely ok.
Remember your coping skills that work at home and try to use them. Just because you are on vacation does not mean that you still don’t need to cope with your emotions/nervous system. Try to engage in your self care routine as best you can.
Take a step back and focus on the goals of your trip. If your goal is to sit by the pool and relax - don’t feel bad about doing it! You have put effort into taking time out for yourself and you deserve to enjoy that experience.
I hope that these ideas feel easy enough to incorporate into your life when you travel - remember that the priority of all travel should be to make sure that you feel safe and supported. Please use this post as a starting off point to create your toolkit to manage travel anxiety.
