How to Eliminate Travel Anxiety for Good and Broaden Your Horizons

Travelling can be a stressful thing for some people, with it being more common than you think for a person to suffer from travel anxiety. There can be several reasons for this, including worries about flying, being in an unfamiliar location or past trauma-related issues. It can be difficult to overcome these feelings, but it can be very important to do so if you’re looking to broaden your horizons and have some unique experiences around the world.

This guide will provide you with some advice on how you can try to eliminate travel anxiety for good, allowing you to travel to new cities or countries without feeling overwhelmed or stressed. Continue reading to find out more.

Master Grounding Techniques

Deep Breathing

You can fight against your body’s natural stress response with the help of deep breathing techniques. When you take slow and deliberate breaths, you can calm the body down so that you can feel more relaxed about the prospect of flying or being in an unfamiliar place. Try inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4 and exhaling for 4 seconds. This is a commonly known breathing technique that has been proven to eliminate stress for a lot of people.

Sensory Grounding

For some people, grounding themselves with senses can instantly make them feel better. It can help to break anxious thoughts by placing yourself in the present moment and making yourself aware of the things around you. A common technique is to identify 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 that you can taste.

Good Preparation

Reduce "what-if" thoughts by focusing on what you can control. Prepare a sensory toolkit with noise-canceling headphones, comforting snacks and downloaded offline maps that can allow you to eliminate distractions and focus on enjoying your experience.

Technological Support

Support Apps

Technology has been great for helping people to feel less stressed about travelling. There’s now many mindfulness resources available in the form of smartphone apps. The Calm App is currently trending for people who want to interrupt anxious moments that come about during travelling, helping them to feel more relaxed.

Language & Navigation

Minimise the stress of finding where you need to go by saving offline maps on Google Maps. A lot of people get anxious trying to find their way around a new place, so having these tools available can be very helpful for finding things like the nearest car park in London or any other city. Care Park has many car parks all over Europe that are designed to be easy to locate. You can also use translation apps to help you get to grips with the language of the place you’re visiting.

Curing Flight Anxiety

Specialised Courses

Flying is the main cause of anxiety for many people, but luckily, there’s some fear-of-flying courses that can help with this. British Airways and easyJet both offer courses that are designed to help people become less anxious about flying.

In-Flight Strategies

Always inform the flight crew if you are nervous about flying, as they are there to help you have the best experience possible. They are highly trained to support anxious flyers and will check on you throughout the journey to make sure you’re ok.