Travel burnout, the thing you don’t know you have until you have it. About 3.5 months into my travels I reached Venice at the height of summer and Biennale. The sinking city is a fascinating and unique place that leans into your ear and screams “Yes, you are a tourist. This city is for you my lovely tourist. Tourist please indulge in some fine artisan chocolates, a hand-painted mask or a romantic gondola ride.” If there is a city that gorges your tourist fancy it would be Venice.
I felt drained. I knew I needed a break, I had no idea it was travel burnout, a phrase and concept I had never thought of before.
When I met Anya on the bus she was also facing similar struggles. It didn’t take much persuasion when I told her I was heading to Croatia for a travel detox if she wanted to join.
Croatia at the time was out of the Schengen and I was over the pasta, potatoes and starches I glutted on in Italy. I need veggies and the password to my mom’s Netflix account.
We hopped on a bus, got our passports stamped, found an Airbnb in Pula and binged the first season of the “Handmaid’s Tale”, speaking only a few revered words, “next episode?”
Travel burnout is not always easy to identify, until you are completly fried.
You are over figuring out what to see, where to go, how to get there, what to eat, where to sleep, talking to travelers, talking to locals, in short, making decisions.
There is also this lingering guilt that accompanies it. You are in some of the most epic, scenic places in the world and all you want to do is lie in bed with a good book or a binge-worthy show. You see the Acropolis from your hotel window and that’s good enough.
How to Identify Travel Burnout
Travel burnout can show both physical and mental symptoms similar to clinical depression.
As beneficial as travel can be for your mental health, traveling for long-term can also negatively effect you for a period of time.
Mental & Emotional Symptoms
- Irritability.
- Indecisiveness.
- Frustration.
- Despair.
- Homesickness.
- Stress.
- Negative perspective.
- Anger.
- Lonliness.
- Irrational decisions.
- Lack of motivation.
- Ambivilance
Physical Symptoms
- Excessive sleeping.
- Comfort eating.
- Excessive drinking.
- Lowered immune system and falling sick.
- Exhaustion.
Causes for Travel Burnout
Traveling Too Fast
Backpackers make the most of their 3 month Visa, spending a few nights in a city then on a plane, train or bus to the next place, jumping from country to country; the lure of a cheap flight or a $6 bus ride can push and pull you all over the continent. Every day your itinerary is chock-full with the offerings of that destination and your health and well-being come in a far second.
Poor Sleep
Partying ‘til 5 am, a hot dorm, a snoring or coughing roommate, a loud plastic compression bag getting packed at 4 am, jet lag, planning your nightly sleep on a train or bus, all of these can add up. A few weeks like this and you are bound to wake up cranky and unmotivated.
Irregular Eating Habits
Gut health has a big impact on how we feel. I love eating fresh pasta, arepas, and fish and chips, but it is not for everyday. Plus all the energy associated with food including choosing a restaurant, perusing menus, eating out every meal from a baguette sandwich to a Michelin star restaurant. Not to mention, dropping cash on mediocre food and crappy service.
Culture shock
In a foreign country where street signs, menus, directions, conversations are all in a language unknown to you, it’s easy to get flustered and exhausted from trying to figure out ways to communicate, what you need or where you need to go. Your brain is firing in all directions and feeling overworked.
Floating
No more decisions, I can’t even decide on what to have for lunch. Uncertainty looms with every choice.
Taking the time to travel gives you the freedom of only answering to yourself and your travel companions, but with too many options available it is less of a fear of making a wrong decision and more the wretched suffering of having to make a decision in the first place.
Money Stress
Sometimes it is difficult to know when to quit. Negotiating, dirtbagging, pinching pennies, walking the extra 9km to avoid paying for a taxi. When you are constantly compromising your needs to stretch your dollar, it can wear heavily on your psyche.
Overstimulated
Sensory overload. Your itinerary is full, blaring noises, bright city lights, traffic, strong smells, too many sites, partying, having conversations. It all wares on your senses.
How to Overcome Travel Burnout
Acknowledging and succumbing to the burnout is the best way to get back on the road.
Slow Down
Spend a few extra days at a nice campsite with some bonus amenities. Plan for fewer places or make shorter travel distances. When overlanding we usually won’t drive more than 100 km in a day and if we do 200 km we plan to spend an extra day or two in one place.
Rest and Relaxation
Book yourself a private Airbnb, homestay or bed if you are camping. Get something private and settle down for a week or a few. Sleep for 2 days straight, do some yoga, hike the same path day after day, but get into a place where you feel at home. If you don’t want to do your bag full of laundry. Don’t.
Create Routines
The idea is to break the cycle of ongoing spontaneity and sporadic days. Prioritizing sleep, waking up at the same time, yoga or stretching, journaling, meditation, building in a skin care regime, even seeing the same person sitting on the corner each day will help ground you.
Cook for Yourself
Stock up on fruit and veg at the market or grocery store. Get your 2-minute noodles or search out that over-priced grocery store that sells hummus if that brings you comfort. Eating out can leave you feeling bloated and irregular. Get your vitamins and fiber and treat yourself to some healthy living.
Disconnect
Read, watch movies, play online chess, but ditch the communications for a few days. Emails, WhatsApp and FB messages can wait. Take time for yourself.
Refocus
After a few days of being sheltered up you’ll be itching to move. Pull up the map make a decent plan for the upcoming days and include a rest day to avoid a longer recovery period.
Be Kind to Yourself
Recognize that travel can be as much work as it is play and buy into the notion that sometimes you need a health and wellness day.
Connect with Nature
Time in nature has been found to have profound positive effects on mental health. Sometimes it is a simple as getting out of the cities and back into nature. Finding a beach town or a mountain hut where you can recenter and ground yourself again.
* This article was written while holed up in a self-catering flat in Kasane, Botswana after camping for 5 months, when nature was what we were getting away from. So fit it best to you.
As a traveler, expat, and digital nomad since 2017, I know how to recognize the signs quicker. My travel lifestyle has changed completly and I have learned how to slow down, create routine, and linger in destinations sometimes up to 3 months at a time. It has been a lot of trial and error to figure out our needs and manage expectations, but it is totally achievable.
Still struggling with travel burnout? I’ve been there, feel free to book a coaching call to help you out of your funk and back on your feet. If you need clinical help, please make sure to contact a local doctor or your doctor at home.
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