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How to overcome travel fatigue
Long-term Travel Is Not For Everyone
Contrary to staycations or short term 3-5 days vacation, traveling for a long-haul can cause travel fatigue. Extended travel involves being always on the move, staying in different places or hotels, seeing different cultures, meeting different people and traveling for a long period of time, say one month to more than one year.
It’s a thrilling experience indeed to constantly travel. Many people have this impression that if you are doing this long-term travel journey, you are considered lucky.
Well, true at some point but it actually depends on the situation.
Rainbows And Sunshine
Travel is not always rainbows and sunshine. In the beginning, there is always the excitement in the journey. But, believe it or not, a traveler no matter how enthusiastic he or she is in the start, will have to be weary in the long run risking travel fatigue.
It Becomes Just Another One Of The Same
With longterm travel things just start to be the same. Mountains will just be ‘another mountain’. Falls, rivers, lakes and the beach will just be ‘another body of water’.
After a whole day of moving, sometimes you just want to STOP. You need to rest in your hotel room and sleep all day.
Travel Fatigue Is Real
Some people who don’t travel often may not understand this, but there are struggles when traveling long-term. It may not be as fun as it was during the first few days or weeks of the journey as travel fatigue creeps in.
How To Stop the Struggle
There are actually lots of suggestions to overcome travel fatigue. Depending on the lifestyle, one might choose to travel slowly to catch up with the body rhythm.
Finding A Base To Rest
Some travelers find a base, a home or a hotel to just stay for a few days or weeks before embarking on another journey again.
It is best if this base is very comfortable because a weary traveler sometimes doesn’t want to go out and explore. This base has to have everything a traveler needs if in hibernation mode to recuperate from their travel fatigue.
Comfort Food
Comfort food helps a lot too.
The challenge is if you’re in a country where the food does not suit your taste buds, it will be difficult to be happy and motivated. That’s why it is best to bring familiar comfort food at the start of the journey, so when downtime arrives, the comfort food will serve its purpose.
If the food you’re craving is not readily available, you can always prepare a similar dish. Or better, find someone near the area who knows how to cook a familiar dish and do a cooking session together. This will bring a familiar feeling, plus you’ll be less homesick too.
Solo Traveling
For those who are traveling solo, there will come a time when you will be missing having company. If you suddenly feel lonely, ask around for people near the area, and do meetups.
You can find groups online via social media or other community websites and join them. You can also meet people in church if you want to meet people of similar faith.
If there’s no one around or if you are just too shy to meet new people, video chats are a great way to catch up on life with everyone back home.
Recharged And Ready To Go
All these points above reenergize a person, and when the human battery is full, the goal of traveling long term can be pursued again.
Questions and Comments
- Have you ever experienced travel fatigue?
- Where did you stay?
- What did you do?
- What tips do you have for other travelers that might experience travel fatigue?