We all know how stressful traveling can be.
Reality is vacations are a lot of work! Between the coordinating, planning, and booking, there’s no guarantee that things will go smoothly. When things start going south, it’s important to know how to make travel less stressful so you can skip to the good part (and stay there)!
These are my 5 tips on how to make travel less stressful and what to do when your trip takes an unexpected turn for the worse.
1. Plan Well
There’s no denying that a well-thought-out vacation is going to run smoother than a spur-of-the-moment one. Although those vacations can sometimes turn out great, flying by the seat of your pants can sometimes lead to a lot of stressful decision-making.
There are a lot of steps that go into planning a vacation. Buying the flights, booking the hotel, and figuring out what activities you’ll be doing on the trip is all things that should be thought out and booked before going. There’s no harm in having a few open days; everyone needs some rest time and if you end up wanting to do another activity that day, go right ahead! But the bottom line is, that even the “we’ll see when we get there” days should be planned as such.
It’s true that the most stressful part of the vacation often happens before you even get to the airport!
To avoid not getting to do the activity you wanted, or getting stuck staying in a sketchy hotel in the middle of nowhere, it’s best to decide on your tentative itinerary before you begin your vacation. This is one of the best ways to cut down on stress when traveling.
2. Be Flexible
I know, I know. This is almost the exact opposite advice that I gave previously, but I promise there’s a reason for it!
As we just discussed, the planning portion of your trip should primarily happen before your trip begins. This allows for the least stressful travel experience once you actually begin your vacation, which is when you’re going to want to just sit back and relax.
But let’s be real; sometimes things happen that are beyond our control.
It’s almost inevitable that something will happen on your trip that you just won’t see coming. Whether it be a canceled flight, an unexpected illness, forgetting your luggage at home, or an activity being full that you desperately wanted to do – the possibilities are endless.
The only thing you can do in these situations is to just roll with the punches.
I know it’s not the advice anyone wants to hear. Especially when you’re wasting valuable vacation time or, even worse, spending hard earned money trying to fix something that’s happened. The bottom line is, if there’s nothing you can do about it, then there’s no use wasting too much energy over it. Yes, it sucks, and yes, it’s not ideal, but you have two choices: let it ruin your vacation, or try to make the most out of the situation you’ve been given.
The most important thing is to be flexible and not let yourself get too down. Try your best to have patience and not become overwhelmed with stress. If you’re traveling with other people, this would be a good time to be open with your travel companions and let them know how you feel. Vent and allow yourself to feel frustrated for a moment and then move on.
Everything will work its way out eventually, even if the complications seem catastrophic at the time. Who knows? It could turn into one of those stories that you laugh about later.
3. Travel with Reliable People
I can’t tell you how many vacations I’ve heard about or been on myself, where the whole vacation gets “ruined” due to traveling companions. Who you travel with can make or break a vacation.
To avoid a potentially stressful situation, and a potential end to a friendship, make sure you travel with people you know well and share similar interests with. If you’re a pool lounger, but your travel partners are activity-driven, you’re going to have very different opinions on how you want the vacation to go.
This is why planning ahead of time is important. If you plan well and communicate openly with your potential travel companions, you might realize that the group has entirely different opinions on how the trip is going to go. This gives you time to either figure out separate arrangements upfront. Maybe you stay at separate lodging? Or decide on several days where the group will break apart and do different things? Or, in a more extreme circumstance, maybe you decide that you don’t want to travel with those people at all.
When agreeing to travel with others, you’re agreeing to spend constant time with them on this vacation. Make sure you’re choosing people who will have similar interests as you and most importantly, people who bring good energy on the trip
4. Maintaining Positive Energy
Who wants to vacation with someone who’s negative and complaining the entire vacation? No one!
It’s so important to maintain positive energy if you want to make your travel less stressful. As we addressed earlier, there are so many things that can go wrong when traveling and being around people who are going to maintain a positive outlook is so important.
We’ve all been there before where it seems impossible to see the bright side of things. Especially when it seems like everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Your friends are driving you crazy on the trip? Maybe that’s a good time to do your own thing for a while. Take a wrong turn on the way to an excursion? Enjoy the scenic drive and don’t stress too much about time. I mean, you’re on vacation for crying out loud!
It’s not always easy at the time, but making an effort to maintain a positive mindset will not only help you feel less stressed but also help your travel companions maintain positive energy too.
CHECK OUT: MY Kardashian Bucket LIST: TOP 5 FAMILY VACATIONS FROM THE SHOW!
5. Listen to Your Body
It’s important to prioritize yourself on vacations. This is especially important when it comes to traveling with others, but even when you’re alone, you can push yourself past your limits to “get the most” out of your trip.
If you wake up one morning and are feeling off, but you know you have a ziplining trip around the corner, it’s completely okay to cancel and move on to the next thing if you’re not up to it.
It’s super easy to push ourselves too hard in vacation mode. There are so many things we want to do before our short trip is done. It’s way too easy to get caught up in all the different things to see and activities to do that we might lose track of our bodies just not being up for another late night and early morning.
I mean the last thing we want is to stress our bodies out so much that we end up physically getting sick from it!
Take the vacation in stride and listen to when your body may need a break.
And there you have it!
Those are my top 5 tips for making travel less stressful. Travel is a time to unwind and enjoy doing things that you might not normally do, but make sure that you’re not losing yourself in the process of achieving your perfect vacation. Be realistic and keep an open mind when hitting roadblocks on your travel.
How do you make travel less stressful? Let me know in the comments below!
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