Imagine this: you’re finally on the long-awaited trip of your dreams. You’re posting pictures on Instagram of your travels and all of your friends are commenting on how jealous they are and how they would trade places with you in a minute.
But you have a little secret: even though your trip has been wonderful, you’ve suddenly lost the desire to explore. You feel tired, irritable, and cranky all the time. The local peculiarities that you once found charming are now annoying to you. And you find that you’d rather spend time browsing your phone in Starbucks than explore new destinations.
Don’t feel guilty about these feelings. What you’re suffering from is something called travel burnout, and it’s something that plagues pretty much all long-term travelers.
Luckily, there are some things you can do to deal with your travel burnout so you can get back to your wanderlusting self.
Read on to learn the top tips for dealing with travel burnout.
1. Take a Break Somewhere Nice
Constantly taking buses, planes, taxis and other forms of transportation is one of the biggest causes of travel burnout.
The solution?
Take a week or two (or three or four) and stay in one place. This will give you a chance to recharge your batteries, unwind, and do simple things you missed doing back home – like binging Netflix and catching up with your friends.
Ideally, you’ll want to pick somewhere a bit more on the luxurious side when you’re ready to take a break. For instance, https://luxuryretreats.com is a great place to find some nice properties.
2. Get in a Routine
There is a famous travel quote that says that adventure is dangerous but routine is lethal. While this certainly holds some truth to it, too much of a good thing can also be dangerous. And, too much freedom can make you feel a bit lost (and burnt out) after a while.
The solution?
Once you find a spot to chill for a while, try to establish some semblance of a routine. It doesn’t have to be anything super regimented. Even just committing to a morning workout or some sort of class every day can make a world of a difference.
3. Get In Some Me Time
When traveling, you typically find yourself constantly surrounded by others – this is particularly true if you’re traveling with someone or if you always stay in hostels.
Even if you are the most extroverted of people, you’re still likely to experience burnout from all this socializing. The best thing to do in this situation is to take a few days to yourself. Other than the occasional text or trip to a restaurant, try to make it so you’re socializing as little as possible.
After a few days, you will feel totally refreshed and ready to keep meeting new people.
4. Take Stock
When you’re constantly on the go, it can be easy to take traveling and all of the memories you’ve made doing it for granted.
It’s important to remind yourself that travel burnout is, in fact, a very luxurious problem to have. To help remind yourself of this, take some time to reflect back on your trip. Go through photos, reflect on why you’re traveling in the first place, or sit down and journal about all of your favorite travel memories thus far.
It can also help to play the what if game, like “If I was home right now, what would I be doing?” More often than not, that’s all the reminder you need.
With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to curing your travel burnout!
