I’m leaving for Europe in a few days where I’ll spend the better part of three months visiting a whole lot of places I’ve never been before.
Believe it or not, despite four years of traveling and having visited almost 100 countries, I still get a bit of anxiety before I visit someplace new.
It isn’t the same sort of rush I had when I first started out, but there is definitely feeling you have before you visit somewhere new.
Not having been somewhere, no matter how much you talk to people who have been there before you, there are still unknowns that you will not find out until you hit the ground.
- How will I deal with the local language?
- How expensive will things be?
- Will I have good weather?
- Will my bank hold my credit card?
- Did I forget to pack something?
Having been through this dozens of times it really isn’t that big of a deal for me, but I’d also be lying to you if I said that it didn’t exist at all.
For people who don’t have much experience traveling, these pre-trip doubts can be debilitating. There is so much worry and doubt that they end up doing nothing and never leave the places they are comfortable with. I’ve had many conversations with people who would love to travel but are so wracked with worry and doubt they never do it.
For me, I can always get over it by rationalizing that I am not the first person to visit anywhere. In the case of some places, millions of people have been there before me and managed just fine.
If you are a traveler, how do you get past the anxiety of visiting a new place?
If you want to travel more, what is holding you back?