Travel burnout is a very real and very large issue that affects travelers far and wide. While it’s most common among those traveling alone and long-term, it can hit no matter where you are, who you are, or how long you’ve been on the road for. Travel burnout is a state that a traveler reaches where they become agitated, anxious, and even hostile towards the environment and people around them. This, naturally, can cause stress and upset, which put a major damper on your trip. Sadly, there’s no way to avoid travel burnout completely, but there are a few things that you can do to reduce the chance of it occurring. With that in mind, here are eight tips to follow. 

Do Plenty Of Research

Your travel burnout prevention should begin before you even step foot on a plane. While there are lots of things that you can do to help while traveling, proper research and planning will make the biggest difference. For this reason, you should spend some time before you go away really getting to know the place you’re visiting. Look up local restaurants, supermarkets, gyms, and attractions so that you know what you’ll have access to when you’re there. This way, you won’t be disappointed or stressed when you discover that things aren’t quite as you expected. 

Simplify Your Travel Itinerary

It’s only natural to want to fit as much into your travel itinerary as possible. After all, you only have so much time to explore your vacation destination before you have to head home or move on to another country or city. That being said, you should make sure that you keep your plans flexible and don’t force yourself to do things just for the sake of it. Instead, you should make a list of things you definitely want to do while you’re away and another of those you’ll do if and when you can. This way, you won’t feel guilty for taking some time to decompress. 

Follow A Regular Routine

Keeping to a routine is a relatively simple way of building some familiarity into an otherwise foreign and novelty-filled life. This will help to ease some of the stress and anxiety you feel, as you’ll know what to expect at certain times throughout the day. Because of this, you should try to establish a routine of habits you follow every day that you’re away. This should include the times you wake and sleep, when you eat, when you work out, and anything else you find important or significant. If your burnout levels are low, this may be enough to rid yourself of the feeling. 

Make Time For Exercise

Working out should be a part of your daily routine, regardless of where you are in the world. Of course, making time to stay fit while traveling probably isn’t at the top of your list of fun activities, but it’s a necessary one if you are to beat travel stress, stay healthy, and sleep easier each night. When you have a hotel pool or gym, then exercise is incredibly easy, but if you don’t, then you’re going to have to be a little more creative. You could try yoga, watch a workout video on Youtube, or buy a temporary pass for a local gym. You should also try to walk as much as you can. 

Improve Your Sleep Quality

When you’re in a new and strange environment, getting some sleep at night can be difficult, but getting quality sleep is even harder. For this reason, you need to learn how to sleep on a plane and in new places and apply this advice every time you travel. Most of these tips should include things you already know, like cutting down on caffeine and following a bedtime routine, but there will be some that you haven’t even thought of, and they will make all the difference. Just make sure that you only rest as much as you need to as too much sleep can also be damaging. 

Indulge In Home Comforts

Wanting to explore new places, meet new people, and try new things doesn’t necessarily mean that you also want to give up those familiar and comfortable to you. With that in mind, indulging in a few home comforts while you travel may be the best way to combat your burnout. Instead of eating a new meal every single day, you should cook something you’d eat back home. Instead of spending all day every day looking around, you could stay at the hotel, call your family, and watch some television. You could also bring a blanket or cuddly toy from your home. 

Give Yourself A Break

Despite what some people say, you don’t have to spend every single day of your travels doing something big, important, and exciting. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. This will only ever increase your levels of burnout. With that in mind, you should take a morning, afternoon, or an entire day just to sit around and do nothing much at all. You could watch TV, read a book, take a bath, or whatever else you want to, just as long as you’re alone and relaxed. This is especially important when you’re traveling with companions so that you don’t get tired of one another. 

Know When To Go

Travel burnout can certainly feel horrible, but, most of the time, there are things that you can do to ease and reduce it, allowing you to enjoy the rest of your trip. Unfortunately, however, this isn’t always possible. If you’ve tried everything you can think of to make yourself feel better, and your mental and physical health is still suffering, then you should at least consider going home. While you shouldn’t rush into this decision, you need to understand when your body and mind have just had enough. After all, some things are just more important than a vacation.

Travel burnout is an issue almost every traveler has to face at some point. While there is nothing that you can do to protect yourself from this problem completely, if you follow the tips above, you should be able to take better care of yourself and create a much more enjoyable time away.