Travel Fatigue
This is a subject often overlooked in the excited trip planning frenzy. So we totally didn’t see it coming.
Where did my adventure spirit go?
You’re on the trip of a lifetime and you should be feeling great. This is a dream come true, after all. But you’re not really feeling it. You’re moody, have stopped taking photos and are avoiding all human contact. You visit the sites, but nothing excites.
This isn’t how you’d envisaged your trip. You consider just going home. Call it quits. You feel ungrateful. You’ve been telling everyone what a great adventure this is and they’d probably ask, what the hell is wrong with you? Yeah, actually, what is wrong with you?
You’re not alone!
Nothing! Is the answer. Pretty much every long term traveler experiences travel fatigue at some point or another. For some it’s after only a few weeks, for others it can be years. It’s like the travel mojo inexplicably disappears. That’s normal, expected even, all things considered.
Travel is tough!
When you think about it, it makes total sense. Travel isn’t a mere holiday. It is making a life in the literal unknown. You’re constantly outside of your comfort zone. In the morning you don’t know where you will sleep that night. Will you make it to the day’s destination as planned, or will weather, a breakdown or something else hold you up? Is the hotel where the map says it is? Is it still in business, or did they just not update Google Maps?
Every new place you arrive at, you have to find out again, where to buy food, where to procure spare parts, a new charging cable to replace the broken one. What shampoo works for your hair type and what is the word in the local language for toothpaste for your sensitive teeth. Do they even have that here? And is the food at the restaurant safe to eat, or will it result in a runny bum. In fact, where can you buy medication or find a doctor?
Exhausted just reading this yet? It’s no wonder then, that a traveler gets exhausted dealing with all these uncertainties, every day!
Different cultures
It’s thrilling and exciting to immerse oneself in other cultures. The more different, the better. But also the more exhausting. At first Maria and Aidan had a ton of fun with the colourful chaos and the wonderfully inquisitive people in India, wanting to pose for photos and even requesting autographs.
But eventually it also became exhausting. Hundreds of spectators would encroach, allowing no room for the actual bike repairs they had come to watch. People were constantly in their personal space and if one more person requested a photo shouting “Snap? Snap?” Maria was in serious danger of actually snapping at them.
The Lesson
Things were much easier in well-visited places like Hampi, Goa and Agra. People here were used to tourists and their strange ways. They no longer wanted a photo with each of them and understood basic needs. Hotel rooms were clean, there were actual western toilets and bottled water, and people allowed you some personal space. Aidan and Maria soon realised that this was the answer: spend a few days in such a touristy place to recover, then return to the ‘real’ India, once they had the energy for it again.
The Cure to travel tiredness
Take a break, find a place you feel comfortable in, let it start to feel familiar and recover. That could be a beach hut, a camping spot, or staying in a city to enjoy all its convenient luxuries. Some people even do a work-away arrangement and get involved with local life, offering a hand in exchange for food and accommodation. Whatever is your kinda jam.
Stay until you get itchy feet to get going again. How long that takes, is entirely up to you. Don’t feel pressured to go before you are ready - you have no obligation to anyone. This is your trip of a lifetime, no-one else’s, so you might as well take as long as you need to revive your travel mojo, so you can make the most of it when you ride on. And anyways, nothing wrong with really immersing yourself in one particular place and getting under its skin.
