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hardanger
15-02-20, 13:06
Hey there, I was wondering if some of you have encountered symptoms similar to mine. While I have noticed several people talking about travel anxiety, mine is a bit different.
A short introduction, I'm generally very composed, and very few things have any negative emotional effect on me. I do get a bit anxious when I'm about to board a plane or train, because I fear that I'll be late - but that's relatively common.

A few months ago, I decided to make a trip through Europe, hiking combined with hitchhiking and bus were my modes of transportation.
However, very quickly I became severely depressed, maybe it was the necessity to find lodging and transportation, maybe being in an unfamiliar place. Instead of doing anything interesting I kept wandering aimlessly and asking myself "why would I condemn myself to such suffering". The biggest problem was food. Since I'm not the greatest cook, but I also dislike going to restaurants, I got stuck in a state of constant starvation, where I didn't want to risk eating food I didn't know, but could't make my own either.
I got home a lot sooner than I had planned, as you might imagine.
I want to travel, and I love being outdoors, so before I set out on a long term travel next time, I'd like to get some feedback about this peculiar condition, and maybe learn how to deal with it.

Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated :)

tbourner
15-02-20, 16:10
Well all I can say really is I'd love to travel and see new places and different cultures and histories and everything but I've never been anywhere because of anxiety. I won't even go on a plane and only been on a train on my own once last year. We went to Ireland 4 years ago and I nearly hired a car to drive back on the ferry as I (almost) couldn't face another plane journey. The thought of hitch hiking and hostelling is absolutely terrifying! There's no way I'd even consider it so you're about 20 steps ahead of me.

hardanger
19-02-20, 16:01
Well, the bottom line for both of us is, we can't travel and enjoy it, so it's not like I'm any farther along than you are :)
Besides, you probably didn't have so much anxiety, that you chose to starve rather than try something unfamiliar.