Despite the relaxation promised, holidays can induce a moderate amount of stress in us.
If you’re someone who finds that travelling leads to arguing, stress headaches, and storming off from your friends because none of you can agree on anything, you’re not alone. Holidays combine some of our biggest sources of stress: money and family.
Because we’ve all experienced it, your dad bursting into the room at 2am, ten hours before the flight so everyone gets to the airport on time, or your card declining at a bar when you’ve kindly offered to pay for someone’s drink.
To keep your stress levels low while travelling, and keep your relationships intact, here are six great tips to avoid being an anxious bean.
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Hire a car
We’ve all had that holiday experience where we’ve booked a hotel too far from where we want our activities to be. Or we just get so overwhelmed taking public transport in a place we’re unfamiliar with, we need the familiarity of driving.
Booking an Uber can help you catch a ride for shorter trips, but if you’re keen to take a road trip adventure, thankfully, Uber Carshare recently launched, which allows you to rent a car on the day that you need.
With this, you can avoid that Seinfeld hassle of getting to a rental counter and instead just search for cars in your neighbourhood in the Uber Carshare app. You can book a car far in advance for peace of mind, or in the moment if you suddenly get a burning urge to go on a comfortable ride down a long road.
Communicate with who you’re travelling with
Okay everyone, gather around — we’re here to talk about our feelings.
Ever travelled with someone that was passive-aggressive? Those mood vampires can kill the vibe of the trip.
Before travelling, make sure you ask your travel companions what their needs are on the trip and respect their wishes when they want to see something or would rather not. Compromise is important of course, so learning what each other’s hard no’s are will keep conflict at a minimum.
Making sure everyone on your trip is communicating their needs effectively will help ensure the vibes stay good, and that you can rely on your friends.
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Set aside time for yourself
If you’re a chaotic type and that personality is clashing with others and their needs, don’t feel afraid to go off venturing on your own.
We only have so much time on a trip, and we all have different things we want to see. While we want to spend time with our families or friends while travelling, sometimes going to things alone or with one other person can be far preferable.
Spending a heap of time bunched up with people can also seriously test your nerves and patience, and if you want to keep your relationships healthy and conflict-free, space will definitely help.
Manage expectations
Holidays don’t come around often, so it makes sense you’d want to pack your days with activities, but this can lead to feeling overwhelmed and stressed to meet all those commitments. When planning your trips, give yourself a bit of time to just relax and enjoy the days off.
Or if you need to plan the trip to the second, make sure you account to have time to just rest and not worry about travelling early in the morning.
Travel with someone who knows the place
No matter how detailed you get with your planning, something is always going to come up and put a wrench in those plans. Having someone in your travel party that’s been to where you’re heading too already, or has done an extensive amount of research, can help find alternatives if something cancels or is closed and you need a quick backup plan.
Having someone in your party that knows the lay of the land will also help you discover the best-kept secrets of where you’re travelling to.
Track your expenses
It’s so easy when going on holiday to splurge. Whether it’s at fancy dinners, transport, thrift shopping or other unexpected expenses.
Nobody wants to be hunched over a table at a fast food restaurant counting their receipts, so make sure you download a bill-sharing app before travelling to keep track of your spending and be sure to set yourself a firm and detailed budget to stick to.
