How to Mentally Prepare for Long-Term Travel!

If you’re thinking about making your way around the globe in some way or another, then you’re probably going to have the thoughts swirling around your mind. The idea of doing it can be pretty overwhelming when you get closer and closer to it. It all becomes amplified when you actually book things and confirm the flights. Travelling is an absolutely amazing thing to do – and we should all do it at some point – but it can be quite nerve-wracking for many. For those who have done it millions of times, it’s like water off a duck’s back. For the first-timers, however? Well, it’s going to be a big deal. 

What do you usually do to prepare for a travel?

Mental preparation is something we all have to do before entering many different instances. You can argue leaving your home for an extended period and heading into the unknown with a limited amount of money might be one of the scariest things you can do. You might need to get into the right headspace before you embark. Luckily, the entire process and mental preparation aren’t really all that difficult. Here are a few things you can do:

Realize That It’s Going To Be A Fun Time  

If you view things as though they are chores and apply pressure to them, then they become infinitely more difficult to complete. We shouldn’t have to view vacations and long-term trips as chores or jobs. Once you get into the mindset that this entire trip is to be enjoyed and that it’s not that big of a deal, you can become a lot freer in the mind. You’ll think about it often, but waves of anxiety won’t rush through you anywhere near as often. The waves of excitement will take over and do that job instead. When we have fun, and when the pressure’s off, everything becomes so much easier in life. This is one of those situations where you should stop thinking about what can go wrong and focus mainly on how your life is going to improve – short-term and long-term – because of this chapter. 

Educate Yourself

The more you know about the trip, the better things will be for you. A lot of people enjoy the thrill of jumping into something they have no idea about, but the majority need to be aware of what’s going on around them. Learn about the place you’re going and the culture surrounding it. It’s also wise to know a few details – for instance, if you’re staying at something like the Gurney Paragon, then it’s best to research the ins and outs of it as well as the surrounding area. You’re going to want to figure out all of your little tasks at home before you leave, too. 

I usually do research before any trips.

Talk About It With Friends And Family Members  

Chat with those who will be accompanying you on your trip. If they’ve been travelling in some capacity before, then they’re going to have prior knowledge that can help you out massively. It’s also good to talk to people close to you who won’t be coming along as they’ll be able to keep your mind in the right place. They’ll also be able to learn things alongside you if you feel as though you’d like an extra pair of eyes and ears. 

Understand That When You Get Out Of Your Hometown, You Become Free 

You’ve probably experienced this before. Have you ever made a social faux-pa or done something pretty embarrassing – but it was miles away from your hometown. When you get away from your area, it’s like you’re an entirely new person. You’re free to be yourself and explore things without worrying about how they’ll go. You become unshackled my mental pressure. Travelling will allow you to go out and reach your potential in many, many areas. 

Get out of your comfort zone!

Adopt A Positive Mindset

If you see the good in pretty much every outcome, then you’re going to live a much happier life in general. It’s quite difficult to do if you’ve never really bothered with it before, but once you get the hang of it, then it’s worth it. If you have this mindset going into something as significant as leaving home for a while, then you’re going to be in a much better headspace throughout. Having the mentality of ‘oh well, I’ll get over it’ will allow you to try more things and go so much more out of life. Travelling won’t be an issue once you get into the right frame of mind. 

27 thoughts on “How to Mentally Prepare for Long-Term Travel!”

  1. A positive mindset is key to everything, I think. With such mindset, even whether you travel or not becomes irrelevant. A positive attitude brings contentedness on every level.

  2. Travelling is one of my favorite things to do. Educate Yourself is one of the important things such as doing research before you go to visit the places. Awesome tips.

  3. Travelling has been a great part of my life and I guess you have to be flexible and be able to cope with different mechanism and scenerioes that thrown at you while you are on the road.

  4. Brilliant post and you give so much good advice. Especially talk with family and also educate yourself too xx

  5. I wish, I had read this before I had traveled back from home to my work place. It was a bit anxious for me, (the trip).
    However, you have enlisted pretty good points in here!

  6. The thing about taking a long term trip that seems daunting is that it doesn’t seem realistic, even if all the tickets are bought and plans are in place. I like the advice of talking about it with friends and family to make it more teal and let everyone know you’ll be away.

  7. More than the usual travel essentials, it is really vital to be mentally prepared for the whole trip as well. Agree on conducting research and getting family and friends as a sounding board especially if they’re also part of the trip.

  8. We have been considering a long-term trip after the pandemic. Since my husband decided to work online as a freelancer, most of us know has the opportunity to bring our work anywhere as long as there is internet connection.

    I agree with that having the proper mental mindset is very important. Thank you for sharing these tips.

  9. It can be easy to fall into a slip stream in unfamiliar environments. These points are important especially the one about talking it through with someone. Nevertheless an amazing opportunity to discover a new reality!

  10. This was an interesting read. The longest I’ve ever traveled was a couple of weeks. I’ve never thought about preparing the mind for long-term travel before.

  11. these are some great tips. i love to travel and a good mindset is how we always start out trips. it helps a lot.

  12. Great tips, especially asking tips for family and friends. Sometimes it’s nice to get information from those experienced. I’ve been in long-term travel though but I’m super excited in the future when the opportunity comes. 🙂

  13. Those are all great tips for preparing mentally for long term travel. I haven’t done any long term travel, since about 20 years ago when I spent 2 years living in the Philippines. It definitely took lots of preparation.

  14. I haven’t tried long term travel, I think it would be exciting full of adventure, but also have down sides. Your advice are very well.

  15. It is so important to be meantally prepared for the whole travel as well. Thanks for sharing this

  16. Thank you for this post. I found it helpful. I will check back later for more great content. Anyway, keep up the good work and I’ll check back later to read more amazing material.

Comments are closed.