You want to explore the World, meet new people and learn about other cultures. You almost ready to book a ticket, when the annoying voice appearing in the back of the head that holds you to don’t do it. Why we are afraid of traveling? What kind of travel fears hold us from buying a plane ticket?
I have been traveling as a solo female traveler around the World for 3 years. In 2014, I sold my car, I bought a one way ticket to Australia and I haven’t looked back since. At the moment, I am travelling solo across South America.
Is it mean that I am fearless? No!
Being fearless it is impossible. We all have fears. A fear of failure, fear of taking the first step, fear of going our own way.
Fears are always with us. We just can’t let them to stop us. Each of us must go through them and talk about them. It helps a lot!
I have faced many travel fears while backpacking solo and before that. I think that it is good to be scared. It makes us more motivated to find the solution for each challenge. Here is a list of 7 common travel fears which stand on our way to travel and solutions that can help you to overcome and face them.
1. I don’t have enough money
One of the most popular travel fears is a lack of money. People have wrong thinking that traveling is too expensive and we have to keep saving for a half of our life to discover another continent. First of all, ask yourself how important is traveling for you, seriously! You have to take action. If you set up travelling as a priority, you can make your dreams come true, no matter how broke you are.
In my previous post, I wrote a pretty big article about my ways how to travel on a budget. I am not rich, nor I come from a wealthy family. Traveling like a local, not like a tourist, is the way I choose. I eat like locals, sleep like locals and spend time with locals.
2. Nobody wants to go with me and solo travel means loneliness
Really? You want to stop yourself from seeing the World because you don’t have a companion. Solo travel is not as bad as it seems. I would even say that it provides more opportunities than traveling with a group of friends. Travelling on your own is a rare occasion to unravel yourself from expectations of your daily circumstances. You are excluded from all of that and it can help you to discover a new side of yourself, when no one is watching. You can discover a part of your character that you were never aware of. And you know what? I faced all my travel fears!
I learnt that loneliness is just the state of our subconscious. You can have lots of friends around, a partner who always support you, be in the spotlight, but still feel lonely and alienated. So, I would say that the feeling of loneliness, depends only on us and our approach to life.
3. I am not brave enough
You can’t imagine how powerful you are. And you will never know until you try. Every adventurous soul, who wants to broaden the horizons and see the World can find the courage to travel. Every! And I am not taking here about jumping from the plane, living in the middle of the Amazon jungle or backpacking across Africa. Being brave is to take a risk to be alive. And for everyone it means, something different.
Fear is inescapable and that’s why being brave is extremely important in life. I had lots of travel disasters and travel fears over the years but then, every bad luck was a good lesson at the end. Life involves taking risk and we have to be ready for the possibility of a terrifying ending.
4. I am afraid of illness
Every country is different and it has different standards of living. Travel fears of illness and getting sick on the road, stops us from planning our dream holiday. We are often afraid of catching more serious diseases or safety of water and food.
Being careful and aware is important but you can’t be paranoid about it. I always have a travel insurance with me. The worst illnesses I got, were food poison in Thailand and dengue in Indonesia during my 3 years of travelling. And honestly, I take this as a part of experience.
Remember that most of the countries in the World have good Medical Clinics and Travel Medicine Centers. Before start your trip, visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website to find all information about serious diseases in each country and recommended vaccines. Equip your backpack with basic first aid and you are ready to go!
6. It is dangerous out there
Today, one of the most common travel fears that prevents us from traveling is a fear of danger.
The information coming from media are sometimes terrifying. The terrorist attacks, earthquakes and hurricanes can make us think that we shouldn’t even leave our houses. The World is unpredictable, where everything can happen at any time. However, the worst thing, we can do is to stop traveling. Giving up the dream of traveling is not the solution. Stop thinking about situations that are unlikely to happen and which are beyond of your control.
7. Entering the unknown
Many people live a comfortable live of security. Our fear is to take advantage and to change the situation. We are scared of leaving our comfort zone and entering the unknown. We are scared of feeling uncomfortable and starting something new.
,,If it scares you, it can be a good thing to try”
Traveling provides us with the opportunity to go into unfamiliar situations and face travel fears. It allows you to disentangle yourself from the influences of your daily life, to discover who you are when no one is looking. So go for it!
