We realize the irony of posting an article on How To Travel For Long during a worldwide lockdown thanks to COVID-19. The truth is, our forceful return home helped us realize how our travel burnout was affecting us. And we never thought this would happen to us. We thought we were mature enough to travel for long periods without experiences travel burnout.

Would you refer to it as a condition? Or is it more a concept and not a real problem. After eight months of traveling, we were already considering going home. We were experiencing travel burnout or travel fatigue full-throttle. You can read our own personal story: Travel Fatigue Is Real And Sucks Big Time!

What Is Travel Burnout?

Most travelers that have experienced it will describe it as:

• Being utterly disinterested in your surroundings.
• Feeling homesick and dreaming about home comforts more often.
• An unexplained urge to stay in a room all day.
• Being annoyed and frustrated by local cultures that you usually like.
• Spending more time browsing your phone or watching tv than exploring the world outside.
• A hassle to go out and explore.
• Feeling tired, listless, anxious, and stressed more often.
•  A feeling of dread or fear. Especially when visiting unfamiliar places.

Make sure you become familiar with these early warning signs of travel fatigue, especially if you plan to travel for long. You might be able to catch it early before it becomes a full-fledged problem.

Our steps below will ensure you stay mentally and physically fit, healthy, and fully charged for traveling.

1.  Travel Slowly. It’s The Only Way You’ll Successfully Travel For Long Periods

One thing is for sure when planning to travel for long periods- it’s far better doing it slowly.

It’s fun exploring, and you won’t want to miss a thing, but you need time to recuperate, research, and plan your next trip.

If your dream is to travel extensively, you’ll need to take short breaks in between destinations.

Don’t be fooled by what you see others doing on social media. People are always posting their adventures, giving the impression that they’re in a different country every other week. If this were true, they’d be positively exhausted.

Take longer breaks where you feel comfortable and build up excitement for near-future adventures.

2.  Create Routine

When you travel for long periods and move around often, you’ll find a lot of things are out of your control. Creating a few routines will help you gain control over your life.

It’s a lot easier to have a few routines at the start of your day as you wake up.

Try waking up at more or less the same time each day. Before you do anything else, write down the daily tasks you’d like to do. Do a few exercises or practice yoga or meditation. Your mind will be more focused.

Eat breakfast at a set time.

It’s no secret that our bodily systems work better with routine too. You might find you won’t be constipated anymore, and you’re able to get a good night’s sleep again.

The most important thing is to enjoy your daily routines. Don’t create habits you hate or resent. A few repetitive tasks bring peace and balance to your adventurous life of travel.

3.  Get More Sleep

You tend to do a lot less of this when you travel for long.

It’s fun and exciting going out all the time and meeting new people in new places. You’ll be tempted to stay up all night, especially if you can wake up when you want. It’s ok once in a while, but if you do it repeatedly, you’ll hit burnout for sure!

Sometimes you can’t sleep because you’re in a noisy place. You could be hearing annoying chickens, religious singing, traffic, or neighbors nearby.

Try block out night-time noises by focusing on soothing background sounds. We use the app Calm and play the sounds of waves crashing or rain falling through our Bluetooth speaker.

If that doesn’t work, silicone earplugs blended with cotton wool do the trick.

Try to reduce screen time at night to reserve your body’s melatonin stores. And meditate or practice yoga to help switch off your mind.

After a good night’s sleep, you feel refreshed and ready to explore. You’ll travel with more enthusiasm, make fewer mistakes, and be less grumpy. You might even wake up earlier and do more in a day.

4. Exercise

Exercise is a mood enhancer and energy booster. We tend to feel sluggish, negative, and – ironically – more tired without it.

If you’ve got access to a gym or pool, create a workout routine. If not, try a 7-minute workout or do some yoga or exercise classes over YouTube. Do some guided meditation using an app or YouTube.

Exercise to stay healthy and fit to continue traveling. You’ll look and feel great, giving you a more positive self-image.

5. Keep In Touch With Family And Friends

Half the reason why we experience travel burnout is that we feel homesick.

You don’t need to feel estranged or out of the loop with loved ones.

If you feel like catching up, make a video call. With several video calling platforms available, it’s effortless and practically free. Hook up a group chat with a few family members or friends once a week, and create a positive routine in doing so.

Familiar faces and voices are soothing when you’re so far away. You’ll also be less stressed when you’re not worrying about how everyone is.

Take the doubt out of your mind and give them a call now.

6.  Listen To Your Body

If you’ve planned a whole day outing but can’t face it, maybe you shouldn’t. Sometimes you need to listen to your body.

If you’re exhausted, take a break. If you’re agitated- get out or do something, regardless of the set plans.

If you want to spend the entire day in bed, do it! Ultimately, you have the final say.

Mental and emotional exhaustion might call for it.

Recognize the signs that something is wrong. You’ll be able to change and correct things before they have a negative impact and result in burnout.

7.  Do Something Familiar To You

Don’t leave your hobbies and interests behind. They’re part of who you are and bring you happiness. If you get pleasure from a simple hobby, it’ll boost your confidence.

Reading books, knitting, drawing and sketching are a few examples. 

It might also give you some alone time.

Sometimes all you need is a break from everyone else around you and focus on something you enjoy doing.

8.  Airbnb, Netflix, and chill

Take a few days off from traveling and being a tourist.

Don’t worry about cameras and social media and sights to see. Hang out by the pool or watch tv. Do something ordinary or without the things that bring stress into your travel life.

Unpack your bags completely and live like an average person for a while.

A week off in a lovely apartment means you can stop thinking about all things travel. It gives you a chance to unwind and relax.

9. Eat Home-Cooked Meals

Once in awhile, take a break from processed junk food, food stalls, and restaurants.

It’s not easy finding truly healthy meals when you travel. Lots of restaurant meals are laden with butter, cream, sugars, and added salt.

Find a fresh produce market and buy some fruit and vegetables. You don’t need to be an expert cook to create something healthy. It’s pretty straightforward, making a salad or frying up some veggies.

Maybe you’re craving something homemade from back home but don’t know how to make it? Get on your phone and find out. Ask for the recipe and instructions on how to make it.

Eating healthy will fill your body with nutrients and give you more energy.

If you travel for long and you eat out all the time, you’re guaranteed to pick up some weight or become ill. Look after yourself!

10. Change Your Course

If you travel for long in similar places- change it up a little.

There are only so many temples you can visit or so many noodle dishes you can eat. Get excited about something different, and look forward to new places and what they offer.

You risk increasing burnout if your environment stresses you out. So travel to places where you feel safe and at ease.

Don’t travel for long periods in countries with diseases, high crime rates, heavy traffic, or extreme weather conditions.

11. Stop Worrying

Try writing down your worries before you go to sleep to remove them from your mind. Or share your thoughts with someone close to you.

Merely talking about these things takes a load off your shoulders and prevent burnout.

Sometimes you have to say ‘fuck it’ and let things go. If you try to be more upbeat and carefree and you will attract good things.

12. Stay Out Of The Direct Sunlight

The goal here is to prevent your body’s burnout.

Leave the tanning rituals to those on a brief holiday.

If you travel for long, especially in tropical climates,  you’ll turn a few shades darker along the way. It’s not necessary to sit in the sun for hours.

Heat exhaustion or sunstroke is something you don’t want to experience.

If you’ve had it before, you’ll know that it takes a couple of days to get back on your feet.

Even if you’re not the burning type, the sun’s rays can still affect you.

Hydrate as much as possible and stay indoors- If you’ve been in the sun for too long.

Repeated overexposure leaves you feeling physically exhausted. Try to avoid it at all costs.

13. Take On Volunteer Work

If you’ve been moving around a lot, you’ll enjoy staying in one place for a month or two.

While you sink into a comfy routine, you’ll probably eat healthier and save money too.
It’ll also give you a chance to make deeper connections with others from the community.

Below are a few options for working while traveling.

14. Go Home Or Create A Home Environment

Most of the time, you won’t need to go home.

You can and will bounce back from travel burnout. You’ll regret canceling your trip before making an effort.

If you’re feeling homesick, try doing the things you would typically do or experience at home.

Cook and eat something you would have back home. Go to the movies, visit a familiar restaurant.

But if you’ve tried these tips and still can’t stop thinking about going home, then that might be the right thing to do. It’ll give you peace of mind.

There are some things more important than a trip. You’ve only got one life.

If you’re interested in reading our personal struggle with travel burnout or fatigue, check out this article below.

Isn’t it ironic that thanks to COVID-19, we CAN’T travel, that’s all we want to do now! Our world brought to a standstill because of a virus. It sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie.

We cannot wait to get back out there and explore all that’s waiting for us. We’re better equipped now to travel for long. And this time we’ll do so without the burnout.

Whether you’re dealing with travel burnout or avoiding it, we hope this article helps you.

Let us know if you’ve felt something similar and how it affected you. Or send us an email if you managed to deal with travel burnout differently. It’s worth adding your tips with ours, for others to see.

Now that you’re ready to travel for long, make sure you check out our article on Travelling for cheap.