What Is Travel Burnout? And How To Deal With It

Open your eyes. You are in you dreamed destination, surrounded by incredible views that seemed taken out from a magazine. Your only worrying is where and when would be your next journey.

I can’t do this anymore, you say to yourself, this just doesn’t feel right.

Everyone relates travelling with positive aspects, happiness and money, but does not all.

Travelling is a constant overstimulation and can lead to travel burnout. This happened to me, and is one of the most common realities you might encounter in long term traveling, yet one of the less spoken ones.

Travelling as a backpacker in Europe gave me the chance of going back to Spain every time I needed something. This being a change on my packed clothes or having a rest week where I could disconnect and set new goals.

Europe was the kick-off that would bear fruit the exact dose of confidence I needed to say why not? and buy that long-awaited ticket to Puerto Rico.

 A few months had passed since the start of my gap year and I was mentally exhausted, but I couldn’t stop. I had to know, to experience, to feel and to enjoy everything that my hometown, couldn’t provide me.

I try to find the middle ground where I could spend time alone to let myself, process all my emotions, but I wasn't able.

I wrapped my head around the idea of going to the Dominican Republic to wind down and live my solo honeymoon. Instead, I ended up getting stranded on an island and parasailing. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds amazing, but once again, I wasn’t able to process that longed-for feeling of success that achieving your dreams makes you feel. It wasn’t there.

I was mentally and physically tired, but I had to keep going. I felt caught up on a tunnel vision that was only showing me the way to make the decision on which country should I visit next.

As simple as it sounds, I wasn’t giving myself a break. A break to enjoy this life changing experiences.

I had to stop and look back. Determine if I was doing what I wanted, how I wanted it, or if I was doing what was supposed to make me happy.

Now, after a few months, I know where I am.

During my time in Guatemala, between my breaks from working as a bartender and socialising with the hostel guests, I realised how much I needed to just lie down and do nothing else. Even though my explorer soul was begging for taking a bus and go to a remote place.

One of the symptoms you can start feeling after spending some time in a more limited environment is constant tiredness and lack of motivation. This leads to the rest your body was craving after the constant overstimulation that long-term travelling makes you feel. Although you might not be conscious about it.

Yes, it is okay to do nothing. It is okay to be in a whole new country and don’t feel the need to explore. It will come back, but rest, let yourself feel and process your emotions.