I was going to leave writing this post till I got back off my holiday or just before I left but I realised that summer is fast approaching, if it has not already arrived for some of you, and this is can be a pretty relevant topic. With summer comes a lot of excitement as people get ready for their travels, school is out and all everybody wants to do is get away and get in some well-earned chill time! However with summery vacations comes a lot of travel, often air travel, which can be a less-than-chill situation for a LOT of people.
I know this summer I myself am doing a little bit of air travel, I haven't flown in a couple of years and so I'm not sure how my body is going to respond so I'm trying to be as prepared as possible. I'm throwing together a list of tips to help, I hope they help and that you can apply them to whichever awkward, stressy, horrible and anxious travelling sitch you find yourself in!
♥ WRITE LISTS (A LOT OF THEM!) ♥
You can never be too organised!! My close family members and a few work colleagues disagree with me on this as my obsessive need for organisation probably stresses them out more than it even stresses me out! There is no such thing as over preparedness unless over preparedness drives you absolutely crazy. I like to write lists for absolutely everything, making lists on my phone (putting different categories into different lists on my 'notes' app) and then transfer them to paper so I can take them with me and tick things off on the way there and on the way back. I find writing lists out super therapeutic and also takes away from packing stress. To go hand-in-hand with this, make sure you pack with plenty of time to spare. I love packing and gathering all my things together, leaving it till last minute or the day before would be an absolute nightmare situation for me, it would just amplify anxiety levels by about a million. Writing and condensing lists just helps you gather all the spare little things that you could potentially leave behind to then end up spending your whole holiday wishing you read and applied my number one blogpost tip! Write!! Lists!!
♥ LEAVE TIME TO CHILL OUT ♥
So travelling can be a busy and flustering ordeal, especially when you're an adult going it alone without any parentals there to take care of passports/paperwork/finding the way around the airport/money/food/so many things/so so many anxiety inducing things. It would be smart then to leave a great amount of space between various stressful events, such as checking in, duty free and finding your gate. I like to be at check-in before it even opens so I can check-in early and just hang around the airport ad have some quiet(ish) time that isn't spent queuing up at a desk. For example my flight to Greece this summer is at 2:50pm which means I have 2 hours before my flight to catch lunch, do a bit of shopping or just generally spend my time enjoying not being in a confined space with about 150 other people.
♥ COMFY CLOTHES ♥
Do NOT ever compromise comfort for style. Don't ever be THAT person. Being sat on a flight for four and a half hours or even longer can be an uncomfortable ordeal enough as it is without £20 of your high-waisted denim shorties riding up your arse. Comfy clothes make you feel way more at home and familiar with your surroundings which makes everything a bit easier to deal with and a lot less threatening or scary. I love to wear my old, stretched out Joni Jeans from Topshop to travel in as they are suuuuuper breathable. I just chuck on a baggy tee pair with my washed out sweat top and voilà, my bod can move and breathe so I can spend the the flight feeling a lot less anxious and NOT pulling a short-wedgie out of my butt.
.♥ FUN THINGS! HOBBIES! DISTRACTIONS! ♥
I find flight time is opportunistic time where I can get a lot of stuff done! I get to sit and plan blogposts, read a book I've been meaning to get into for a while or catch up on a few episodes of a t.v. show. I think it's a great no-phone, no-distraction time and being submerged in things you enjoy doing or that require a lot of concentration can really distract from what's going on around you. At the minute I'm super obsessed with puzzle books which are great because you get to test your brain/knowledge all the while distracting yourself from a stressy situation! Even playlists and your favourite music may help. Not to plug too much but the playlist '4am Comedown' on spotify is what I'm loving at the moment, it's soothing, perfect for doing work or for just closing your eyes and chilling out to.
The last time I flew, back in Oct of 2013, I experienced a little turbulence which I of course exaggerated and told myself the plane was probably gonna go down (hint: don't do that). I looked around at all the people around me and was so confused as to why they weren't freaking out just as I was on the inside. I think it's important to remember in those little moments that there are literally thousands of flights that take-off and land every single day. Thousands of people get to their destinations safely without even a glitch and air travel is actually the safest way to travel, everything will be absolutely fine!
♥ PRE-PREPAREDNESS ♥
The last thing I want to come home to after a couple weeks away is a messy, grubby home with so much stuff everywhere that I don't know whether to unpack or sort out the mess I left behind first. Unpacking and laundry can be a right bummer as it is without having to arrive home to a whole load more chores to finish off. I like to make sure that before I leave, my entire room is spotless, everything is as organised as it can be and none of my belongings are hanging around the house in places that they shouldn't be. That way when i come home I feel motivated to unpack and to do my chores, like laundry!
I also apply pre-preparedness to the actual flying by reading the safet/emergency booklet found in the back of the chair in front of you. This way I am absolutely 100% prepared for any mishap (to put it lightly) that could possibly happen, which it most likely won't. It really is just for peace of mind and really does work on easing my anxiety!
So that's the end of my little list of top tips for travelling/flying with anxiety! It wasn't too focused on dealing with a fear of flying as much as the anxieties that just come from being confined in a small, compact space for a long period of time. It is pretty common I find so I hope that it helped a few of you (even though some of the tips I found very general and a bit obvious, personally).
Here are a couple disposables (the only decent ones actually) from my last holiday abroad.
Happy flying!
xxrachel
I find flight time is opportunistic time where I can get a lot of stuff done! I get to sit and plan blogposts, read a book I've been meaning to get into for a while or catch up on a few episodes of a t.v. show. I think it's a great no-phone, no-distraction time and being submerged in things you enjoy doing or that require a lot of concentration can really distract from what's going on around you. At the minute I'm super obsessed with puzzle books which are great because you get to test your brain/knowledge all the while distracting yourself from a stressy situation! Even playlists and your favourite music may help. Not to plug too much but the playlist '4am Comedown' on spotify is what I'm loving at the moment, it's soothing, perfect for doing work or for just closing your eyes and chilling out to.
The last time I flew, back in Oct of 2013, I experienced a little turbulence which I of course exaggerated and told myself the plane was probably gonna go down (hint: don't do that). I looked around at all the people around me and was so confused as to why they weren't freaking out just as I was on the inside. I think it's important to remember in those little moments that there are literally thousands of flights that take-off and land every single day. Thousands of people get to their destinations safely without even a glitch and air travel is actually the safest way to travel, everything will be absolutely fine!
♥ PRE-PREPAREDNESS ♥
The last thing I want to come home to after a couple weeks away is a messy, grubby home with so much stuff everywhere that I don't know whether to unpack or sort out the mess I left behind first. Unpacking and laundry can be a right bummer as it is without having to arrive home to a whole load more chores to finish off. I like to make sure that before I leave, my entire room is spotless, everything is as organised as it can be and none of my belongings are hanging around the house in places that they shouldn't be. That way when i come home I feel motivated to unpack and to do my chores, like laundry!
I also apply pre-preparedness to the actual flying by reading the safet/emergency booklet found in the back of the chair in front of you. This way I am absolutely 100% prepared for any mishap (to put it lightly) that could possibly happen, which it most likely won't. It really is just for peace of mind and really does work on easing my anxiety!
So that's the end of my little list of top tips for travelling/flying with anxiety! It wasn't too focused on dealing with a fear of flying as much as the anxieties that just come from being confined in a small, compact space for a long period of time. It is pretty common I find so I hope that it helped a few of you (even though some of the tips I found very general and a bit obvious, personally).
Here are a couple disposables (the only decent ones actually) from my last holiday abroad.
Happy flying!
xxrachel
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