Getting Your Travel Injections – When the Worst Happens

October 4, 2014 by Dan 2 Comments

Before I left England to travel, my only experience of injections came from school. Once a year every class would get rounded up for injection day – which sounds like the worst holiday imaginable.

This was one of the days I feared the most, I’d stay awake the night before worrying, trying to convince myself it would all be ok.

Back then I was mostly just afraid of the pain. Injections are somewhat painful, there’s no way to get around it. Nobody enjoys getting an injection, even those of us with no real fear of getting them.
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Avoiding Social Interaction While Traveling

September 27, 2014 by Dan 6 Comments

I pace quickly up the hill. My feet slamming into the mud of the trail.

My heart is racing, my body sweating. Legs ache, lungs burn. I can’t stop though. There’s something in the trees behind me. Something scary. Not a bear or a monster. Much worse than that.

My housemates.

Now you may think from my last post about socialising while travelling, that I’m a lover of conversation. The truth is, I hate it. I am a level 99 ninja at avoiding it. There’s a lot I’d go through to get out of a conversation. Including climbing a mountain.

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Social Anxiety and Travel

September 20, 2014 by Dan 3 Comments

The world of travel is a scary one, whether it’s going up tall buildings, flying in airplanes or simply trying to cross the road in Vietnam. There’s plenty of things out there to fear.

One of the greatest fears for many of us though is something that we’re confronted with every day – even at home: other people.

Whenever I have to socialise, I get a sinking feeling of dread in my stomach. My body physically shrivels just at the thought of some social situations. My stomach gets tight and my head swims. I look for excuses to get out of it.

All I want is to escape.

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Driving an Old Car in New Zealand=Anxiety

September 10, 2014 by Jamie 3 Comments

I’ve been fortunate enough to live in a wonderful country. At the same time, however, I’ve been cursed with an old car to tour the said wonderful country. Okay, I shouldn’t say cursed. I chose this car (as did Daniel). But when you’re on a bit of a budget while traveling, you try and choose the cheapest options. Whether it’s accommodation, food, or attractions, you obviously want to keep the price as low as possible.

Although it’s not always the case, sometimes you really get what you pay for.

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Fear of Heights: Going To The Top of Tall Buildings

August 26, 2014 by Dan 2 Comments

As long as tall objects have existed, there have always been people stupid enough to go to the top of them.

Whether it be massive trees, huge pyramids, or gargantuan mountains, throughout history it seems one thing all humans share in common is a zest to reach high places.

My question is: why? Are we as a species completely fucking nuts? It’s built into all of us is an innate sense of curiosity when it comes to heights. In me, that curiosity also seems to lead to fear. It’s only rational though. Tall places mean falling, falling means death. Why I wonder do we constantly put ourselves into positions where falling is more probable? Where death is more likely.

Why do we love to go so high?

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My Struggles With Travel Hypochondria

August 20, 2014 by Dan 2 Comments

Anxiety for me goes off and on. My life is like a series of peaks and troughs. Some periods I feel great, everything is fine. Then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, I’m stressing out about everything in existence.

The annoyance with the troughs in life are that sometimes they seem to be hard to pull yourself out of, eventually it can seem almost impossible.

Your anxiety can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy – never is this more true than when you’re having bouts of hypochondria. [Read more...]

Dealing With Toilet Anxiety While Traveling

July 24, 2014 by Dan 8 Comments

One of my strongest fears while traveling is that I’ll need the toilet, but there’ll be nowhere to go.

It’s a strange fear, but a common one. I don’t know how it came about for me, but it can turn traveling into a nightmare and spoil a holiday if I don’t keep it under control. Often that’s impossible.

Whenever I need to take a long bus ride I always have that voice in my head screaming, “WHAT IF! WHAT IF! WHAT IF!” I don’t worry about the bus falling off a cliff or a car crashing into us, I instead worry about the bathroom. [Read more...]

Taking Your First Steps in Traveling Alone

July 19, 2014 by Dan 2 Comments

Traveling alone takes balls. Big balls.

We spend our whole lives with a support group around us. For years our parents look after us, stepping in whenever we have a problem or need help.

Soon we gain friends to take over from our parents. If trouble pops up there’s always somebody to lean on. Somebody to listen, give advice, to help.

Traveling alone means giving up that support network. It means complete reliance on one person–yourself. Once you learn to depend on yourself you gain a deeper sense of who you are. You experience true independence, but taking those first steps can be hard. [Read more...]

I’ve Acquired a (Mis)Pronunciation Phobia While in New Zealand

July 12, 2014 by Jamie 8 Comments

It’s probably no surprise to anyone who knows me that I get embarrassed quite easily. Often times, this makes traveling difficult. To be a traveler, you can’t be afraid to make a fool out of yourself because it’s inevitable. If you’re an anxious, easily embarrassed person (like I am), it might even hold you back from traveling, and seeing new places.

I’m not afraid of going to new places, per se. I’m afraid of making a fool out of myself when I don’t know the how to’s of a new place: how to order from a Korean restaurant, how to fill up a tank of gas in New Zealand, and how to pronounce an unfamiliar word. Although an eloquent writer, I’m pretty horrible at speaking. [Read more...]

Fear of Financial Ruin: The Stress of Finding a Job While Traveling

July 10, 2014 by Dan 4 Comments

Travel ain’t cheap.

Hotels. Restaurants. Buses. Planes. Trains. Automobiles. If you’re going to travel long-term you need to make a strict budget and you need to plan ahead. Otherwise one day you’ll wake up, find your bank account empty and you’ll have to do the last thing you want to do: go home.

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