Nearly Half of Travelers Have Trip Anxiety—What Can We Do About It?

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Mar 26, 2026

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In mid-2025, when my husband first announced a company conference in China, I was ecstatic. We could extend our travel around Asia at essentially no additional cost, outside of my own flight on miles and our hotel accommodations. I meticulously plotted for months using a new-to-me tool (more on that to come), and asked everyone for their recommendations across Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Then last week, a few days before we left, a familiar feeling came creeping in.

For as long as I can remember, before any big trip, I’ve experienced severe anxiety. I already live with generalized anxiety, but this particular feeling compounds: What if I never return home? What if I never get to see my dog again? What if an emergency happens when I’m abroad and I can’t reach my family? What if something happens on the plane?

Inevitably, I’ll power through, and by the time I reach my destination, that anxiety has dissipated. This cycle is predictable, sure, and that helps me recognize it’s coming, but the existential dread makes me panic.

I’d also tell my husband about those intrusive thoughts, while on the brink of tears. He’d be gentle and reassuring, but at one point several years ago, he told me this started giving him anxiety, too—which made me feel worse. Even now, I notice his palpable anxiety when we leave for a trip longer than a few days, or his discomfort if the plane hits turbulence.

For someone who lives to travel, it’s a disconcerting feeling. Why is it that I feel this way? Is it common? What can I do about it, beyond facing it head on? After many years of wondering—and in case this helps you, as well—I asked the experts.

Almost immediately, I felt a sense of relief, because nearly every professional I heard from affirmed that pre-travel anxiety is extremely common, even among those who love to roam the world. In fact, Dr. Anne Josephson, a licensed psychologist at Uptown Psychology, shared, “While I can’t cite a number because this is self-reported, I hear about it in approximately half of my patients.” While surprising to hear—50% is not a small number—there was comfort in knowing I’m not alone.

I also wanted to understand the root cause of why we feel this way. Dr. Josephson continued, “Often times when we plan something that is far away, we only focus on the positive and the wonderful things we anticipate happening on the trip. However, as the event approaches, we can sometimes fixate on all the anticipated challenges. I often speak to people about being dialectical in your thinking…of holding two equally opposing things at the same time. Travel can be exciting and a pathway to explore so many new things and can also be challenging and exhausting.”

This idea—that we anticipate challenges—was one I heard about repeatedly, and I can of course see why that’s valid. There was another major theme, too, that popped up: The shift from agency and routine to a lack of control and increased uncertainty.

Kristina Sarkisova, a psychotherapist in Texas and Louisiana, put it this way: “The shift often takes place when the departure date approaches, because that’s when travel moves from abstract planning (a stage in which we have a lot of agency) to concrete logistics filled with unpredictable factors beyond our control. This takes us from a place of prefrontal cortex dominance to one of limbic system activation—or in other words, from our higher-order thinking and emotional regulation mode to our threat detection and survival response mode. Essentially, our capacity for calm anticipation gets overridden by scanning the unknown for potential threats.”

She shared that this is worse for those who already experience hyper-vigilance (read: every woman I know), which connected a lot of dots for me personally, and for neurodivergent travelers who might deal with exacerbated stress in unfamiliar environments.

So what’s a traveler to do?

Several therapists recommended creating a “sensory comfort kit,” or a collection of items that soothe your nervous system. Kristina suggested a specific playlist, a favorite snack, fidget spinners, comfortable clothing, or a specific scent. It’s funny—I actually have a flight playlist I made years ago that I play on repeat sometimes when I’m anxious. It turns out I was building a comfort kit for myself unknowingly; now I can be more intentional.
Another strategy I heard repeatedly was to build in buffer time when you first arrive to your destination or between activities. Give yourself time to settle in, move through overwhelm, and shift from the stress of transit to being in the present. Kate Stack, who’s been traveling full-time for four years, had similar advice: “Anxiety can also come in waves—and something that’s often overlooked is how exhausting that can be. It’s not just the feeling itself, but the comedown afterwards. I’ve learned to treat that the same way I would physical exertion—you need recovery. Whether that’s slowing things down, resting more, or keeping your schedule lighter before departure, it all helps regulate your nervous system. In a way, that recovery becomes part of the ‘training’—it actually builds your capacity to handle those feelings over time.”
Kristina also suggested mentally rehearsing the most stressful aspects of travel—that could be checking into a hotel in another language, taking public transit, or making it through takeoff (when my anxiety spikes the most). You can pair this with a grounding anchor, like “pressing your feet into the ground or deep, slow breathing.” She says this rehearsal helps us in three ways: “pre-empting what may be most difficult about these situations and preparing coping strategies ahead of time, making them less activating by experiencing them in a calm environment first, and helping make the unfamiliar more familiar, so it engages less of our threat detection systems on the day.”
It’s okay—encouraged, even—to admit you’re feeling uncomfortable and to normalize the discomfort. Cara Laban, who runs Anxiety-Free Travel, a Facebook community of people who love to travel but struggle with the anxiety that kicks in before a trip, says, “The most engaged posts are always some version of, ‘Does anyone else get anxious before a trip, even though you want to go?’ And the answer is often yes.” Addressing that head-on can reduce that secondary anxiety of, “Why aren’t I as excited as I should be?” After you’ve admitted this, sometimes the anxiety itself can ease; Kate shared how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has helped: “Rather than trying to get rid of anxiety, the idea is to make space for it. When I feel it rising, I consciously soften instead of tense—expanding my body, breathing into the sensation, and allowing it to move rather than resisting it. It sounds simple, but it changes the relationship you have with the feeling. Anxiety tends to pass more easily when it’s not being fought.”
Finally, given all of the above, prepare as much as possible: Download offline maps, figure out your itinerary, and print out your tickets if you need to. Get as much back into your control, and that will reduce your cognitive stress. Remind yourself that you’ve been in unfamiliar situations before and survived them. (Maybe even thrived.)

When I heard from Kate, she shared one final note that stuck with me: “We’re living in a time where we’re encouraged to ‘live our best lives’ and travel more than ever, but at the same time we’re constantly exposed to negative news and worst-case scenarios. (Ed. note: It’s true! TSA delays, understaffed airports, freak accidents.) That creates a kind of internal conflict—part of us wants to explore, while another part wants to stay safe. So if someone feels anxious before a trip, it doesn’t mean they’re not suited to travel—it just means they’re human.”

Frankly, hearing this and knowing that anxiety is common even amongst seasoned travelers was a relief in and of itself. And now I feel better prepared tactically on what I can do for the future. I doubt my anxiety will disappear entirely—it’s a defense mechanism designed to protect you, after all—but I feel less inclined to let it get to me as much. If you feel similarly before trips, I hope this helps you, too.

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