As an experienced traveller, I can say with absolutely certainty that at times, travel can be stressful. For most of us, travel = holidays and holidays = fun! Right? Wrong! There are so many different ways to travel and some of those are just plain work! My first international trip was to South East Asia when I was 21 was my best mate and we backpacked. While it was a magnificent journey, it was like a full-time job. So how do you avoid all of that and simply have a relaxed, enjoyable and stress-free holiday?
How To Travel Stress Free ::
1. Choose an organised holiday
Benefit from the experience of others and book yourself on an organised holiday. This industry has grown exponentially, with organised holidays on offer for every destination imaginable and experience. Here are just a few examples of what’s now on offer.
Cruising
Undoubtedly, cruising has become one of the most popular ways to travel. Why? Imagine if you could take your bedroom on holidays with you, have meals provided throughout the day and night, have endless entertainment options, holiday with people similar in age and lifestyle and visit new and exciting places everyday without having to open the page of a travel guide or website? Welcome to the world of cruising, where your itinerary, entertainment, meals and accommodation, are all inclusive. All you need to do is turn up!
The amount of cruises now on offer is pretty mind boggling, for example, do you want to go:
- Ocean cruising
- River cruising in Europe
- Adventure cruising (eg. Antartica)
- Wildlife cruising (eg. whales)
Group tours
If you’d prefer to stick to dry land for your stress-free holiday, get yourself on to a group tour. You can visit any corner of the globe and choose the type of tour you’re after, for example:
- Action and adventure (eg. hiking, skiing)
- Food (my favourite, yum!)
- Culture and history
- Wildlife (e.g. safaris)
Tour operators will also target or attract a certain demographic, so you can choose your destinations and the type of people you’d most like to travel with.
2. Top tips for independent travel
If you want to travel independently, here’s a bit of a checklist to help you plan your holiday:
- What’s your budget?
- How long do you have in total?
- Where do you want to go?
Either consult a travel agent, the web or people you’ve known who have travelled to your desired destinations to help you determine the total costs of your airfares, insurance, accommodation, food, transport, entertainment and daily spending. Then map your itinerary based on places and sites of interest you want to visit and allocate travel time between these. Also research cultural do’s and don’ts and other things you need to be aware of, or certain items you’ll need to take (e.g. malaria medication). Then make your travel bookings and start the countdown until your departure!
Most of us are pretty stressed and time poor, so when it comes to holidays, most of us are looking for maximum relaxation and minimum stress. If this sounds like you, opt for an organised holiday and let someone else do all the hard work for you!
Thanks for sharing your insights and tips on How To Travel Stress Free!
Bio :: Danielle Johnsson is a Brisbane-based freelance writer, a mother of two and a collector of tid-bits and fun facts
What Are Your Travel Stress Free Tips?
** this is a guest blog post **
Cheers
Lisa
New Life on the Road
We love independent travel, although I do look forward to letting other people plan them for me when I am older. Our trips with children were always quite long road trips which was challenging. We only have two children but they nearly always fought in the back seat of the car. Now that they are grown those holidays take on a rosy glow, although they were not always at the time 🙂 Road trips are still a favourite though.
budget jan recently posted..Fantastic Friday in Peurto Lope Spain
Love road trips! Yeah hear you about how they can fight in the back in a car! Love exploring and taking off 😉
I think any travel is good for the soul xx
We prefer independent travel, but I do find it is important to take practical steps to reduce stress when traveling with children, like traveling slow, not trying to pack too much in and ALWAYS carry snacks and water. Stick to this and stress less 🙂
Gina – Our Global Adventure recently posted..Why I DON’T Love the Locks on the Bridges
Yeah we have to carry LOTS Of food and water for our boys 🙂
Independent travel will be on the back burner for me. When I start traveling abroad I definitely will be looking into group tours – baby steps, ya know? I’m very interested in a cruise – first and foremost because I constantly hear about the food ha, ha!! These are fantastic suggestions and I definitely want my first experiences to be stress-free. Great post, Lisa! 🙂
Mike recently posted..The Part II Top 10 Steven Spielberg Movies Finale
Thanks Mike {actually it was a guest post so its not my words!!} We are looking at doing a cruise around Christmas time for the exact same reasons – for the food!!
Great post! I can totally relate. In my opinion there’s a big difference between a holiday and travel. Very different experiences, during long term travel I sometimes feel like a actually need a holiday.. travel can be really stressful especially during those travel days when you’ve spent 18 hours on a bus with no sleep.. I actually wrote a post about some general observations I’v gained from my long term travel experiences that I think really relate to your post, check it out here: Long Term Travel Observations. Hopefully your readers will get something out of it 🙂
Pete – Long Term Travel recently posted..5 Famous Must See Attractions in Amsterdam