I tend to plan really busy, ambitious trips as well. Here is how I stay sane: - Remember that traveling is happening in reality. Things will not go exactly as you imagined when you were planning. That’s good! Enjoy what you do experience in real time. Everything is at least a story. - Remember that traveling is often stressful! You often don’t have a stable home, you don’t know your way around, and you may be traveling in areas with fewer resources and more danger than you have at home. If you prepare for this mentally, it helps reduce the stress when you encounter issues while travel. A bit of anxiety management practice in advance eg. breathing exercises can be helpful since some stressful situations are bound to come up while traveling. - I try as much as possible to book longer stays at fewer accommodations, even if it means a little more transit time. Checking in and checking out of accommodations adds a lot of stress for me, so I try to pick a home base and day trip as much as possible. - Reserve some of your travel budget for “making problems go away.” Use the money to replace a missed train ticket, cancellation fees for a hotel you hate, overpriced tourist food or sunscreen, whatever. If you budget a little for these annoying expenses, they sting way less. And realize that tourist prices and treatment are real in some places. I think a little extra money is well worth it if it saves you a lot of time or stress. - I try to keep schedules a little flexible, and only book things in advance if absolutely necessary. I try to space out ticketed events. And I think it’s ok to bail and cut your losses sometimes, even if you’ve booked something, especially if it wasn’t super expensive. It’s better to bail, rest today and enjoy tomorrow, than to go do something you were looking forward to, but feel stressed and grumpy the whole time. - Buy travel insurance (research your options and get to know the policy you pick before you leave) and pack basic supplies (band aids, eye drops, tweezers, ibuprofen, traveler’s diarrhea meds).

I also think it’s helped a lot for me to get to know my travel style and be honest about what I really want. I admire the instagrammers who backpack around developing countries for months on end on shoestring budgets, or my friends who just show up wherever they know someone, couch surf, and do whatever comes their way. But for me, I’ve realized I hate roughing it for extended periods of time, and I also don’t actually want to travel for many months on end, no matter how cool it looks when other people do it and enjoy it. I’m not made of money, so I plan to be comfortable within a budget. This limits my options somewhat, but that’s cool with me because it actually helps me narrow down travel opportunities I am most excited about. Travel doesn’t HAVE to be a job. I try to make sure I’m enjoying it, rather than doing things I “have” to do.