The Globetrotters Nemesis: Travel Burnout

When planning an exciting round-the-world trip you will probably imagine yourself on the beach, meeting new friends and partying. You may worry about potential problems like getting ripped off or loosing your passport but you are unlikely to imagine getting sick and tired of the whole travel experience, but getting tired of travel on a long trip is actually quite a normal (even inevitable) part of the experience, so here's my guide to dealing with the dreaded travel burnout.

What is travel burnout?

Travel burnout is the point during your trip where you get fed-up. You're not enjoying experiences the way you once were; a beautiful sunset is now just another sunset, a bustling city is now overcrowded and meeting new friends feels like a chore. But when you take a long trip on your own, on a budget, you will be putting yourself under quite a lot of pressure; transport will be hot, overcrowded and unreliable, budget accommodation will be uncomfortable, haggling can be difficult and travelling solo can be lonely, so at some point during your trip it's quite likely you will snap.

Personal Experience

My worst episode of travel burnout happened 4 months into my trip in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I'd had quite a difficult few days travelling across the Laos border spending hours on buses, so I was tired, jaded and primed for burnout.

There were no seats left on the bus, so I'm sitting on the engine casing at the back... it was so HOT, there was nothing to sit back against and the journey took hours.

I decided to get my laundry done when I arrived in Siem Reap and took advantage of my hostel's laundry service. I got my clothes back the next day and although on first appearances they looked clean and pressed when I got them out of the bag they were still fairly dirty and four pairs of my knickers had big holes in the crotch.

Normally I would have been a bit annoyed or disappointed about this, but I was on the edge of travel burnout and the knickers were the final straw... I became inconsolable. I started crying and couldn't stop myself, I felt like I had looked after my possessions for months and suddenly they had been ruined, I felt like my knickers were irreplaceable and I felt fed up of travelling. My poor roommate came in during my melt down and although she sympathised with my situation I think she was very confused by my reaction. I complained to the management and despite trying to remain composed I was very teary, again the poor guy looked a little taken aback, but they re-washed my clothes and he was quite apologetic about the knickers.

At the time I knew I was being fairly ridiculous but I couldn't help my reaction, I was exhausted and feeling lonely and needed some time-out. I spent a few days being miserable but luckily for me I happened to meet up with some friends who were also in Siem Reap. I spent the next few weeks travelling with them which resolved my burnout, for the rest of my time in Cambodia I had two friends to share the fun experiences with but I also had someone else do the planning, organising and haggling for a bit!

How to fix travel burnout:

Slow down- trying to visit a long list of destinations and attractions in a short space of time is exhausting. Take a few days to chill out, have a lie-in and just enjoy where you are. Don't think of this break as a waste of time, this is time well spent if it helps to shake off the burnout.

Upgrade- Travelling on a budget is hard work, so give yourself a break. Stay in a nice (air-con) room for a few nights, eat at a restaurant rather than eating street food, or take the tourist bus rather than the local bus. You don't have to blow your budget, but a little treat is a good investment.

Have a dose of normality- Sometimes a trip to the cinema is all you need to beat the blues, it will feel like you're at home again for a few hours!

Change your itinerary- Don't be afraid to change your plans, if you don't like a destination just leave. Similarly if you have made friends somewhere and you're having fun stay a bit longer. I did exactly that in Koh Tao. Also, if you are travelling solo, it is definitely worth adjusting your itinerary to travel with new friends for a bit.

Change continent- It may not be enough to change city or country, it might be time to change the continent you are travelling! After 5 months in South East Asia I was ready for a change; although each country was different with it's own attractions, food and culture I was feeling fed-up. When I arrived in New Zealand  the change of culture and scenery left me feeling re-energised and motivated.

But if you really can't shake the blues, it may also be time to just go home...

From C to D...

To get from Chaing Mai to the Thai/Laos border at Chaing Khong I decided to travel by tourist minibus. I usually try to avoid being shuttled around in minibuses with other westerners, preferring instead to take the cheaper and more authentic local buses, but as they can be unreliable and I had to cross the border that day to avoid overstaying my visa, I decided it would be better to travel the tourist way... and what a great decision that turned out to be!

Unbeknown to me, tourist minibuses sometimes make sight-seeing stops on route to their destination; and to my surprise our bus was stopping at the 'White Temple' in Chaing Rai.  I'd heard a lot about the 'White Temple' and was keen to visit but I hadn't had the chance to before my visa ran out, so i was thrilled that we were stopping by. Wat Rong Khun or the 'White Temple' has got to be one of the most beautiful temples in Thailand, it is the very unique and contemporary creation of Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipatas and is a living work of art. The temple is completely white to represent Buddha's purity and is decorated with a mosaic of mirrors that sparkle in the sun . To get into the temple (heaven), you have to cross a bridge over a pit of hell with protruding sculptures of outstretched hands. Inside the temple, the four walls are painted with a FANTASTIC mural (I wasn't allowed to take photos) combining traditional Buddhist motifs with modern themes. The back wall has images of 'defilements and temptations', including the devil, George Bush, and other familiar images such as Batman, the Terminator and The Twin Towers. The two middle walls show images of Thai people floating on Lotus leaves away from such temptations towards the front wall which has a fabulous mural of Buddha. I was so very impressed by the temple and could have spent hours admiring it's beauty, but we had a journey to make, and so we all piled back into the minibus and headed to the border.

After a few hours, we arrived at the border town of Chiang Khong where I was due to get off the bus, and make my own way across the border and onto my next destination of Luang Prabang. Everyone else had paid to travel all the way to Luang Prabang via boat the next morning or a night bus. I hadn't decided what I was going to do, but the solution soon presented itself when through general confusion and incompetence I got mistaken for having paid for the entire bus journey to Luang Prabang. Not wishing to correct this mistake, I let people give me the tickets I needed for a free ride all the way to Luang Prabang. Now, I realise this is dishonest... but I'm on a budget, and I thought 'why not?!'.

The crossing from Thailand to Laos was, as ever, unique. The border between the two is created by the huge Mekong river, and in order to enter Laos I got into a flimsy little boat with my huge backpack on, and was ferried across the river! It was a short but beautiful ride, and it was very cool to see Thailand on one river bank and Laos on the other.

Once I passed through border control, I was ushered into a sangthew (taxi) and then onto the bus bound for Luang Prabang.  I was lucky to get a seat on the bus -especially as I hadn't paid- because when the seats ran out, people had to sit on small plastic stools in the aisle! One guy found this arrangement so uncomfortable (it was a 12 hour journey) that he eventually gave up on the stool and slept on the floor. The poor passengers in the aisle also had to share the space with a motorbike that was being transported to Luang Prabang in the bus. This proved a ridiculous arrangement when people had to clamber over it to get on/off the bus. Stranger still, during the night the bus conductor decided that the bike would make a good bed, and so he slept stretched out on the bike with a pillow in between the handle bars!

For me, sleeping was difficult, and patchy. The roads wound their way through the mountains and I regularly got woken up as I slid into the people next to me, or because the driver kept slamming on the breaks to avoid hitting other vehicles.

But, the journey was free, and on time! We arrived into Luang Prabang at 6 AM, 22 hours after I had left Thailand; I was thoroughly exhausted and in desperate need for sleep, but I was very excited to be in beautiful Laos.