Travel Diaries

Travel fear is something that I haven’t come across very often. Having travelled from a young age and never having any bad experiences, travelling for me has been nothing but a mind expanding enjoyable thing. But after a short time at college learning about both package tours and tailor-made holidays it seems that there is a somewhat scary feeling about travelling. There are a few common causes of Travel fear:

Travel Fear #1 – The Fear of the Unknown

Firstly, wading into the unknown is something that people just generally don’t like to do. It’s the fear of change that gets people. Not having all the luxuries and comforts of home can be a huge factor of people’s travelling habits. For example, some people would prefer to travel in their own country so that they still have some kind of safety blanket. They know the language, they can still get hold of their favorite foods and the climate will be very similar. Travelling in your own country is obviously not a bad thing (I’d absolutely love to see more of the UK and have a fantastic time when I do so) but I think a lot of people tend to do this rather than going further afield because of fear.

Travel Fear #2- Economic Fears

Secondly, the economic climate is less than perfect at the moment. It seems like every other week another company ends up down the toilet and this can only further the fear of those who are looking to travel. Substantial amounts of money is spent in the industry every year and people are very worried about where their money is going and what they are getting for it. If you’re going to pay £2000 for your yearly holiday it makes sense to be fairly nervous when spending it.

Travel Fear #3 – The Fear of Technology

For those of us that are nifty with technology, using the internet is an almost faultless (notice I said almost!) way to research, plan and book our holidays. For those who are less technologically inclined or just don’t have access to the web it can be a daunting task! When booking online you are signing contracts whether you actually read the terms of service or not, there’s a lot of jargon that can trip us up along the way and some people still just don’t feeling safe using their bank details online. Even reading that back makes me a little worried!

Travel Fear #4 – Media Perceptions

Lastly but defiantly not least, the media plays a massive part in peoples perceptions. Even one little article in the nightly newspaper or on the news can have a huge detrimental affect on people’s perceptions. Take for example some of the world more popular clubbing destinations. Many of these areas have a huge amount of culture and beauty but are looked over as holiday destinations because they have a stigma attached to them.

If there is one thing that I’ve learned in my 19 years (a long time I know!) it’s that taking chance is something that you should do regardless of how nervous it makes you. If you don’t take a chance on travelling outside your comfort zone, if you don’t take the chance that your holiday might not have been worth all that money, if you don’t attempt to use technology to your advantage and if you don’t try things out for yourself you will be severely missing out. You should have the same opportunities as everyone else so don’t take that away from yourself! Take the plunge..

Whilst milling around twitter and other blogs I came across a post by Wandering Earl which fits in quite nicely with this. He talks about the fear of travelling on your own so go and have a look around there for some more reading!

Do you have a fear about travelling that stops you from reaching your goals?

Technorati Tags: comfort zone, Fear, nervous, Travelling

Lots of people take holidays during the December time, it’s perfect because flights will get cheaper to fill them up over Christmas Day/Boxing Day, the airports won’t be so busy and everyone will generally be in a cheery mood.

However, travelling abroad at this time was always strange for me; suddenly your traditions are switched. You might be eating lobster or sushi instead of turkey on Christmas Day!

My family has never been particularly religious, nor have we ever celebrated a holiday in any religious way so we don’t go to church. We do have traditions though, being brought up in the UK we have always celebrated Christmas holiday. We eat turkey, beef, lamb with all the trimmings, open presents in the morning and spend the day together doing something fun.

I’ve been away for three Christmases, all when I was quite young.

First was when I was about 9, we went on a cruise in Europe, going to places like Italy and the Mediterranean. The cruise itself was terrible and I was so seasick the entire time, we left the cruise early to get back home for Christmas and we ended up having a pretty normal Christmas.

Second time we were away was on another cruise, this time I wasn’t seasick and the trip was amazing. The heat of Grenada was slightly overwhelming for Christmas Day but it was still cool to be there! It felt weird to be waking up not excited about presents but about the island that was about to greet us!

Third and finally was a hotel in Miami, this was probably the weirdest Christmas out of the lot, the sand, sea and food took me by complete surprise. I distinctly remember my sister eating alphabet soup which threw me. Where were the Brussels sprouts?

Would I go again at Christmas?

I think I’ll go somewhere with snow, possibly on a Skiing holiday or to Finland. Right now I wouldn’t like to be somewhere sunny and hot but things change… Who knows?

Another post I’ve found which has a cool illustrated diagram of holiday travelling statistics in her blog is Simply Stacie!

Have you taken any trips during the Christmas holidays that threw you? Or did you really enjoy it, I’d love to hear your comments below!

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Holidays, Travelling