If you’re only in the thinking stages of full time travel, you may not have thought that full time travel can cause bouts of boredom and burnout. In fact, both can happen, and, if you’re planning to live this amazing life, it’s important you know how to navigate these likely events.

Burnout

When you first start traveling full time it’s a constant adventure. Everything is new and exciting. When I first started my travels, I changed cities every few days. I loved the constant variety and movement, at the time. In my second year of travel, however, I found myself extending a 3-day reservation in a town called Posadas, Argentina. It’s such a non-descript town there isn’t even a tourist office or industry there, so I couldn’t understand why I wanted to stay longer. First I extended my reservation by a few days. Days became two weeks. That’s when I realized I needed a break from moving around so frequently. I gave in to being exhausted and devoted my time to walks, catching up on blog posts, and, generally, not spending any time planning my next move.

What I learned is, there’s a rhythm you need to find for your travels. That rhythm is different for different people, and for different periods of your travel adventure.  The first year of travel is full of lessons about your ideal rhythm. You’ll have to figure out things like how frequently you’ll change locations, what transportation you’ll use to get around and so forth. A lot of time gets spent figuring out where to stay and how to get there, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts.

Signs Of Burnout

Some signs you might be suffering from travel burnout are:

• feeling bored, and wanting to stay in your room all day
• lack of interest in researching where to travel and what there is to see in your current location
• overall fatigue
• general aversion to planning your next destination(s)

What To Do If You’re Burned Out Traveling

If you get the urge to slow down, give in. Take the signal from your body, and plan an extended stay in one place. “Extended” can be different lengths of time depending on you. Start by doubling the amount of time you’ve booked, and as the checkout date comes up, if you’re still feeling exhausted by the idea of moving again, extend your stay. Sometimes you need to feel like you’ve got a “home base” for a while, to get your traveling mojo back.

Travel Boredom

This can be one of the fears that causes you to avoid traveling full time, especially if you’re planning to quit a job that bores you. If you’ve been shut in during the pandemic, cooped up and bored out of your mind, the last thing you’d want to do is find yourself bored at something else.

Travel boredom often goes hand-in-hand with the burnout. You may question why you’re on this journey. You may be shocked that, after a few months in a country you’ve been dreaming of visiting your whole life, you’re sick and tired of seeing the sites. In Asia, I got tired of seeing temples after a few months, castles in Europe can lose their allure, and gorgeous scenery that all looks the same eventually isn’t as exciting as it once was. This is a natural part of full time travel, especially if you’re spending months or a year in the same region of the world.

Travel boredom can set in after the first two weeks you start traveling, especially if you’ve given up a corporate job to do it. That’s about when you’ll realize you aren’t returning home after vacation, you’re continuing onwards. That moment where your mind swithes from seeing your journey as a vacation, to seeing it as an indefinite experience is a momentous milestone.

The Truth About Travel Boredom

When you travel full time, you are fully responsible for your time, and how you fill it. This is a dramatic shift from working for a company who plans all your time for you with meetings and deadlines.

Depending on what you do, this can be empowering or this can be terrifying. There was a moment in my first year of full time travel when I was unhappy about something. I remember the sudden epiphany that I had created my unhappiness. Once I acknowledged that, I realized I could recreate my circumstances and allow myself to be happy. However, the epiphany took time to come to me, and it was hard to acknowledge that I created my own unhappiness.

Dealing With Boredom

Luckily, travel offeres so many ways to fight boredom. It’s a sign you may need to shake things up.  Try a new food, walk on a new street, find a new beautiful spot, go to a new market, try and learn a new language, take a class or a tour…the options are endless!

Full time travel is an experience where you realize you have control of the life you want to live, and you have the time to contemplate and create the changes you want. It’s enormous freedom, and a work in progress to claim the power you have to create the life you want. Ready to explore full time travel? Let’s chat!