Getting Overwhelmed

Everyone I know thinks that planning trips is super easy for me. . . WRONG! I often get overwhelmed with the planning process. Sure, it’s fun and exciting to think about where you might be going, but it can also be super stressful. I will admit it was much more stressful when the girls were younger. I did not want them to have a bad time, be overwhelmed and not want to travel again. I wanted them to love travel as much as I do. All of those things did end up happening on trips and I can confidently say that they still love to travel. Things happen. All of your trips do not go as planned. It’s how we handle them that can make or break a trip.

As a teacher it is much easier for me to relax about anything that goes wrong on a trip during the summer. I have time and will not miss work. If I am traveling during the school year, it is much more stressful. Even though I leave time to make sure that I am back in time for work, things happen. Our Alaska trip is an example and it ended up costing us a lot of money because I was not willing to figure out what would happen if I wasn’t back. Obviously Andy always has to worry about being back, but I have noticed that if I am not worried it is much easier for him to relax and realize we will figure it out. In the case of Alaska, I think both of us panicking ended up costing us more money than it needed to. Live and learn.

I tend to plan far enough ahead that if I get overwhelmed I can just walk away and come back to it another day. It works for me. And usually while I have walked away from planning my brain is still working on it in the background and a solution presents itself. The hard trips are the ones that you can’t walk away from because you do not have the luxury of time. In that case, if you are traveling with someone, involve them! When push came to shove to plan Egypt and Morocco, Andy got on another computer and we tagged team planned. It was really his first time helping (my choice, not his) and it worked really well. He had great ideas I had not thought of and bouncing ideas back and forth can make for an even better trip than you planned. And he enjoyed it! I had just tried to plan everything in the past because he has a busy job and I didn’t want the planning to cause him any stress.

If you are traveling on your own and get overwhelmed you can try a strategy I have used a few times. I end up looking up suggested itineraries on the internet. That gives me a framework to work with. I can then take out anything I don’t like and add in things that appeal to me more. It doesn’t really matter how you plan, it is just what works for you. Some people like to have tours and tour guides. Do it! Some people like to plan it all on their own. Do it! Some people buy plane tickets and have a rough outline. Do it! Whatever works for you is perfect.