Typical Triggers for Travel Anxiety

‘Human beings like the illusion of certainty, but travel brings uncertainty into our realm — and that can trigger anxiety,’ (Seiger, 2022)

Travel anxiety can be sparked by many different fears and phobias, and is entirely personal to each individual (your own personal brand of travel anxiety, shall we say). However, having spoken to our community of anxious travellers, there do seem to be some common triggers:

• Anxiety around crowded airports or feeling trapped 
• Fears about airport security (triggered, again, by a perception of being trapped or a fear of fainting)
• Anxiety around missing flights or being stranded in an unfamiliar place
• Fear of flying (fear of crashing, fear of having a panic attack on a flight or fear of you, or others, falling unwell)
• Anxiety around managing mental health far from your ‘safe space’ 
• Anxiety that your own anxiety will burden your travel companions
• Anxiety around germs (exasperated by living in a post-Covid world)
• Fear of falling unwell while away and not being able to get home
• The fear of the unknown, e.g. how does the public transport system work? What will the hotel be like? Will I like it?

‘I need to know everything about where we are going: what the place looks like, what the rooms look like, where the beds are positioned, what road it’s on […], you name it, I need to know it. Travel anxiety starts when booking, really’ – Community member.