Self-care is such a buzzword in 2023, but what does it even mean? Why do I need to practice self-care while traveling and having fun? Self-care is a pretty broad term to cover anything that you do to care for yourself physically, mentally or emotionally. Many people will understand the need to take care of themselves physically, but often taking care of ourselves mentally and emotionally can be overlooked. Travel can be such an amazing experience and even an act of self-care in itself. On the flip side, the reality of travel, such as homesickness, long bus journeys, getting sick overseas, and loneliness, can make a huge impact on mental health. Practising self-care while traveling and being aware of how you are feeling will help you to have a better trip overall.
Let’s talk about travel burn out
Every time I make a Tik Tok about self-care while traveling, I get the same few nasty comments and messages. It’s always people calling me overdramatic for talking about travel burnout. Or people, “Why don’t you just stop traveling and go home then?”. Or (my personal favourite), “There are people working 3 jobs just to survive; stop whinging about being tired on holiday”.
I will say there is an inherent privilege in being able to travel and being able to backpack for long periods of time. And in an ideal world, you would have an amazing time 100% of your trip. In reality, many travellers will get burnt out, become run down and physically ill from doing too much or just drain their social batteries from hostel culture. It is totally valid to express your feelings if you are not having the best time while traveling. A lot of the time, it is temporary, and you can practice self-care, so you can get back to having the amazing trip you want to be having.
You do not have to visit every attraction in every destination
In 8 years of backpacking, this has been the hardest lesson I’ve had to learn but the most valuable. It’s so tempting when you get to a new place to look up the top 10 (or whatever number) things to do in that place, and then you feel like you should do or try them all. You may only have 3 days in this place, and then try to squeeze in 10 different activities so you don’t feel like you’ve missed out.
I’m here to tell you, you don’t have to see “everything” in a place. Are you in Paris and don’t feel like lining up for hours to climb the Eiffel Tower? Cool, don’t do it. If you feel like just chilling in a cute cafe instead, do that. Not every “bucket list” sight or activity is for every person. By all means, still research the best things to do in a certain destination. Once you have that list, though, think about the things that actually excite YOU. Not what Becky, your friend from back home, said you can’t miss. Or the activity that everyone from your hostel is doing. If you’re feeling tired and everyone is going on a hike, you don’t have to go on the hike.
Constantly doing activities and not allowing yourself time to rest and relax is an easy way to become burnt out. Think about your life back home: are you constantly doing activities in your spare time? For the majority of people, the answer will be no. Most people don’t have endless energy and need to have chilled nights at home, the time when they relax on the couch watching Netflix or scrolling on their phones. When we’re traveling, we feel like we can’t waste time or spend an evening without doing something exciting or bucket-list-worthy. Time spent relaxing is not wasted time when you’re traveling. If you don’t make time to relax while traveling, your body will pick this time for you when you get run down or ill.
Protect your social battery
When you’re traveling and moving around a lot, chances are you will be meeting lots of new people. Particularly if you’re backpacking and staying in hostels, you will constantly be surrounded by people. While this can be really fun and is one of the benefits of staying in hostels, it can also drain your social battery. Unless you’re an extremely extroverted individual, it can be exhausting being constantly in people’s company and having to socialise with them. New people check into hostels daily, so you’ll be constantly remembering new names and getting to know new people.
Check-in with yourself, and if you’re feeling exasperated at the thought of meeting people or just feel tired at the thought of making conversation, your social battery may be low. Make sure you take time to recharge this so you can get on with enjoying your travel or hostel experience! My favourite way to do this is by booking a private room, so I get guaranteed alone time. A couple of days of watching Netflix, getting uninterrupted sleep and going on solo walks usually does the trick for me personally.
There may be other ways that work better for you; just make sure you take care of yourself. If you don’t have the ability to book a private room, even doing some activities solo may help. You might also want to let your hostel friends know you need some space to charge your social battery. Most travellers understand feeling this way so that they would respect your needs.
Tangible ways you can practice self-care
There are countless ways you can practice self-care when you travel, and how you choose to do this will depend entirely on your preferences. If you’re struggling to think of how you can practice self-care, here are a few ways I do this while traveling:
- Treat myself to a private room (either in a hostel or a budget hotel) for a night or two
- Go for a solo walk or hike
- Have a Netflix in bed evening or day with plenty of snacks
- Get a good night’s sleep, and don’t set a morning alarm
- Treat myself to a nice solo dinner and a glass of wine
- Read a book
- Sit in a cafe and people-watch or journal for a few hours
- Treat me to a spa/salon treatment like a haircut, gel nails or a massage
- Do a face mask or other at-home beauty treatment
- Go for a solo swim in the ocean and get some Vitamin D
- Take a few nights off drinking/ partying and enjoy my own company
- Call friends and family back home
- Take a break from social media
Please note this is not an exhaustive list by any means! Also, some things on the above list may not be possible, depending on your circumstances. The best advice I could give is to think of things you do back home in your everyday life to practice self-care or wind down after work. Then think about how you can replicate some of those things while you are on the road and traveling.
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