Do You Get Stressed/anxious Before You Travel?

I do when I'm packing.
But once the car is loaded up, I just let it all go.
Anything I've forgotten can be easily bought where ever I'm going.

Oh yes. It's worse if I'm going alone or we are not taking kids because I'm super stressed then, but no matter what I have a lot of anxiety about it. Like you, once I'm there I'm fine. I think I only started getting this way after kids. Before that things just weren't the same.

I tend to over-pack which I hate. But I never needed any clothing item. My husband on the other hand under packs then ends up wearing the same 2 shirts all week. So now I have to either pack for him or oversee what he's packing. I also buy every single travel size of meds, beauty, etc...just in case. I don't think I've ever needed all of it. lol But I "feel" better if I have it with me.

I don't like to fly and I really stress about that when I have too. I just hate it. I love road trips though. After going on 3 cruises last year, I feel like I got better at my packing skills. We are driving to CA for a few beach days this summer and another family cruise in Oct so we'll see how it goes this time. lol

I don't. I don't worry about the safety of, say, air travel, and I just have learned not to sweat the stuff I can't control (long lines, delayed flights, whatever). I focus on the people, the sights, sounds, nonsense, and chaos around me, and am happy I'm not as angry as so many other travelers or so focused on my phone that I miss the interaction. If we're renting a house and I don't know what the conditions will be (although the photos on line these days are usually pretty clear), I try to remember that I don't have to decorate it, clean it, maintain it or pay the mortgage on it. If I don't want to cook in it, I know I can go out or get take-out. Again, there's not much I can do about the little annoyances so I just go with the flow.

I do get kind of stressed about the packing part and getting everyone organized and out the door on time, but I have a good list now that I just update on my computer with specifics that might vary from trip to trip. I realize that pretty much anything can be bought wherever we are going - toiletries and even medications. Mostly I want to make sure I've attended to things at home - getting the mail, trash and plants taken care of, that sort of thing. But my standing list helps make sure I didn't forget something, and I always have a neighbor who has a key get in if there's a problem. I notify the local police that I'll be away, and they always have the patrols keep an eye out. Between them and my eagle-eyed neighbors, I know this are under control.

I wouldn't call it anxious but I just dislike packing and it stresses me. Only really since having kids because we would travel and no one had babies any more that we visited and we'd have to bring so much with us. It just exhausted me. Now that they are older and can pack for themselves, not as bad. But camping trips for example - stress me out. As soon as we pull out of driveway though, troubles forgotten, I'm on the road and once I get a coffee in my hand - I'm relaxed. It's just the prep work I dread.

My husband is opposite. Once we travel he kind of goes quiet and he handles stuff that comes up on our voyages.

Nope, I love to travel, and I am nothing but excited to go!

I do try to anticipate a lot of what ifs - eg, I make sure I pack food in case of delays on the tarmac, kids tylenol for unexpected illness, and an extra set of clothes for each person in case of spills, all in the carry on. But I don't think of this as worry, just abiding by my dad's "seven Ps" (yep, he was in the military).

ETA: Like Diane B, since I travel quite a bit, I also have a good list, so packing isn't too hard. And once I'm within 24 hours of leaving, my mantra is that anything that's not in the suitcase can be purchased upon arrival. All I REALLY need to have with me is my ID to get on the plane, and my credit card.

Yes, absolutely. I'm also fine once I'm there but get stressed about leaving. It's not as bad now that my kids are grown but I still feel some anxiety during the packing/leaving phase.

I don't think I get too nervous. If you ask my husband about me, you might get a different answer, though. :)

I guess after quite a bit of travel, I feel more flexible about the what if's, because many of them have happened and it all worked out in the end. Delayed flights, lost ID (I now carry my passport and license for every flight), missing medicine, etc. I've met such nice people when things got difficult, so I now feel whatever happens, it'll be ok in the end. We even got in a car accident in a cross country trip and it worked out that the fellow who hit us was a minister. Not only did we get back on the road and had the car fixed the next day, but we had a lovely man praying for us!

Only the first time we went to Europe without a tour group. We were also flying into Brussels less than a month after the bombing so I figure it was probably kind of something most people would find stressful. As soon as we caught our first train I was fine.

Otherwise nope.

Anticipatory Anxiety is horrible!!!! Your mind just...goes places other's have no idea that people think about those things.

When I travel we drive. I don't do planes, they fall down and go splat and not much else.

I planned a trip to Wyoming from town to town. We didn't go up I-35 to Salina KS then turn left and go to Denver CO then turn right and go to Douglas WY. We went through Woodward and Fort Supply OK, by Dodge City KS, went all the way up 183/283 to Lexington NE. Then turned right on I-80 and went to Douglas WY.

Had the BEST time. I knew that every few minutes there would be a town that I could stop in, go to the bathroom, just get out and walk around, find medical help if needed, etc...I tell you, I had nearly every minute of this trip planned on the "just in case we need it" list.

We did sightseeing along the way so that we could have an adventure and everyone wouldn't be going "CAN'T WE PLEASE GET ON A REAL HIGHWAY AND GO FASTER???". Everyone loved the trip and we have tons of photos of trains, museums, saw an IMAX movie at a place in Nebraska, WOW! that place was amazing. Got to see wagon ruts, see museums about pioneer days that I think made a huge change in me.

History was my worst subject, I mean, who cares, right? Then as we were in the museums along the way through Nebraska and saw the wagon ruts, saw the stories at those places, then finally went to....I think it was Chimney Rock museum and saw all the pictures those pioneers had drawn, letters, all the things they lived through. Then later on we went to the top of Scottsbluff and you could see Chimney Rock. Wow, I could literally imagine all the town stuff fading away and seeing strings of wagon trains trekking towards the bluff. A distant goal that would have taken days.

It changed me. I realized the importance of what our past means to us today.

So having anticipatory anxiety and planning a 2 day trip to take 4 days changed my life. Use it for good and plan your trip the way you will feel the most safety and calmness.

Things will still happen though. On the way home hubby decided he was going to go the way he wanted. Drove straight interstate all the way home. Had a wreck and totalled our car. Single car accident and no one was injured in any way but still, my way was better, right????

I used to. Then I figured out that once I made a list & worked reasonably well at accomplishing everything, then what didn't get done is going to take care of itself. I don't have any guilt or stress over it.

Oh God, yes. I've always said that I hate the process of travel but love when I finally get there. I was a bit more carefree when I was younger but have gotten worse with age and increased responsibility. The ever-changing airport security requirements have not helped, of course. I've been known to show up at an airport 3 hours in advance just to avoid the extra stress.

I have friends who like to go on last-minute weekend trips. Sometimes we'll go along, but other times I'll say no. It's just not worth all the packing/airport stress time involved for a day or two away. We did that for Disney last fall and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown! I feel your pain.

The thing that stresses me is the packing. Am I bringing the right stuff, am I forgetting something (I always forget something), am I bringing too much stuff...I also stress about getting there on time. I am always afraid I will be late...

ETA: As for being able to purchase the stuff I forget to pack at my destination, that isn't always the case. I forgot my sunglasses on a wilderness canoe trip and had no place to buy any, forgot sunscreen on a Caribbean vacation and had to pay $25 for a bottle at the gift shop

yes. stresses me out, and then i am the only one that parents while away from home. so its like vacationing with 3 children (one of them being 4 years older than i am) so when i get home i feel like a need a day off of mommy duities just to recover from everything i had to do on vacation. i used to love vacations but now i dread them and wish i could just stay home. (if i had an indoor pool that was open year round and got to eat out more often i would never go on vacation...)

A little bit anxious about packing, everytime we make an endless list of things to bring on vacation. I love to travel and I think some unexpected accident could be just something to remember or even turn in something positive.

I'm always afraid I'm going to forget something :-) It's all the "extras" that I think about, not clothes or toiletries. I think about electronics, power chords, did we bring enough movies, do the kids have their blankets. As we pack the car and it gets harder for me to see what's in it, I have trouble remembering what I still need to get out of the house :-)

Once we pull out of the driveway I let it go. Nothing I can do about it now, and I will not turn. This is when I start to relax.

What kinds of "what ifs" do you worry about?

I get stressed about the condition of my house. Packing is messy in my house and I can't go on vacation until my house is neat and clean.

Yup. Same case as Mamazita.

i stress about packing and remembering everything. it's not anxiety-inducing stress, nontheless, still stress.

YES! I'm a stress ball, since I have to do all of the packing for 3/4 of us. It's a lot to remember. I use a checklist, but even then, we tend to get there and someone wants something I didn't pack. It's also up to me to figure out timing to get to the airport, where to park, what we need to do when we arrive, etc. I'm not relaxed until we officially check in.

Total freakazoid! Right here! It's ridic!! I mean really, how does one turn the news of possible travel and adventure..basically a GIFT...into a scary stressful internal angst ridden eat away at my inner core feast fest for my manic mind! Holy Hannah, yep, that's me. I pretty much discovered I've always been this way, got worse after children - way worse! - and then truly exposed itself for what it was and I've been working on it ever since. I've found its an active process. Clearing the negative mind chatter. I've had to hunt down and grip that SOB worse case scenario portion of my ego by the throat and tell her to tone it down! We are not living this way!!

It's hard. If my husband could he would love the option to sedate me for all our own sanity on occasion, I just know it.

I am always this way. I literally can not relax until I am at the gate and I know I made my flight on time, until then I stress for days about what to bring, what I might forget, ect ect. Sometimes I wonder why I still travel, but I always have so much fun once I get there!

I start packing 2 weeks before and then put what I/we want to wear the day before in the suitcase. I have a list and work it off so all is organized until we leave. No stress at all.

What is more stressful to me is getting ready leaving the office since my clients tend to come up with last minute stuff and this is always stressful but it will work out as it always does.

Happy travelling. It keeps us moving and build wonderful memories as a family. We always enjoy the adventure and enjoy beeing excited going on a trip.

Nope. I am a very experienced traveller and have lived/worked overseas much of my adult life with travel back home every year for vacation. I love traveling and I begin packing lists and actual packing weeks before I depart.