Travel Day Stresses & How to Keep Your Cool
There comes a day when we all travel…. and we all succumb to the stress of traveling to your final destination. For me… I travel a lot. And it seems that I’m traveling more and more. Which comes with pluses and minuses.
The pluses:
I get to experience different places. Their culture, climate, and unique features of wherever it is that my travels take me.
The minuses?
Well. For starters I have pets. My dog routinely travels with me, but the cat… less so. She likes to hide when it’s time to travel. Mind you, she’s only traveled a select few times. But since we moved across the country she has hid as soon as the suitcases come out. 🙄
Other downsides are that it’s expensive, travel delays SUCK, jet lag can be a challenge, TSA can be a hassle, and some of the people…. are head shaking worthy.
Today for example… Today I’m traveling home to California. I picked the earliest, shortest flight to get me there. . . And true to American Airlines reputation my flight was delayed. Delayed long enough to require rebooking automatically. Umm, anyone else have this luck on EVERY trip over the last 6 months? Because I’m thinking it’s just my luck. However every time I fly lately it seems “weather” causes delays. Yes this year has been record in a number of abnormal weather patterns. However the amount of delayed flights, cancelled flights, and adjusted flight paths I have endured since 2019 started is… impressive if I do say so myself.
Just this morning I was thinking to myself… what is life trying to teach me from these delays? Someone once told me that if God wanted me on the original flight, I would be. But I’m not. So it must be for a good reason. In moments of “WTF do I do now?!” I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I was able to complete my travel plans as originally intended? But alas… I’ll never know. So here are some tips and tricks to keep your cool when life’s travel moments gives you lemons.
1. Take a Beat.
Breathe. Unfortunately you are at the mercy of air traffic control and the finite number of seats on airlines wherever you are. Getting upset, worked up, or irritated are not going to change the number of seats on a plane. Or the number of flights going out on any given day.
So. Take a minute. Breathe. Count to 10. Do whatever you need to do to lower that rising blood pressure. Hypertension is a killer, mkay?
Becoming too upset and creating a scene may even harm you. No one likes a A-hole. The customer service representatives and gate agents are more likely to help someone who is polite, yet firm over someone who is yelling and screaming at them. I recently was paid in kindness during my layover from H.E.L.L. In Chicago. Philly, you and your peoples are amazing. Everyone helped me get home ASAP by getting me on earlier flights when not ONE, but several flights were canceled going out for me. (Talk about UGH).
2. Be Prepared
Download the app for your airline, train, or public transit depot. This way you will find out ahead of time about delays, or changes.
Pack an empty water bottle in your carryon or personal item to ensure that you stay hydrated both during delays and during the travel. Just make sure to fill it up prior to boarding 😉
Pack snacks, or plan to pick up meals in the terminal. Just be sure to have plenty of nutritious components to your day. Traveling is stressful enough without the added calories of sugary treats. Sugar may be sweet on the tongue, but the added waistline inches and crash later wont be quite so sweet.
3. Carve out your space
On my longer delays I try to find the LEAST busy section of the airport. I don’t particularly enjoy sitting around others while I sweat out my nervous energy waiting for my flight to actually take off.
Use noise cancelling headphones to reduce the ambient noises that come with travel days. Less noise, hopefully less stress. Just don’t forget to pay attention to the gate agents announcements… otherwise you may miss your flights.
Seek out the closest, least busy outlets. Or even better yet, come with fully charged devices, and spares batteries. I definitely try for the latter.
4. Look Ahead
Sometimes the automatic change that you get from a canceled flight… doesn’t quite work for your plans. I frequently check allllll the available flights and changes to my itinerary in order to find what will potential work best for me.
Sometimes you have to adjust the plans, but never fear. You’ll make it to your destination… just maybe not on time.
5. Let it go
Let It Go is not just a Disney movie. It’s also the best solution for the travel day stress. Something that has taken a LOT of itinerary changes, missed flights, cancelled flights, and delays to work on. I definitely am not perfect with my “Let It Go” attitude. However I’m definitely getting better at dealing with my travel day stress.
Largely because every trip I have taken this year has had at least one or more delayed or cancelled flights. It’s impressive and my friends tell me that I’m jinxed.
Happy Travels!
XO,
Nattie