Earlier this year, I made the enormous decision to jack in my dead-end job in a kitchen and dip into my savings to go and travel the world. Before the start of the year, I had never travelled much at all. I hadn't even been on a plane before. I'd only ever been outside of the UK when I went to France a couple of times as a kid.

In February I had a mini solo trip to Dublin. That was my first time flying. After that I got thinking. "There's a huge world out there with so many amazing places. You've always liked the idea of travelling, why not just go for it while you're still young and commitment free?" So I did exactly that.

This year alone I have seen more places and done more things than I ever had in my entire life before it. I feel a lot better for it too. I've actually got some life experience now which I didn't have before and I feel more fulfilled for it.

Now I am in Australia on a working holiday visa. This week marks four months since I arrived in the country, although I have been travelling on and off since April. When I first set off on my travels, I felt more alive than I had in a long time. I was having this fantastic experience and I didn't regret it one bit. Why would I? I was travelling the world!

Yet I have now reached a point where I have been feeling a bit "meh" about the whole thing. The excitement has died down. I no longer get the "wow" factor that I used to get. That's not to say I'm having a bad time, I'm just feeling somewhat underwhelmed. Perhaps the reality just isn't matching up to my expectations, or perhaps I need to find a way to reignite my passion. I'm not sure what it is. All I am sure of is that I'm feeling a bit deflated right now.

I have been reading up about travel burnout and it seems to be something that affects all travellers at some point, at least those who are travelling long-term. Perhaps naively, I didn't think I would feel this way. Truth be told it never really crossed my mind. If you'd said to me some months back that I would feel this way, I would not have believed you. "Who in their right mind could get bored of travelling?" I would have asked you. Yet here I am writing this.

People always say to me that they are jealous of my current lifestyle, that they wish they could do the same thing or had done it when they were younger. "You're living the dream" they tell me. Well, I don't quite feel that way right now. I was swept with guilt for a while for being like this. All those people who could only dream of going travelling and here's me, well...being ungrateful for what I've got. I told myself I had no right to feel this way.

I've learnt to stop feeling guilty about it now. I have accepted it is just a normal part of long-term travel and the sooner you deal with it, the sooner you can work on it.

Anyway, enough rambling. Who here has been affected by travel burnout and how did you overcome it? I'm hoping I can overcome it because travelling was one of the few things I felt passionate about not so long ago.

Sorry for the long-winded post by the way, I didn't expect to write this much.

just go to Thailand like the rest of the pervs do
(ツ)

I've never done the extensive traveling bit, I've been away on 3 week long trips before and both times was well ready to get home at the end of them! I think, maybe, you've effectively made traveling your job I'm not sure the itinerant lifestyle actually suits that many people and a few weeks break a year really is the best for most of us.

I spent 15 years or so in my first job travelling the world visiting customers, and yes I got fed up of the "ooh you're lucky seeing the world" - when really it came down to airport, hotel, taxi, industrial estate, taxi, different industrial estate, taxi, airport, etc etc. Everybody thought I was swanning around in 5 star hotels and seeing all the sights.

And yes, I did get travel burnout big time. Worst I felt was waking up in my own bed and not realising it was my own bed for a minute, but instead trying to remember where I was and what I was due to do. (And then there was that time I sat in the passenger seat of my own car because I'd been driving on the left for two weeks.)

While I was doing my travelling the answer for the question "are you going anywhere nice for your holidays" was answered by "yes, I am going home" and it still is. Travelling as a leisure activity is a strange concept to me, I don't think I could ever push myself through an airport or stay in a hotel by my own willing, I will do it if required to do, but not as an act of enjoyment.

I think in your case, you've been away so long you no longer consider it as "away" and the adventure has become the norm, so in effect you're not travelling, you are in a temporary "home" for a while. Perhaps when you start moving again, the travel adventure will come back.

I am afraid you are not a true traveler at heart. One of the most valuable things about traveling is that you really get to know yourself. Now you know you should find somewhere lovely, buy a house and settle down to be happy.

I used to love being able to fit everything I owned into my little car and be able to get going at the drop of a hat. But I have never been on a round the world adventure for a year like you. It's great that you gave it a try.

What are you insinuating?


I think you might be on to something there. I always used to dream about a life on the road, constantly being on the move and visiting all kinds of weird and wonderful places. I still do now sometimes. In reality though I think non-stop, continuous travel over a prolonged period of time would become very tiresome for the average human being. Some might be able to manage it, but I would say they are in the minority. I guess it's just in our nature to long for a sense of belonging, which you could easily lose after years of constant travelling.


I can understand that completely. Travelling around the world for a living might sound very glamorous at first, but as you've demonstrated above that isn't necessarily the case for all. I think you've hit the nail on the head with that last paragraph. I haven't really done a lot of actual travelling since I finished going up the country's east coast. It's been mostly settling, finding a job and working. Maybe once the new year has arrived and I get on with the plans I've made for that time, I will feel more enthusiastic again.


Perhaps not. There is still a lot of the world I would like to see, but as for the extended travel life I can see this being a one-off for me. I would be quite satisfied just having a few weeks here and there to travel. Maybe I'm more of a home-bird than I realised.

Yes, been there myself. In the late 90s/early 2000s, I was constantly travelling around the UK, Europe and occasionally the US and India. At the start it was fun but is soon became an endless stream of airports, hotels and conference rooms. There are lots of cities where I have been that all I have seen is an industrial estate in the suburbs.

"What's Milan like?" people would ask and all I could tell them is the Marriott hotel was pretty much like every other one and the conference venue could just have just easily been in Birmingham. It totally destroyed your social life as you never knew more than a few days in advance where you would be on any given day.

I broke one morning when I woke up in a hotel and couldn't work out which city, or even country, I was in and what I was supposed to be doing there. I then switched to an office-based job and got someone else to do the airport-hopping. Now 90% of my travel is for leisure.

Yes. I did the backpacking round the world thing too and started to get the burn out feeling, this was in the days before mobile phones and internet so there was this overwhelming desire to talk to someone you'd known for more than a couple of days. I found the cure for it was to slow down, remind myself this was probably a once in a lifetime experience and if i was back home in the cold and rain i'd kill to be on a tropical island in the south pacific

It's quite a common feeling (from talking to others travelling at the time), you just need to take a moment to appreciate how fantastic a position you are in.

Enjoy! You are making memories for when you are old !

Yes, I think if I were to jump on a plane home tomorrow, I'd regret it very quickly. I want to make sure I've done as much as I can before leaving the country. I don't want to look back and wonder what could have been.

Try and remember that every time you feel it welling up, take a moment to look around you and appreciate the beauty of where you are and how lucky you are to experience it.

Of course there's stuff about it that can drive you nuts but not nearly as much as "real life"!

Enjoy your time, find somewhere beautiful and just drink it all in , it will feed your soul.

The worst thing about travelling is travelling.

Yep, I always got asked "what's xxxxxx like" and never really had a good answer, it's just an airport and a customer, same as any other place really.

I did manage to get into Venice - for two hours - finished a job and got to the hotel about 5pm, asked for a taxi into Venice "but why, it's going to be dark soon, you'll see nothing" but I wanted to go just to say I've been there. Got as far as the main square, had a pizza on a canal side and got the last shuttle bus back to the hotel, a few hours kip and then to the airport off somewhere else.

I did manage to spend a Sunday looking round Boston, had a massive burger in the restaurant above the place they used for Cheers bar, I'd flown in from Korea on the Saturday and my meetings didn't start until Monday afternoon.

And I can't remember ever buying a pen of a pencil, always used the hotel pens and notepads. So there was an upside too.

Two things stand out to me. They are your comments "working holiday visa" and "It's been mostly settling, finding a job and working". Very few people have both the time and the money to make travelling an adventure every day. Sooner or later we either run out of one, or the other, or both. That's when the reality sets in. Finding and working a basic job is a chore, and there's very little glamour in running your smalls through in a hostel sink.

We all need to eat, and having clean underwear is no bad thing either. This is the price you pay for the lifestyle you're leading. But it's not a bad price really, is it? Given time you'll forget about the mundane chores. What you'll remember is the highlights.

Two things I'd suggest for you... First, if you feel stuck in a rut then move on. That's one of the secrets of successful people; if your circumstances suck then change them. Second, keep a diary. If you do no more than write one good thing from everyday you'll have achieved far more than the average person. Hell, we're in the 21st century, keep a diary and write a blog. You've got a good writing style. The twitterverse awaits.

I very nearly booked a flight home for the end of January. This was when I was feeling particularly deflated about the work and travel life here in Oz. The prospect of spending an entire year out here, as was the original plan, no longer excited me. I just felt numb.

I decided against that in the end and there is a good chance I will stay out here longer if all goes well. I asked myself this; you go home and then what? Back to the same old dull life you had before? Nah.

Boston is one city I was fortunate to get to know quite well. The company's head office was there so I got to visit regularly and would fly in on a Saturday for a Monday meeting (saving the company money due to the Saturday night stopover rule) then spend the Sunday exploring and meeting up with colleagues for drinks. It was odd to walk into a bar 3000 miles from home and the barman to say "Your usual, sir?"

Apart from the pens another upside were the hotel and airline loyalty points which meant I could cash them in for personal travel. For years I never paid for a hotel in London as I always had a load of Hilton or Marriott points available and would use my BA miles to upgrade to business.

Indeed. Not every moment of travelling is going to be a blast. Heck, not every week is going to be a blast. If I didn't realise that before, I definitely do now. As you say it's about the highlights (the bits I'll remember most fondly in years to come) and that's what I'm trying to focus on. If I can just sit out the days that are not so good, I'm sure it'll pay off in the end.

What part of Australia are you in OP? I'm over here on a working holiday visa too.

I feel a bit meh at the moment as well but I think it's because I'm currently in a routine of working 9-5 and not doing much outside work. I'm hoping that once I my contract finishes, and I start seeing and doing more I might get some of the excitement back.

I'm in Cairns. Yourself?

We had a R&D plant a little bit north of Boston, so I'd try and get a walk round Boston if I could when out there. Yes, I was on first name terms with the barman of the Holiday Inn next door to our plant, spending two full weeks in there does that sort of thing.

Was also on more than first name terms with a barmaid in Staten Island, but that's a story for a different day, lol.

It was strange when people visited my home office and asked if I knew any good restaurants, erm, no not round here I don't. I know loads in Kent, several in France and Belgium, there's a great noodle house in Kuala Lumpur, but near my house? not a clue.


I never really got put on fares that attracted many points, also depending on which direction I was going it was a different airline so I had little bits on lots of different cards. Then I realised the last thing I wanted to do was to go on an airplane for pleasure, so the chances of me spending any of them were slim, so I just binned them all off. I did manage to get to silver on BA for a year or two which was great for getting into the lounge. Then with the advent of "premium economy" I stopped earning on that too.

I used to cash in my holiday inn points for M&S gift vouchers/cards - by incredible coincidence my mother loves that shop and so she always asked for M&S vouchers, (don't tell her!) so that was another upside.

Oooooo have you been up to the Atherton tablelands or Cape Tribulation yet? Cape Trib is fab (well it was when i was there)

It's freezing foggy and raining in ENgland currently
I'd swap with you in an instant!!!

"The journey is the reward"
Taoist proverb

Yeah. I thoroughly enjoyed both. Lake Eacham was ace!

Same here, people say "you're so lucky to travel" and look a bit envious when you say your're off to x next week

This is the time of year when it gets to be wearisome when a MidWest Storm means you're staying in Des Moines, Iowa for another couple of days

I remember being astounded at the sight of Sydney Harbour, now I barely notice as I'm trying to cross several lanes of traffic

But familiarity does breed contempt. I remember working as a chalet maid in Switzerland after about two weeks you barely notice the stunning mountain backdrop that you get to see out of your window every morning

I haven't bought a bar of soap in several years

Whoever said that never flew on Sabena.