How to Deal with Travel Burnout on Sabbatical
As I settled into my bunk at a hostel in Split, Croatia, chatting with my dormmates reached the telltale question: How long are you traveling for? I was only six weeks into my sabbatical and had already gotten a variety of reactions to the news that I would be on the road for a full year. Theirs was the first time I heard what became a common chorus: “Wow – I would never be able to travel for that long!” I thought it best to refrain from launching into a lecture about the differences between vacationing and taking a sabbatical. Because the fact is, everyone feels travel burnout at some point. In fact, I used a lot of my time in Split to recover from it!
These four steps became my tried and true travel burnout cure.
Step One: Slow down
I most often felt burnt out when I had a long stretch of very active or fast-paced travel. Taking bus ride after bus ride with just one night stopovers. Or lugging my backpack around multiple airports on a long series of connecting flights.
The most important step you can take toward curing travel burnout is slow down.
Give yourself longer than you think you need in a particular destination. Many people recommend seeing Athens in just three days. I booked two weeks in the Greek capital after two months of traveling the Mediterranean coast overland. Two months of hopping around Southeast Asia gave way to a full month in Ubud, Bali with very little traditional sightseeing.
Give yourself time to recover at your own pace. Devote time specifically to getting over your travel burnout.
Step Two: Weather the storm
Many people advise using activity to get over travel burnout. I think this can wind up exacerbating the problem. When I feel burnt out, I settle myself down in one place, and then just embrace it for a bit.
It’s so easy to feel guilty on sabbatical, to get the sense that you’re not doing enough or you’re somehow traveling wrong. But travel burnout can sap your energy and your motivation, and simply powering through, denying the problem, doesn’t solve things.
So go ahead. Spend a day lounging around watching movies, order a pizza. Or skip the museums and tours in favor of spending the entire afternoon in one coffee shop, just relaxing over a cuppa.
Find what helps you relax and recharge. Take comfort in something that reminds you of home. Indulge the burnout.
If you’re not enjoying travel as much you usually do, forcing yourself to do more won’t fix it. Just like taking this sabbatical in the first place, sometimes a little time off is all you need.
You might need time away from airports and train seats as much as you needed time away from a cubicle. You might need a break from sightseeing as much as you needed a break from the grinding responsibilities of life at home.
You can get sick of anything, even things that you normally enjoy.
Step Three: Make a plan
While I believe strongly in taking a break to recuperate, it’s important to have concrete plans so you don’t get stuck in do-nothing mode for too long.
Book a guided tour, buy tickets to a show, or hop on Couchsurfing’s Hangouts app and make plans with a new friend. Book with as much or as little time in advance as you like, but ultimately, have a plan with a firm date and time attached.
As important as it is to give yourself time to recover, it’s equally important to have a deadline. Without one, it’s all too easy to fall into a rut of lackadaisical days.
Step Four: Get creative
As you reenter the realm of active travel, consider what may have triggered your travel burnout.
Do you typically visit museums or go clubbing with new friends from your hostel?
The beauty of travel is the lack of routine and the underlying cause of most travel burnout is the introduction of a new routine. After a bout of burnout, you have to get creative to revive your interest in travel.
If you rarely hang out in bars, start looking for nightlife and special events. I typically prefer quiet nights, but in one of my sabbatical shake-ups, I found a London gin bar that runs monthly curated tastings and a bartender tournament.
If you typically go out every night, take a few early bedtimes and enjoy more active mornings instead. Plan a sunrise photo shoot, take an early morning hike, or visit a market you might have missed while sleeping off a hangover.
Tours, museums, cooking classes, art galleries, parks, wineries, cafes… get creative and find something different to do. Your travel burnout will be in the rearview mirror in no time.
