The pre-trip fears

I firmly believe that pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone is a vital part of discovering more about yourself.  It lets you know your own strengths, how you react in crisis and at what point you’ve had enough.  If you’re interested in travelling you’re likely to be interested in pushing those boundaries and discovering a world outside of the one you’ve always known.  On one hand this is exciting, thrilling and ripe with opportunities.  On the other, it can be a terrifying prospect to intentionally put yourself into the great unknown. 

These worries can be anything from small doubts to serious concerns or even irrational fears.   For some people those worries will be enough of a reason not to go.  For others these fears will present a challenge; an obstacle to overcome.

It can be difficult to be rational about your concerns when we are consistently bombarded with tragic news stories surrounding backpackers with no mention of the thousands who are happy and safe.  Elderly relatives are particularly susceptible to believing these stories are a good representation of all backpacking trips and inflicting their panic on you.

For me the fears fit into three categories:

Serious Chance of death

A.K.A Life-threatening

These are part of the ‘the plane could crash’ school of thought.  The things which are really really improbable, yet not impossible.  Think: terrorist attack, kidnapping, being sold into slavery, being wrongly accused of drug trafficking etc.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, you’re always going to be faced with dangers.  However, the further you go and the more you do, the more opportunities you have for things to go wrong.  Although, countering this, I do believe that you’re more in danger in your home town (especially if it’s somewhere like London) because you take your surroundings for granted. 

However, unless your travel plans include places such as Somalia, Afghanistan or Iraq, you should have no more fears of this sort than you normally do at home as long as you always take the same precautions.   It’s always worth double checking the UK’s government advice site – Know Before You Go - for the latest information.

 Mild chance of death

A.K.A Trip-threatening

These are the occurrences which are unlikely to be life-threatening but which could still ruin your trip:  stolen passports/wallets/backpacks, catching a tropical disease or any catastrophes at home.

 For the most part, good preparation can prevent these occurring or provide damage control if they do.  Having appropriate vaccinations, keeping valuables out of sight and making good copies of all documents can turn these trip-threatening fears into just a hassle.  A good travel insurance policy should protect you in the majority of these instances, getting you good hospital treatment, replacing stolen items or even getting you home quickly if it’s necessary.

Oh, well that’s a bit uncomfortable

 A.K.A Good-time threatening

These are the things I’ve found I worry about at home, but once away, you just get on with it. They might sound something like this:  ” What if I don’t like any of the food ?”, “what if there are  bugs everywhere?” “what if I can’t speak the language?”.

I think most people have run through these sorts of concerns when planning a trip to any far-flung part of the world.  It’s essentially the fear of not being able to cope when the comforts of home, which we take for granted, are taken away.  But, it is precisely this – the stark contrast to home – which can give you the opportunity to experience a different world and see how you cope. Some don’t cope resulting in the classic ‘bounce’:  arriving in a new and alien environment and suffering culture shock to the extent that sufferers get on the first plane home.

All travellers will have horror stories to tell - I’ve had Huntsman spiders jumping out of trees onto us on Fraser Island, Cockroaches running around our dorm room in Cairns, dirty hostels with less than favourable roommates doing less than favourable things on the bunk above me and accidentally eating food with maggots in it (part of the dish, actually). I could go on. But while at the time I’ve been disgusted, these are the tales I end up telling again and again because they are so different from the experiences of people at home.

Another travel blogger Ms Traveling Pants uses the quote:

“Every occasion in life can be categorized either as a good time or a good story.”

How true this is.

Of course, not everyone will be willing to put up with some of the less savoury aspects of travelling in order to be able to experience some of the wonders the world has to offer.  But they will have learnt that about themselves and be able to more fully appreciate the comforts of home.

For me, these fears have never been strong enough to stop me leaving.  Even once I’ve been away I’ve had crippling terror about what the following day might bring and considered just jumping on that plane home.  But those feelings have passed, normally aided by a hot shower and a good meal, and always by meeting some amazing people.

To me, the fear of regret is far more persuasive.

I fear not going, not seeing the world, not experiencing other cultures and not making the most of the time I have.  I think, for that,  I can put up with the cockroaches.

What pre-travels fears have you experienced?  What would be enough to stop you going?  Which are your favourite horror stories?

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