Nervous Before Trip....
 

I don't know why this happens, but before a major trip I tend to get a bit tense and snappy and irritable and happy all at the same time.

Usually I have a lot to do to prepare for the trip (making sure pet is ok, work is caught up on, house is clean, hotels and flights confirmed, clothing, money), and since I procrastinate, I have to do everything all at once.

I think I also get nervous because until I have safely landed at my destination, I will not feel totally on vacation. Sigh.

Anyone else get a little nervous or irritable before a big trip?

I think it's very normal to get excited and nervous. As much as we don't want to think about it...you never know what may happen on your trip or at home while you're gone.

Leaving for Paris in 20 days, and have just starting with the anxiety. I think I am driving my boyfriend insane. Once I get there though I'm always fine, and excited for the real fun to begin!

My boyfriend sounds like you - a procrastinator - but he definitely is not worried at all! Then again, I wouldn't be either if I had a Type A like me planning out most of the trip :)

I think its quite normal. I used to get this way, and would just about make myself sick the day before we left! Now I travel to Europe a few times a year so I have somewhat of a routine established and the anxiety has all but diminished.

Tracy

Perfectly common and normal. I think people express it slightly differently though. I hyper-obsess about packing, I do mean really overboard. I stop being nervous once I am checked-in at the airport having a cocktail waiting for my flight. For me that's when I feel on vacation (maybe even a bit earlier actually, in the taxi on the way to the airport).

It's so important for people who have spent months preparing for an overseas holiday to realize that the whole excercise has been, and is about to be, very stressful even if you keep telling yourself you are loving every minute of it!
I can only give my very best advice which works miracles for me and that is to start a course of Vit.B Complex(neurobian) injections a month or even 6 weeks before departure date.
For those who can't bear the thought of a needle in the rump every week, you can get tablets.
I swear I cope with situations better and really enjoy what I have set out to have - a holiday!

I found tod's note interesting in that there are those for whom travel induces stress and others for whom travel reduces stress. Where do you find yourself on this scale? For me travel produces excitement, anticipation, but stress? No. Quite the opposite, it is stress relief.

I think it is the build up that can cause a bit of stress--perhaps the feeling that something very good is about to happen and the hope that all things go well. Also, there is the work preparation, bills and home preparations as well.

So its not only me!! Even though I love travelling I find myself stressed out and unable to sleep for about two weeks before the trip! Usually nightmares about missing flights, etc. too. Once at the airport, checked in - it vanishes and I enjoy the trip stressfree and sleep good too!

My wife definitely has to suffer my irritability before a vacation. She alternates between saintly indulgence and keeping me on a short leash.

Regards, Gary

I get nervous when I get in the car to go to the airport. I say to myself Passport, Credit Card, Driver's License, Ok, if I forgot something, I can buy it there.

basingstoke1 - I agree.
Some people put their heart & soul into every minute detail of the trip - you need only read the occasional post right here on Fodors to tell who likes what and how!
When things don't go according to plan A or even Plan B , can they just laugh it off or become extremely stressed out?
I am so glad to hear you sound the relaxed take-it-as-it-comes kind of person!

It's the packing that gets to me !! Never know what to bring then I pack toooooo much and have to deal with the luggage !! I'm so afraid I won't have the right clothes to wear - so I bring it all. Then I regret it when I get home and have to put it away again.

I don't get irritable before a big trip, but I definitely do start to stress. It mainly has to do with me obsessing if I've got all the information I need and if I've done everything I need to do - notify banks, credit cards, reconfirm hotels, etc.

I leave on my trip in 4 weeks and I've already started to feel the first bits of it coming on. I don't normally start to go bonkers so early, but this time I'm taking my parents along on their first trip to Europe, so I'm also stressing that they're taking care of what they need to do.

I'll probably start to obsess about what I'm packing in a couple of weeks.

And then, once I'm on the plane, the stress goes away. I end up thinking that it's too late to worry if I've forgotten anything, I'll just have to deal with it once I'm there.

I get crazy about what clothes to take. Lately, though, I have taken to starting packing a week ahead, and I organize all the outfits I'd like to take--on paper. Then, I start to combine things that would go well together, to reduce the amount of stuff.
Having a methodical system, does help me relax a bit.
M.

Tooth---ugh.

So now I think I am feeling a pain in my tooth area...which I should not have since I got my teeth looked at in December and I have no more wisdom teeth to pull.

I hate it when my teeth and body play little tricks with me!! Ugh.....

Marianne, works even better if you take the clothes and hang them somewhere separate so you get a visual on what all you'll pack (i think that makes it even easier than working from a list I mean).

I used to put everything on the bed in the guest bedroom--until I got two kittens... Now, it's impossible; they love to play with your clothes...

My cat is going crazy over my suitcase....I hope I don't get to the airport and have to embarassingly remove little cat nails...... :(

I start second guessing all my decisions a few weeks before I travel. I wonder if I picked the right hotels...two weeks to go now and I am trying not to worry about it as it would be difficult to change them now. I guess that a form of nervousness.

whew... it sure makes me feel better to know that i'm not alone. i can hardly sleep. we leave in 19 days! this morning i woke unexpectedly at 5:30 and got out all my clothes, toiletries, shoes, maps.... and i packed my one carryon. and found that the bag was still 1/2 empty! yeay!! and only weighed 12 lbs. i also wrote a list - of everything -- things to do, wear, buy, people to call... everything - including all the clothes i had packed (then unpacked) i feel much much better now. hopefully i will sleep tonight.

I'm not sure if it's stressed out or I just can't handle the excitement anymore. Sometimes the planning/waiting feels like the best part, at least until I actually get there. The worst part for me is from the night before until I get on the ground at my destination. I don't sleep well (excitement/worry over what I may have forgotten or what may go wrong). I plan and have checklists, but I still worry that it won't be perfect.

I leave in 3 days and today's fret is over the weather in Paris, which appears to be 4 days of rain. I resigned myself to the fact that a rainy day in Paris is better than a sunny day (or any day) at work!!!

Speaking of cats, I'm always as nervous as one before a trip. There's so much to remember - call the bank to let it know you'll be using your credit card in another country, stop the newspaper, leave the key with neighbor, etc. Remember to take passport, medical insurance cards, driver's license, checks, travelers' checks, cash, ATM card, medicine that your life depends on, etc. I'm so tired by the time we board that given half a chance [not too much noise and a tranquilizer because that's a must for me to get on a plane]I usually fall asleep after dinner, if there's a dinner to be had].

I don't actually get overly excited anymore at least not in an anxious way. I not nercous that I may forget to do or not do something.

What I get is iritable. I think since I start planning so early and once I actually purchase the airfare I know it's a definite "GO" I think the irritability stems from anger that it seems to be taking so long for the departure date to arrive. Maybe it's because I purchased the tickets in February for a September trip. 7 months of waiting can sure seem like 1 1/2 years....ugh...it's awful...I just wanta go NOW !!!

Of course reading these boards doesn't make it any easier. I'm reading all these wonderful trip reports, advice on hotels, restaurants, sites to see etc...Now I wanna go YESTERDAY !!! As the time gets closer to departure I seem to get even more irritable....Why is that ???

duh didn't proof read...

nercous should be nervous

CRAZY4TRAVEL said:
"I start second guessing all my decisions a few weeks before I travel"

I started second-guessing my destination 5 minutes after I finalized air arrangements--"gee, maybe we should have gone to France, or England...or." That didn't last long, but I am thinking about this trip day and night. I think it will get easier once itinerary is set (if that ever happens) and reservations are made.

Me too. But would love to be nervous in that way right now.

One thread had divided reasons for this between: nervous about home issues while I'm gone vs nervous about out of control travel glitches.

I'm in the second batch. I never think about home problems when I'm gone, but I'm sure it is the control on the second that gives me the whammy.

My guy is 60, and never had this in his life until about 57. Now he can't sleep for the entire night before a trip.

Weird that this topic should come up today, as I am jumpy jumpy jumpy. Also restless and excited--as the FAA flight examiner said to me when I went in to do my test flight for my pilot's license, "I'll bet you've got a bellyful of coffee and fingernails." That's just the way I feel now.

I'm not nervous about arrangements, flights, passports. I just want to be under way.