When we travel, we expect everything to work out smoothly. We think everything will be wonderful from home to the airport, hotel, food, sightseeing, and back home. But the truth is, it isn’t always so. Sometimes, we miss our flight or get delayed. Sometimes, we’re given the wrong room. All of these mishaps lead to a bad travel experience that might even kill our adventurous spirit. But we can recover from these experiences if we put our mind to it. There are steps we can take to get back on the road again that have helped others and might help you, too.
1. Take a Break
Whenever you’ve had a bad experience traveling, it’s always better to take a break rather than cancel future trips or vow not to travel ever again. Take a few weeks, months, or as much time as you need to recoup lost energy and recharge. In this time, you can delve into hobbies and things you love doing. Reading books, watching and rewatching your favorite movies, spending time with friends, and other activities can take your mind off the experience. When the time is right, you’ll want to travel again.
2. Spend Money on Something You Love
On your next trip, make sure to spend money on something you’ve wanted for the longest time. Don’t be too conservative with your money or your ideas. Have the best experience and see how it’ll beautifully transform your travel.
3. Reflection
Understanding what led to the troubling incident that soured your experience and meditating on it can be very helpful. Keeping a journal of your travels and writing your experiences down can help you figure this out. You should ask questions like: Was it something you did? Or was it something that was just out of your control? This will help you assess your journey and help you to avoid similar circumstances in the future.
4. Let It Go
After reflecting on the incidents that made your last trip bad, it is important to let go of those negative feelings. Cleanse them from your mind, and don’t hold on to them. If you do, your sense of adventure and wonder might be killed off.
5. Positivity
You should try to focus on the bright sides of your trip. Try to think of something good that happened or made you want to go on the trip. Shift your focus to these good memories as they can help you to take your mind off the negative experience.
6. Expect the Unexpected
Sometimes, one way to get over a bad trip and motivate you to go on another is to have the mindset that not everything will work out fine. Brace yourself for everything that might go wrong, and you won’t be so disappointed when anything does. This can help get you back on your feet and moving again.
7. Prepare To Get Sick
Falling ill can be a major issue during travels. This could immediately ruin your experience and confine you to your room, missing out on all the fun. On your next trip, pack a medical bag containing pain relief, rehydration sachets, all-purpose antibiotics, bandaids, sea sickness medication, and the like. These can really help in the short term and maybe be the difference between a great experience and a horrible one.
8. Flight Problems
Flight delays and cancellations can be frustrating. Sometimes, you sit at the airport for hours waiting, which can be torturous if you have small kids with you or you’re impatient to get to your destination. It can ruin your travel before it even begins. One way to recover and prevent this on your next flight is to check the flight 12 hours beforehand to get its status. Neck pillows and blankets might help with sleeping at airports if flights have been delayed.
9. Missing Luggage
It can be painful when this happens because it can disorganize your schedule. One way to fix this is to file a report as soon as possible. The luggage might turn up later after it’s gone missing, but you still need to file the missing luggage report because most travel insurance companies require you to file a report with the airline before they step in. Learning this process can help with such problems in further travels.
10. Optimism
In difficult times when our expectations have been trampled on, it is difficult to be open-minded and optimistic about traveling once more. But you shouldn’t give up on traveling. Even if you visit the same locations again, your experience might differ, and you’ll feel things you didn’t feel before. But trying out new places is always advisable as your experience will definitely be better in another place.
11. Plan a Future Journey
It’s difficult to do right after a failed trip because you might be cautious and want to avoid a similar experience. But you don’t have to let one bad experience ruin your love for traveling. New places will get you excited and bustling. So, plan a future trip to a new destination and focus on having a great experience there, even if it is just for a weekend getaway. This will help you to forget and put everything that happened behind you.
12. Find a Comfort Place
You should go back to a place where you feel at home and where you know you’ll have a good time. If you have family or friends in the area, talk to them about your travel experience and see what they have to say. You’re in your safe space, so it’s okay to see what others have to say.
13. Make Your Research/Findings
It would help if you researched cities beforehand that are easy for tourists and visitors to navigate and travel through. Before you leave, learn about the culture, customs, and laws of the place you’re trying to visit and know your travel options and their costs.
14. Look Into Local Trips
You might want to start to explore the city you live in or neighboring towns. The new things you can learn about a place you’ve known or lived all your life are quite surprising. Start with a day trip, or spend a night in a hotel in your locality.
15. Look For Like-minded People
You may be surprised to know that other well-traveled people around your area may have had the experience you had in the past. They might be the boost that you need in such a difficult position.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / RossHelen.
The content of this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute or replace professional advice.
The images used are for illustrative purposes only and may not represent the actual people or places mentioned in the article.
For transparency, this content was partly developed with AI assistance and carefully curated by an experienced editor to be informative and ensure accuracy.