How to travel as a gentle soul

For some reason travelling gently makes you feel like you’re not doing it right, or there is something wrong with you. What a strange notion to have. It’s your life, you get to decide how you live it. So why do these feelings creep in?

I have thought about why this is the case. Honestly, this thought has been on the back of my mind for the first six months of the journey.

For the most case, it’s because we consume too much travel YouTube content. We get so normalised into thinking this is the way you have to travel. And if you are not doing it like them, then you are not doing right.

It can really mess with your head. Believe me, it has happened to me; and from time to time it can still catch me out.

First of, let me just point out, that for the most part, these YouTube travel content makers are totally different to us. They are already extroverted and love moving every single second of the day. That’s what makes for good content. That’s what the algorithm on YouTube put these style of videos at the front.

The nature of these content creators is extroverted, they are full on and intense (well to us introverts). As we consume this style of travel, it can make it feel like us introverts are weird. But of course we are not. We are amazing, we just do things differently. And because we are introverted we tend not to be out in the middle of everyone every second of the day. So we are hidden.

For soft, introverted people these methods do not work for us. For example, a travel day no matter how long the flight, can be at minimum a 6 hour day with all the immigration and customs procedures. Lots of interacting with people.

After a day like this we are exhausted. And it can take us a day or two to get settled.

It took me almost a year to realise that I was wasn’t strange.

There is a way that soft introverted people can travel, and make the most of accomodating our needs as well as enjoy where ever we are.

Be gentle on yourself and allow yourself to travel the way you want to travel. I came to this realisation because if I travelled like most people seeing sights every minute of the day. I won’t last long travelling. I love exploring new places, and I want to keep on going for as long as I can. So I decided to stop comparing myself to others and just embrace who I am.

There are some amazing benefits to this. It allows you to immerse yourself in the local community that you are staying and enjoy what your neighbourhood has to offer. Something that people out sightseeing every moment of the day might not get to appreciate it.

This ultimately lead me to writing because I wanted to share this with the world. To let other people that are similar to me, that not all travelling has to be done in the same way.

Ensure you have enough food. I know this sounds like a no-brainer, we all need food. What I mean, is make sure you have enough snacks available for you on the travel days. Snacks that can sustain your energy like nuts and dried fruit. I love fresh fruit, but on these travel days it is almost impossible to get fresh fruit and vegetables.

Make it a top priority to stock up your cupboard and fridge at the accomodation you are staying. As soon as you get in, force yourself to go the nearest shop and get food. This can be very intense for us, but if you are able to push through this moment then it enables you to stay in your accomodation for a couple of days without having to leave to eat.

By doing this it gives you a chance to recover from the intensity of the travel day.