In 2008, when I was 21, I came up with the idea of booking an Interrail ticket and touring Europe for a month. I decided travel to Paris, Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, Venice, Rome, Athens, Istanbul and Vienna. And I felt the strong urge to do this tour alone.
By the end of August, I had everything planned out: Interrail ticket, route, train connections, accommodations, luggage, what to see… The only thing left to do was to get on the plane from Berlin to Paris. And suddenly, I got cold feet. Planning the trip had been the easy part. But when the plan was finally about to become reality, I was afraid of my own courage. I had never traveled for that long, let alone been alone for more than a day. What if I was not up to the task? What if I got lonely? What if something went wrong and I did not know how to handle that situation?
I felt overwhelmed to the point of developing a nervous fever the day before I was scheduled to leave. Fear had taken over and I was irritable. Luckily, my mother connected the dots, being anxious about travel herself. She asked me whether I wanted to cancel the trip, but that felt like throwing in the towel. I was terrified of what was to come and having overestimated my capabilities but I was even more afraid of being called a coward or a failure. Consequently, on Aug 28th 2008, I took two paracetamols and got on the plane to Paris…
How about you?
Do you get nervous or even anxious before travel?
Cover picture was taken in the Speicherstadt in Hamburg (Germany) in Aug 2016
Missing the beginning of this story?
Around Europe in 30 days #1: Forming a plan
Wandering Explorer Travel 
Early on in my travels, I used to get nervous before boarding a plane, train, vehicle…but it wasn’t cold feet, per say. It was excitement, as I knew that anything could happen on the journey, but I welcomed the unknown. It’s the thrill of it that propelled me to go, every time!
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I get that. For me it was honestly a journey. Initially, I would always get nervous up until I boarded the plane or train and was anxious about something going wrong or me having forgotten something. With experience though (and a couple of things actually going wrong), I gained more and more confidence that not matter what, everything would be alright. So now I am much more relaxed 😇
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When I did my first solo trip to South America I wasn’t nervous until I landed in the airport. Then once I finally got to my hostel, was petrified!!😂
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Uff, sounds like my friend I landing in New Delhi 😅 Where did you land and did trip turn alright in the end?
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Stressful times haha! Landed in Mexico (I did Central America too) but it all went really well. Hiccups along the way but lasted the 6 months! New Delhi looks amazing but overwhelming!
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