Travel anxiety-anyone else have this?

I’m looking at coaches and trains from Manchester to South Wales, especially Pembroke and Fishguard, for the ferry to Rosslare - from there, getting the train to Dublin would be a doddle by comparison to Manchester, Chester, Holyhead Dublin (North Wall) which is a real hassle - flying from Manchester or Liverpool to Dublin is a real pain too, as it takes an hour even outside of rush hour to get out of Dublin Airport 

I'll head to Manchester, in March, via Coach - from Belfast - but the first Coach is towards Glasgow. The old service between Cairnryan and Carlisle is gone; now.

Given the current climate change related travel disruptions to both air travel and including rail strikes, going forward, it’s far too risky and dangerous to travel without a chaperone any longer distance over 20 miles on any forms of travel - before my later in life diagnosis and before Covid, I would have happily travelled alone on SailRail, overnight coach (via Holyhead) and air travel between the U.K. and Ireland (Dublin) but I’d have to think twice now especially after being stranded in Holyhead for 2 days on my return from Ireland 

I don't travel, period. I haven't been more than 20 miles from home since 2018. I have a chronically overactive digestive system so I physically can't travel unless I take immodium, which has side effects like tiredness, headache and nausea. There's nothing I want to do enough to put myself through that.

I do get a bus out into the nearby countryside sometimes and go walking, usually by myself. Being alone massively reduces the anxiety. It also helps to stay within a distance where I could walk home if I really had to (<20 miles).

Anxiety in my life has been reduced enormously by giving up travel and only doing short trips if I genuinely want to. Pushing yourself to travel if you're not enthusiastic about it leads to resentment and you'll end up hating and fearing it even more.

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My issue is motorways... over the years I've developed a fear of travelling along motorways and if I have a long journey ahead of me, I will work out with military precision the best route to take to avoid them as best I can. I'm fine on other roads, I saw a previous post upthread about the fear of being stranded and I think that nails my fear too. Utterly irrational but we are where we are...

I get major travel anxiety up until I’m at the airport - once I’m through TSA I’m fine. But 48 hours before I’m stressed, making sure the house is clean, all our laundry is done, all the bed sheets are washed, packing and not forgetting anything. My house has to be absolutely spotless before I go on a trip so that I’m not coming home to any chores to do. I’m traveling this Tuesday and the anxiety kicked in about 7 am today.

I have similar experiences it can be crippling.

I have big anxiety but I love travelling. I do always have at the back of my mind how I get home if it all goes wrong. When I go on holiday I always like to stay not far from the airport, I would hate to be 2 hours away. I am a nightmare at the airport, there hours early, just sit there staring at the screen until the gate comes up, i wish they would give you it when you get there. Always anxious I have booked the wrong date, time, everything really and I hate travelling with others who are really relaxed about timings etc. The diffrence is that being diagnosed late I was never allowed to be diffrent, I was just to get on with life, no matter what.

Yep. Odd though because I HAVE travelled all over Europe quite alone.

Bizarrely the daily commute causes more issues for me than international travel. I hate crowds, the packed damp bus with screaming babies and teenagers who think the whole world wants to listen to their grunge music and the stench...the commute is a traumatic sensory bombardment. I literally do need a lie down in a darkened room by the time I get to the office. And I have 2 hours of that each way.

Internationally, I find this easier if I pick non-busy times and plan to the nth degree and arrive super early for everything.

I have though never been to a country where I don't speak the language. France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, US, Ireland, French Canada...I HAD to know I could absolutely buy a ticket, order a meal and find the loo alone before I'd ever dare go. Mercifully, I got a BA Hons in Modern Languages. Would I go to Japan? Love to, but I would have to take a course in Japonese first.

Reported as abusive.

I know what you mean. It it serious and very life limiting. So far everything I've tried hasn't worked and now I hardly go out at all.

I'm sorry you have this as well. I totally get how you feel about missing opportunities and events.

To date my travel anxiety has caused me to miss out on my cousin's wedding and also my grandparents funerals, though I hardly saw them before that anyways because of the anxiety.

Leaves me feeling very guilty.

I hope you can find a solution to yours.

Xx

Yes, I have a big problem with this - it's very rare that I go anywhere further than I can walk there and back, and not unusual that I don't feel able to leave the house at all. I avoid travelling in vehicles as much as I possibly can - even if it means walking miles cross-country in terrible weather in the middle of the night.

When I do absolutely have to make a journey, the anxiety starts as soon as I begin to even make plans for it. I obsessively check the timetables over and over again, go along the route in Google street-view to make sure that I recognise every single step of the way, and get into a total panic if a bus or train is even a few seconds late. Being stuck inside a metal box with other people is horrible for my senses, and I have to fight the urge to just get off to be away from it for the whole journey. I especially can't abide going anywhere if I don't know exactly how I'll be getting back, or if I have to rely on someone else to get home. I miss out on opportunities to see people very often because of it.