Traveling with Anxiety: What It Really Feels Like (and How I Cope)

11 Practical Ways I Cope with Travel Anxiety (and Still Get on the Plane)

It may come as a surprise—especially from someone who truly loves to travel—but I struggle with intense travel anxiety. Love to travel, hate the traveling part is the best way to describe it.

Anxiety is a strange thing. I’ve definitely had it since I was young, but it’s only as an adult that I’ve started to really understand and manage it. It can creep up without warning or reason, which is one of the most frustrating parts.

Travel, in particular, really tests my anxiety. I’ve had full-on panic attacks in airports. I’ve been that person on a plane, stuck on the runway, running to the bathroom and struggling to catch my breath. And on rare, magical occasions, I’ve casually hopped on a flight without a single worry. But that unpredictability—the lack of control—is exactly what makes my anxiety spike.

What’s interesting is that travel anxiety doesn’t look the same for everyone. I’ve talked to a lot of friends who also experience it, and we each have our own “trigger” in the process. For some, it’s the fear of the plane crashing. For others, it’s flying over oceans. For me, it’s the feeling of being stuck—trapped in a plane and unable to get off when I want. Honestly, I feel the same on buses, trains, boats, and even in cars when I’m not the one driving. It’s probably something I should talk to a therapist about someday, instead of the internet—but writing it out is oddly therapeutic.

Other fun anxieties I bring on board: fear of airplane bathrooms, obsessing over who’s going to be sitting near me, and general worry about germs and getting sick. I know—I sound like a dream travel companion (ha!).

I’ve been on flights that had emergency medical landings. I’ve flown through some wild turbulence. But more than any of those scenarios, it’s the loss of control that gets me every time.

Once the plane is in the air, I can usually breathe a sigh of relief. But the hours leading up to takeoff? Brutal—for both my mind and my intestines.

Despite all this, I’ve promised myself I’ll never let anxiety stop me from traveling. JD (my husband) is cool as a cucumber, one of those lucky people who is calm by default. Thank God for him—he handles almost everything at the airport while I focus on staying grounded. He’s exactly what I need in those moments.

Over the years, I’ve found a few things that help—some rituals, some tools, some apps, some truths. I’ve kept traveling even when it felt impossible. And that matters.

Here are 11 things that help me manage my travel anxiety: