Azure waters, exotic locations, fancy drinks and tons of delicious-looking food. This is what we all see these days across social media when it comes to travelling.
Everyone likes to brag about his latest travel adventures, but there is an ugly truth about travelling no one is showing in their Insta-perfect pictures.
I love to travel and to discover new places and people. I’ve always said that the best way to discover yourself is by travelling. I might not document my travels too much over here, but throughout my trips I’ve seen different situations which made me draw some conclusions about the ugly truth about travelling no one is telling you. They are not as bad as they sound, but I think you should be aware of them.
The Lack of Environment Responsibility
I am one of those people who try to be more aware of the impact we have on the environment. From recycling to reducing plastic waste and choosing products with less harmful ingredients, I believe each small step can bring a positive impact to the world. That being said, I truly despise seeing people intentionally
Related: 10 Easy Steps To Be More Eco-Friendly
If you visited one of the most popular cities in the world, you might have already noticed they are unfortunately quite dirty.
Being on holiday gives you the liberty to splurge on things you wouldn’t on a regular basis – I get that because I do it too. But this does not give you the right to ‘accidentally drop litter’ everywhere you go, simply because you don’t leave there. Do whatever you want with your money, relax and enjoy yourself, but please show some respect to the environment and to the people who’ll visit the place after you – they deserve to enjoy it as much as you did.
The Anxiety
I’m not such a huge fan of flights. I get bored quite fast and I lose my mind if there are turbulences. I feel extremely stressed, trapped and anxious if there is turbulence and that consumes a lot of energy, to be honest. Not to mention that my eyes get extremely, dry in aeroplanes – which is another point to add to the “why I don’t like flying” list.
Flight fear is very common. I don’t find anything comforting about being trapped in a tin, in the middle of nowhere, in the sky. And I bet some of you feel the same too.
Anxiety can come in many forms when it comes to travelling:
- fear of flying
anxiety of extremely crowded places- severe discomfort on being in a foreign place, which you don’t know at all
the anxiety of speaking a foreign language – or not speaking one at all
The list can be endless. People who suffer from more severe forms of anxiety, know that any small thing can trigger a panic attack. Severe anxiety can pull off people from travelling or from leaving their hotel room. Shit is serious, I mean it.
While I personally don’t suffer from severe anxiety, I know people who do and they avoid travelling at any cost. For me, the mild anxiety I feel in a foreign place is worth it for the overall experience of discovering new places.
Culture Shock
Cultural shock can be so devastating for some people. I remember when we had this girl from China coming to Eastern Europe for an exchange opportunity. We couldn’t make her stop crying for the first few days and I still can’t remember how we convinced her to leave the dorm. We tried our best to comfort her, but the poor girl was simply devastated.
Culture shock manifests as severe anxiety of exploring the new place, overall discomfort, and fear of the new culture. Things can be extremely different from one country to another and for some people, it can be very disturbing. Similar to anxiety, culture shock can keep you inside and ruin your holiday.
Language Barrier
Chances are that if you go to most western European countries, speaking only English will not be enough. I had troubles to get info in Madrid Barajas Airport since no one could speak or understand basic English. I think that was the legit first culture shock I ever had.
This came as a shock to me since I thought the
Related: 10 Thing to Consider Before Deciding to Moving Abroad
The language barrier came as a true cultural shock to me years ago. Most western European countries are very fond of their native language – so fond that they even translate brand names (
It is extremely frustrating and sometimes dangerous to not be able to communicate in a foreign place. Also, exhausting – all those signs take
The Racism
This is such a sensitive subject, but the truth is that racism is everywhere, even if we don’t talk so openly about it.
On one side I can understand that it has to do a lot of the way you’ve been raised and educated, but on the other side, it should come naturally to be more tolerant than older generations.
Technology makes it so, so easy to have access to information, knowledge and it helps us communicate faster every day. Feeling discomfort or hatred towards someone from a different country shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
What helped me a lot was AIESEC. It’s an international students’ organisation and we always had a lot of foreign students coming for exchange opportunities and now I get super excited when I see foreign people in my city because I miss interacting with international people so much.
Overpriced Products and Services
A short while ago, Venice cafes and pubs were involved in a huge scandal when a tourist exposed how they were overhanging for their services.
Probably most of us are aware of the fact that restaurants around very popular sites will charge more, simply because they can. And the ugly truth is that no one makes you go there and pay 40 euros for a coffee and a bottle of water.
While some of us might be aware of this, some will think it the ‘norm’ for a coffee to be so expensive near the Colosseum or any other
I think these are the most pressing issues people should know about travelling before starting to backpack the world. Of course, this article will be updated accordingly as I come across new experiences to share. Yes, travelling is amazing, but document yourself thoroughly and always respect the culture and place you’re visiting.
Have you noticed any other ugly truths about
20 comments
I have traveled a ton and I totally agree with you! One more thing I would add would be travel bloat/sickness/acne. Since it’s usually a complete change in environment and food, whenever I travel I either get sick, really bloated or acne. I’ve listened to podcasts where they’ve said the same thing. I’ve resulted to mostly eating the same food I normally do when I travel. I want to experience the local food, but I also want to enjoy my trip which seems impossible if I’m in pain from the different food!
This is so insightful, thank you, Maddie!
While the acne makes sense to me, I don’t know about the others.
Usually, when you travel, you switch from a dryer to more humid environments and it can cause imbalance if you don’t adapt your skincare accordingly.
I never had problems with food though… also, never travelled outside Europe, so that might explain.
These are some really valid points you bring up! I don’t travel very much but I can definitely see how each of these things could create a problem or be a concern to be aware of.
You make a really good point about environmental responsibility! I always travel with reusable water bottles/zip bags (in place of disposable plastic) and try to do carbon offset purchases when I fly – I know it’s not a lot but I feel like I have to make some kind of effort.
I would say every small thing counts. ☺️
These are very good points to be aware of when travelling, especially if it’s new for you!
Traveling isn’t always amazing, and I love this post. I definitely get anxiety when flying and have experienced some culture shock before. Traveling is fun, but I wouldn’t say that every part of traveling is fun.
So much true about this. I have travel since I’m very little so my parents taught me early on about all this. Cultural shock and the language barrier don’t cause me any problem. I manage somehow hahaha. It’s important to learn about your destination before going. You don’t want to be the rude person.
Traveling is such a rewarding experience but is not as easy as others make it look. There’s so much more planning than just buying the plane tickets and booking hotels.
I agree that Instagram certainly (as a whole) washes all travel with the same “everything is amazing all the time!” brush but I appreciate the growth of accounts that are more accurate when it comes to reality and the examples that you mention.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one noticing this trend on social media. I’m currently following only accounts that bring me some sort of added value to my time spent scrolling through instagram.
The language barrier can be difficult. My last big trip was to China, and almost no one spoke English. It made transportation very difficult. Lol.
Oh, God… I can imagine!
I found that I was much less anxious traveling in my 20s than I am now that I’m in my 30s; however, I am much more culturally aware in many ways now & would appreciate so much of what I’ve already seen in new & deeper ways if I would have been older. I like that you’re presenting the other side of the story…so much of the time we just present the positives.
It would be really frustrating to see people littering. My daughter has traveled internationally and has experienced almost all of these situations.
I can have bad anxiety just in general, not only when traveling. For some reason I don’t have any problem on flights, but if it hits when I’m in a place that’s unfamiliar to me or I’m far from loved ones it can be so much worse. Definitely something to keep in mind.
Traveling can be very stressful! A lot can go wrong and you feel so helpless and out of control. This post was a good reminder to keep these things in mind when traveling, but also to not let them weigh you down!
I think the money aspect of it is the biggest catch for me. I can’t handle how incredibly expensive it is to see new places. I sure do wish it was easier. And then that causes anxiety all on its own. Let alone the fact that I have a chronic illness, so traveling is terrifying because of the fear of a flare-up and I’m stuck in a foreign place. Insane what we do to experience something new.
I have the thing with money too – and I still can’t figure ti our if I’m just being cheap or things are actually expensive. I do a lot of research and track flight prices in advance (a few months), but all the money fear goes away when I get there I enjoy everything.
As for the illness problem, make sure you research the health insurance policies for the place you’re about to visit. For the EU, for example, is quite simple, people visiting a foreign country have the same health care access as home citizens when they travel.
I use to love to fly but that has now change and I try to fly less than before. I get anxiety real bad and there are so many weird people out there.
Well, as someone who had to travel a lot for work, I can tell you that I don’t enjoy it any more when going for the Holidays. I definitely agree with all the plastic waste at airports, etc. We try to pack snacks, but unfortunately, water is still not allowed through the gate check. Thanks for sharing!