I’ve been tired lately.
I’ve been busy pet sitting, exploring and booking travels. I recently found myself in a hotel somewhere in England trying to catch up on rest. After 9 weeks of travel, I’m not necessarily ready to go home, but I sort of need a vacation.
Can you see the exhaustion on my face?
I left the US in late May 2022 with a return flight scheduled for approximately 3 months later and only my first 2 weeks planned.
Full disclosure: I have people I can stay with in the UK as a safety net in case anything goes wrong.
I started in London for a couple of reasons. I’ve been to London before, I speak the language, and those were the cheapest plane tickets at the time. I wanted to start my big adventure on easy mode. 2 months on and I’m frequently finding myself stressed and exhausted. I didn’t think this nomadic lifestyle (following the pet sitting gigs - for which I do not get paid) would be easy but I thought I’d at least find a way to explore outside of the UK!
I’ve had no luck finding house sits outside the UK. I had dreams of traveling by train and housesitting my way around the EU. This has not been my reality. Balancing expectations with what is actually possible is a challenge in everyday life, but when you have the added difficulty of needing to fill several months with accommodations and being careful with your budget things get more precarious.
I have found that I’m becoming better at navigating trains across the UK and even though I’d love to offer my UX writing services to some of these train companies to make their websites and apps more user friendly, I’ve mostly been able to book travel at short notice without incident. The user experience at the train stations has been a bit of a different story with some being easy to navigate and others extremely stressful due to a number of issues.
Back to the point - I’m tired.
“You’ve been on vacation for 2 months and you’re tired???”
Yes, I’m tired. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say exhausted.
Traveling for 3+ months without concrete plans can be liberating. I can do anything I want and go where I please! But it can also be challenging.
7 Unexpected challenges of long-term travel
Planning: You know how stressed you can get when you’re planning a trip? Now do that every week or so. When you don’t know what your next stop is, travel can get a little scary. When you have to navigate around train or airline strikes and extreme weather, travel can get a little anxiety-inducing. When you have the whole of Europe to choose from as your next destination, you can find yourself with analysis paralysis.
Patience: Waiting on ticket prices to drop or tickets to open up or someone to choose you to pet sit for them requires patience. And it’s taxing.
Pet sitting: Some pets are easy to care for. Some pets are more difficult. Some pet parents are particular and some are more laid back. I only apply to pet sits that seem to be a good fit for me, but sometimes you arrive and there’s more to it. I’m accustomed to pet sits where the pets have some level of separation anxiety, but there are times when my concerns for the pets and the worries of their family can be emotionally tiring. I love pet sitting, but I think it’s something for people considering trying it to know.
Recording everything: I’m trying to share my experiences here and on social media for a number of reasons. I want to practice my writing here. I want to inspire others on Instagram and TikTok. I want to keep my friends and family back home informed about my experiences. All of these are fine goals, but they all require looking at your surroundings in different ways and analyzing what you’re seeing and how you’re feeling all the time. Making sure you get photos, videos, mementos, and thoughtful observations about everything can be physically and mentally demanding.
Last-minute bookings: I’ve had decent luck in getting last-minute bookings to work for me, especially with hotels. The challenge here is not knowing where you’re going or having to change your napkin sketch plan completely when you find out there actually aren’t any trains to your planned destination available on the day you want to travel. Having open-ended travel can mean that you just do something else, but it can also mean scrapping plans totally and having to start the booking process again. And when you’re trying to coordinate multiple train lines and hotels and house sits this can feel overwhelming.
Money worries: I saved up for this trip, but I also hoped I’d have time to apply for jobs while I was traveling. (I haven’t.) I do some online English tutoring to keep a little bit of money coming in, but when you don’t know how long you’ll be somewhere or exactly what kind of work facilities you’ll have access to it’s difficult to plan too far ahead. We all know that stress about money can cause all sorts of physical and emotional troubles and dealing with this while traveling just adds to the challenge.
Physical stresses: When you pack for 3 months, things can get heavy. I tried to pack light, but with temperatures during my travels ranging from 10°C (50°F) to 41°C (105.8°F) I needed to bring more than just “summer clothes” to be prepared. I’ve worn just about every item of clothing I brought so far and used almost everything I brought that wasn’t clothing, but I digress. I have 3 main bags (I have several other bags that I use when I’m staying at a location for more than a few days but those travel inside the main ones.) that I have had to navigate with over brick and cobblestone streets, over rail and tram tracks and up and down stairways of a variety of heights. I’m traveling with 1 backpack, 1 carry on sized rolling suitcase and a similar sized duffel bag that I check when I fly. For one pet sit, I had to carry/push all of this uphill for 9/10 mile (1.5 km). There have been a few house sits where the pets didn’t sleep well, so I didn’t sleep well. And we all know that lack of sleep can cause physical strain. I also walk constantly when I’m exploring new places and when I’m sitting for a dog there’s even more walking. I love walking, but I’ve had a few days where I’ve come ‘home’ with painful, swollen feet and a sore back and hips. Luckily, I’ve had some access to baths and epsom salts to help me recover several times during my travels.
Now, it’s not all stress and challenges. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how easily I’ve been able to find allergy-friendly foods. I’ve also found that most people are kind and helpful to me. I’ve also been able to see so many beautiful and interesting things I would have never sought out on my own because of embracing chance. And even though I’m traveling mostly solo, I’ve made lovely connections with people and animals which make it all worthwhile.
“I'm not going to the botanical gardens by myself.” - David Rose
Yes, I took my Rose Apothecary tote to the botanical gardens alone.
Follow along if you like and remember — Even tiny adventures matter.