Travel Anxiety Solutions: 9 Tips for Staying Calm
Travel anxiety can be a significant hurdle for many, but effective solutions are within reach. This article presents expert-backed strategies to help manage travel-related stress and maintain calm throughout your journey. From pre-flight rituals to in-transit techniques, these practical tips offer a comprehensive approach to transforming your travel experience into a more relaxed and enjoyable one.
- Create a Calming Pre-Flight Ritual
- Engage Your Mind to Manage Anxiety
- Prepare a Comforting Travel Kit
- Practice Releasing into Space Meditation
- Use ACE Technique for Grounding
- Try Mindfulness Meditation During Travel
- Develop Personalized Travel Routines and Lists
- Use Moonbird Breathing Coach for Calm
- Apply Anchoring Breath Technique
Create a Calming Pre-Flight Ritual
My go-to method is creating a preflight ritual that grounds me before the chaos starts. I try to arrive early—not just to avoid rushing, but to mentally slow down. I’ll usually find a quiet corner, pop in noise-canceling headphones, and do a short 4-7-8 breathing exercise (inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8). It sounds simple, but it resets my nervous system almost instantly.
Also, I always carry a small pouch with things that feel familiar—my favorite scent, herbal drops, and a notebook. It’s less about controlling the situation and more about creating a pocket of calm I can carry with me, no matter which airport I’m in.
And honestly? Accepting that a little discomfort is part of travel makes it easier. I don’t fight the feeling—I manage it.
Okan Uckun
Tattoo Artist / Founder, MONOLITH STUDIO
Engage Your Mind to Manage Anxiety
My go-to strategy for managing travel anxiety is simple: keep my mind engaged. I’ve learned that an idle mind is quick to wander — and often, it wanders toward worry. So whether I’m in an airport or mid-flight, I make a point to stay mentally occupied.
When I’m traveling for work, that’s easy: I’ll clear out my inbox, prepare for upcoming meetings, or sketch out new ideas. But even on vacation, I’ll often bring light work with me to stay grounded during the trip.
This approach isn’t just for people who travel with their work. The principle applies to anyone: the key is to bring something that genuinely captures your attention. Whether it’s a page-turning novel (not the one you’ve been slogging through), a favorite mobile game, a sketchbook, or a gripping podcast series, choose something immersive.
By keeping your brain meaningfully occupied, you can turn anxious travel time into something calming or even productive.
Jim Hickey
President, Perpetual Talent Solutions
Prepare a Comforting Travel Kit
One practical method I swear by is preparing a pouch (a small kit) with familiar things that calm me down during travel. Mine includes noise-canceling earbuds, peppermint gum, a tiny lavender roller, and a printed card of my travel plan (times, hotel name, emergency contacts). Having something tangible and structured in my hands lowers my anxiety by giving my brain a sense of control.
Hamza Malik
Marketing Executive, Hire A Minibus With Driver
Practice Releasing into Space Meditation
I meditate. I have a special technique called “releasing into space” that turns anxiety into excitement.
Kelly Mitchell
Owner, Tibet Dharma
Use ACE Technique for Grounding
My go-to method for handling travel anxiety is a cognitive and sensory technique I call the “A.C.E. Check-in”—Acknowledge, Contextualize, and Engage. It’s a simple, discreet process that helps shift your brain out of its reactive fear state and back into a mode of rational thought. It’s about managing the anxious thoughts rather than letting them manage you.
First, Acknowledge the specific fear without judgment. For instance, silently say to yourself, “I am noticing the thought that this turbulence feels dangerous.” Naming the fear removes its shadowy power. Next, Contextualize it with facts. Remind yourself, “Turbulence is a normal and expected part of air travel; planes are engineered to handle it safely, and pilots are highly trained professionals.” This engages the logical part of your brain.
Finally, Engage your senses to ground yourself in the present moment. Focus on the physical sensations around you. Feel your feet planted firmly on the floor, notice the texture of the seat fabric under your fingertips, and concentrate on the steady rhythm of your own slow, deep breaths. This sensory input anchors you to the reality of your safety, pulling your focus away from the “what ifs.”
In my psychiatric practice, I’ve shared this with many patients, including a professional who feared flying would derail their career. By practicing this technique, they learned to intercept the cycle of panic before it could take hold. It’s an empowering tool because it doesn’t just distract you; it actively retrains your brain’s response to a trigger, giving you a tangible sense of control when you feel most helpless.
Ishdeep Narang, MD
Child, Adolescent & Adult Psychiatrist | Founder, ACES Psychiatry
Try Mindfulness Meditation During Travel
One technique that works for dealing with travel anxiety is something I always suggest for anxiety: mindfulness meditation. This is the practice of concentrating purely on whatever you are doing or wherever you are, without judgment – it can effectively minimize the prevailing stress of travel and a lot of anxiety. For me, just a couple of minutes of deep breaths and learning to root myself in the present moment go a long way toward keeping me calm as I’m traveling.
Kristina Bronitsky
Director of Consumer Marketing, RedAwning
Develop Personalized Travel Routines and Lists
Over the years, I have traveled extensively for both work and personal reasons. Something that has helped me deal with travel anxiety is creating lists and developing routines that work for me when traveling. Over time, I have created specific lists for various aspects of travel, such as:
- What to pack for different types of trips (including details on which items to place in specific bags)
- What I need to purchase ahead of time before a trip (e.g., certain snacks or travel-sized items)
- What I need to do in the days leading up to a trip to prepare (e.g., checking in for my flight, ensuring my house is in order)
Being intentional about learning all of these things and then physically writing them down has made each subsequent trip less stressful. This approach has given me more confidence that I am doing everything I need to do.
Steve Schwab
CEO, Casago
Use Moonbird Breathing Coach for Calm
Unsurprisingly, as a tech editor, it’s a gadget I turn to when I need a moment of calm while travelling. I discovered the Moonbird breathing coach in 2024, and it has been in my backpack ever since.
By holding Moonbird in my hand, it works by physically guiding my breathing through a gentle inflating and deflating motion. As the device expands, I breathe in; as it contracts, I breathe out. The rhythm helps pace my breathing without needing to watch a screen or count seconds. Inside, a built-in sensor tracks my heart rate and heart rate variability in real time, syncing with the companion app if I want to see my stats mid-session.
Tom Payne
Editor, {Tech} for Travel
Apply Anchoring Breath Technique
As a clinical hypnotherapist, I’ve found that travel anxiety is often rooted in a lack of control and subconscious fear of the unknown. One powerful technique I teach is the Anchoring Breath Technique — a three-part breath where you inhale deeply for 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale for 8. While breathing, repeat a calming affirmation like, “I am safe and grounded.”
In hypnotherapy sessions, we also reframe fear-based mental imagery and anchor the feeling of calm to specific sensory cues (like touching your wrist). Many of our clients report that using this before takeoff helps them stay centered and relaxed.
Sandy Wong
Mental Health Coach, Brain Trainer, Breathwork Facilitator, Make it Happen Hypnotherapy
