How to Overcome Travel Envy

After browsing the internet for blog post ideas I came across this article from Boston Magazine written about a year ago about the origin of FOMO. What is FOMO? Quite simply it’s classified as the Fear Of Missing Out. Apparently originating sometime in the early 2000s, it’s now become a psychological phenomenon and rumour has it, roughly 70% of adults suffer from it. Most of you already know what I’m talking about. For those who know me well know that I do suffer from FOMO. You can laugh, it does sound ridiculous when I say it out loud.

I may be wrong in this assumption but I feel as if FOMO is a sad reality for most travelers (mainly travel bloggers). A lot of us will see someone doing something epic like climbing a volcano, wandering ancient ruins, or camping in breathtaking landscapes and think – why am I not doing that? How much fun am I missing out on? When was the last time I did something amazing? Then you get slightly depressed, sad, and for most of us – immediately motivated.

I recently experienced this upon my younger sister booking an epic two week vacation to Europe. Flying into Paris, her and three other friends were also visiting Amsterdam, Munich and Prague. Ya I know, you can see why I was jealous. My last trip was 5 months ago, and my next one is still a month away (Montreal). As I sat at my desk on Monday, a rainy and miserable day in Toronto, I couldn’t help but be a little bit depressed and very jealous.

The first thing I did was start looking at where I can plan a trip in the upcoming months. October is pretty much a write off because we have friends visiting from England. November I’ll be traveling to Montreal for four days (possibly with a  day trip to Quebec City as well), then we’ll be off to England, Belgium and Netherlands for Christmas / New Years. That’s already the next three months accounted for – with two new countries as well to get me closer to my 30 by 30-1-ish goal. In reality though there are three ways that I deal with travel envy.

1. Planning my next trip:
If, as mentioned above, the next couple of months are planned, I move onto the next available month. For me this week that was February. I’ll be giving myself 1-2 vacation days to use in February. This week we found out also that Ben may be sent to California for work in February. Obviously we are going to try and take full advantage! The most important for me is to always have something to look forward to. I don’t like wishing time away, but it’s always important for me to have some trip on the horizon. Even if I can’t afford to travel somewhere exotic or exciting, I do my best to plan a trip close by (like Montreal).

2. Look back on past trips: 
I’ve been some pretty amazing places, and done some really cool things. At times I have to remind myself of that. It’s easy to forget that I’ve driving Pacific Highway 1, stand-up paddle boarded in Gili T, hiked through Plitvice Lakes National Park, put a lock on the love lock bridge in Paris, among many other amazing things. Travel has almost become a competition to me. Trying to tick off as many countries and cities as I can in the short amount of vacation I get every year. I need to constantly remind myself to reflect on the memories I’ve already made and to remember why I’m travelling.

3. Remember, social media is not always as it appears:
This is probably the most important. We are so obsessed with how we appear to others and our social presence that often times we forget that other people do that too. Rarely do people promote times when they’ve lost their bags, stayed in an awful hotel, suffered from culture shock, etc. It’s important to remember that while your friends, sisters, or a strangers trip looks like the most exciting trip ever – it’s not all perfect.

And so, as I sit here writing this several day later I’m not longer jealous of my sisters trip across Europe, I’m happy for her. I’m also looking forward to my upcoming trips and motivated to get planning!

How do you overcome travel envy?