Better Travels
how I manage my travel anxiety when going away
Hello good people!
First of all, a big welcome to my new subscribers. I seriously had no idea when I started this thing that anyone would read it, and it makes my heart happy to see how many of you joined me on this crazy journey of mine in recent weeks. I’ve always been a part of online communities, and it makes me very happy that Substack can be a place for me to meaningfully interact with folks.
I am off to LA this week to see a production of my play HYANNIS, which I am very excited about. It’s the first production of this play, which is always nerve wracking, but they opened this week and so far the feedback has been positive. The fun part of being a playwright is watching the world that you saw only in your head brought to life. It’s really cool to see different interpretations, different casts, and different sets. It really is the closest thing to magic for me in this world. Career-wise, the past few years have been a little rough (so say we all), and these opportunities don’t come along every day, so I’m not taking a second of it for granted.
Going to LA means I need to do annoying things like get on an airplane. I am an anxious traveler. I used to have a crippling fear of flying, which I cured through exposure therapy. I wrote a play about a sole survivor of a plane crash, and I did a lot of research into plane crashes. Like, worst case scenario level shit. Nightmare fuel. Weirdly, it was comforting. As awful as these big plane crashes are, they are exceedingly rare. I learned a lot about the form and function of jumbo jets, and they are well designed, safe, and flown by people who know what they are doing. Taking one of those bad boys down means that something has gone spectacularly wrong. The only thing I get scared of now is my fellow passengers. People act a damn fool on planes lately. The diarrhea story has haunted my dreams. I want to pass out Imodium just in case. I also hate actually being on the plane. The seats are too small, and it’s generally unpleasant. I am fortunate enough to be flying economy plus for both legs of this trip, which truly feels like Luxury.
Most of my anxiety around traveling involves preparation and anticipation. Before I was treated for my ADHD, I was absolutely terrified of losing things, which is what happens when you have a trap door in your brain that makes you lose things and have no idea how you lost them. Packing for a relatively simple 4 day trip used to take me a long time, but when I started to travel more for work I streamlined the process. I always remind myself that I am not going to the middle of a desert hundreds of miles from civilization. If I forgot toothpaste, I can buy it. The fear of losing things is confined now to the “must haves”: ID, wallet, phone. I did lose my passport for the first time when I did a big two week trip to the West Coast and Vancouver, but fortunately that only happened once I was past customs and back in the US. It was a pain in the ass, but not the end of the world.
Here are some ways I mitigate my anxiety when traveling: