Simply buying a ticket doesn’t buy you a good holiday. It’s actually something you have to work at. This is where mindfulness comes in. Some people say that if you can’t afford travel insurance, then you can’t afford to travel. In addition, I think that if you can’t include mindfulness in your journey, you shouldn’t bother leaving the house.

Here are a few ways you can fix the Shit Bits of travel using mindfulness…

Travel shit bit #1: Plane flights + transit

The doors shut and the plane starts to move down the runway, slowly gaining speed. You’ve been counting down to this trip for months. You packed your suitcase an entire week ago. You’ve got magazines, music, your squishy little memory foam pillow, snacks: you’re set for days! You are traveller extraordinaire; you are a citizen of the world.

Fast forward eight hours into the flight with fourteen hours transit time left to go. The combination of the air conditioning, intermittent sleep and sugar rush from your snacks has left a weird taste in your mouth. Your ass is sore. You’re acutely aware of the passenger next to you taking up more than their allotted real estate on the armrest.

On a plane, you’re cut off from natural sound, light and air temperature. In this sort of sensory deprivation, any kind of stimulus fills out the whole world, and madness sets in.

Make it mindful: Be aware of the madness creeping in. Observe it. Try to focus instead on your breathing, how the air feels as it passes the tip of your nose. Count your breaths. Affirmations help, too. Try: I will not be on this plane forever. There will be a time in the near future where I am showered, rested, have plenty of personal space. I am safe and all is well. Hey, say it out loud and the passenger stealing your armrest will retreat as much as possible to avoid the crazy person talking to herself. Kills two birds with one stone.

Travelling shit bit #2: Incapability of being ‘in the moment’.

You’re on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean and thinking that your car registration bill is probably going to come out of your bank account around the time you fly home. You’re on your third gelato for the day and are already guilt-planning your fitness regime for when you get back home – what gives? While you may be able to buy your accommodation, flights and tours, what you can’t buy is the ability to be present in the moment.

The Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle said, “If you found yourself in paradise, it wouldn’t be long before your mind says, “yes, but…”. This is because our default setting is to believe happiness always lies at the next step, but never in the present.

Make it mindful: “There are no problems, only situations to be dealt with now, or accepted as part of the ‘isness’ of the present moment until they change or can be dealt with.” Every now and then, when you find your mind running overtime about potential problems that might arise in an hour, or tomorrow, or next week, ask yourself what problem you have right this second. As you look around from your vantage point in the tour bus, or on your hike, or sitting on your surf board in the water, right now, you’ll probably find you have no problems at all. If you’re worried about the fact you’ve been eating like an unchaperoned child at a birthday party, you can either a) start making healthier food choices, or b) decide you’re going to go to town and get back into a routine when you get home, and be done with it.

It might also help to realize as humans, it’s pretty normal to jump and forth between thoughts of the past and thoughts of the future. Feeling guilty for not being present will just make it worse. Be aware of where your mind drifts, honor it all. And if you’re feeling the same here in front of this tropical beach, that you do while mid-work day at home, it might be worth thinking about the idea that perhaps paradise is not a place, but a feeling. One you can create anywhere.

Bonus, use The Salty Club to meditate, and travel to a completely different place entirely. 

Travelling shit bit #3: Wanting to kill your travel companion

When you spend every waking minute with your friend / partner / family member, shit gets real, fast.

I still cringe when I think of turning to one of my closest friends on a night out in Prague after six weeks in each other’s back pockets and finally telling him the sound of his blocked-nose breathing made me want to strangle him in his sleep. It exploded out of me before I even knew I wanted to say it, and it certainly was not one of my finest moments. Or getting mad at my dad after he’d bundled us into a rickshaw in Hanoi, Vietnam with a dodgy looking cyclist and were accordingly charged an exorbitant amount at the end. Just like I’d warned we would be, and just like he hadn’t listened cause my sweet little father is TOO DAMN TRUSTING.

Make it mindful: Try to be empathetic. You love this person, and you’re probably doing things to annoy them, too. Can you find some space? Can you go for a walk by yourself for an hour to regroup? Again, breathing exercises help. Also, try putting things in perspective. Is it really that big of a deal? Dad still talks about getting duped by the rickshaw man like it’s one of his fondest memories of the trip.

It can also help to be really discerning who you travel with. Maybe your friends are great at home but your desires, personalities and standards don’t vibe when on the road 24/7. Naturally, conflicts will arise, differences in desires etc. You gotta be prepared to talk it out or resentment will build. Be realistic about how you’ll be able to travel relatively peacefully with.

So you see. Travel is rife with shit bits. The list goes on, and they pop up out of nowhere. Not having ready access to a washing machine, and getting sick of living out of a backpack. Homesickness. Waiting in airports. Making connections with people overseas and then having to say goodbye, realizing you might not ever see them again. It’s just that no one talks about it, so when they pop up it’s like a big fish-slap in the face. But don’t worry. If you go away armed with a toolbox full of different mindfulness strategies you will find you can generally improve any situation. Trust me.

What travelling shit bits were you not prepared for? And how did you overcome them?