The Stress of Travel - Dublin, Ireland

Travel can be stressful.  Transportation to and from airports, not to mention check in, security, interminable lines, bad food, infrequent breaks and chances to stretch your legs or change your body position in positive ways, tight quarters, noisy neighbors, finding food, communicating in foreign languages.  There are endless ways that stress can occur and build up.  This doesn't make traveling not fun, but it does mean that if your tolerance for stress is low for any reason, it can really start to get to you.  That is what happened to my friend that I've been traveling with.  Things piled up, and suddenly, he needed a break from his break, so to speak.  He hopped a plane back to the states this morning.

Now, I'm on my own in Dublin.  On Tuesday, I am moving from my current place to another place just a block or two from the Guinness Storehouse.  I'll be there until I leave Ireland at the end of July.  I'll miss having my friend around, but I'm excited at the prospect of travel alone.  I wouldn't be where I am if he hadn't prompted me to join him, but now, I'm free, and I'm loving it.

I'm in a peculiar position.  In the past, I've always lived month to month.  I generally need the paycheck closest to rent to pay my rent.  Now, I've booked my lodgings through to the end of November.  I'm over four months ahead of myself.  And I've booked all my flights through September.  It feels like this is getting easier.

So far, since leaving the States, I've been to Spain, France, and Ireland.  I've already booked the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, and Indonesia for the future.  I've met friends from online for the first time, and have more planned to meet already.

I need to get better at sleep, particularly around travel weekends.  By barely sleeping around my trip from Paris to Dublin, I beat down my body enough to leave me sick most of my first week in Dublin.  I'll pay more attention to that.  I'm learning.

I'm also going to work more on integrating my physical and mental practices into something akin to a schedule.  This is not my forte, but it is important, and it is going to happen.  Every day, I will spend at least an hour walking, twenty minutes meditating, and perform something for strength training or exercise.  I admit that some days, strength training will be just letting my body rest.  Consciously resting is part of growth and health.