Travel burnout is a feeling that hits after you have been on the road for a while. Some people experience it within weeks of traveling, while for others it may take months; I was well aware of it – I just didn’t know that it would arrive so soon.
Last year when I did my 8-week solo backpacking in Asia, I never experienced travel burnout, because the countries I visited were very different. There was no way, for instance, I would have mixed up Japan with Myanmar – The people, food, culture, everything was totally different; but when I came to Central Europe (Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary), the countries seemed so similar and I wasn’t able to easily tell them apart. When you pack your bag and move to a different country, just to find out that you are now in a country just like the previous one – That is when travel burnout generally kicks in.
Fortunately, there are ways to deal with this: For me, I would simply chill and go slow. Instead of going out all day to see places, I would allocate half a day of free time every now and then and let spontaneity take over. Maybe I would just chill and read, or maybe I would make some new friends to create unfamiliar experience in these familiar places – Having no plan is oftentimes the best plan, and seems to be the best way to combat travel burnout.
St Stephen’s Basilica, with a huge mass going on.
@Budapest
St Stephen’s Basilica, with a huge mass going on.
@Budapest
Szechenyi Thermal Bath.
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Hungary is the 3rd country I experienced thermal bath (the other two being onsen in Japan and hot spring in Indonesia). Honestly I felt like the water here was not nearly hot enough – It felt more like a swimming pool with warm water.
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The upside though, is that when you enter the inner two circles, there is current pushing you around, so you are continuously moving around the circles without you doing anything. Kind of like a water park.
@Budapest
I thought the bell tower I climbed in Split Croatia was fancy. This one was even crazier, like a web.
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There were just too many stairs. I cheated this time and took the elevator – I’m already walking 10 miles a day, so it might be wise to save these 300 steps of stairs.
@Budapest
Grand Synagogue.
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This was my 1st time entering a Jewish Synagogue, and I was quite excited as I always wanted to experience being present in a building of a different religion. Upon entering the synagogue, I was given a kippa – A white cap that I had to wear to cover my head. The cap I was given was made of paper, and it kept sliding off my head every time I moved. I was curious how the caps seemed to stay pretty steadily on other people’s heads, so I observed the Jewish people around me – They each had a plastic hair clip with their caps! (I knew there was some sort of trick!).
@Budapest
Grand Synagogue.
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This was my 1st time entering a Jewish Synagogue, and I was quite excited as I always wanted to experience being present in a building of a different religion. Upon entering the synagogue, I was given a kippa – A white cap that I had to wear to cover my head. The cap I was given was made of paper, and it kept sliding off my head every time I moved. I was curious how the caps seemed to stay pretty steadily on other people’s heads, so I observed the Jewish people around me – They each had a plastic hair clip with their caps! (I knew there was some sort of trick!).
@Budapest
Grand Synagogue.
\\
This was my 1st time entering a Jewish Synagogue, and I was quite excited as I always wanted to experience being present in a building of a different religion. Upon entering the synagogue, I was given a kippa – A white cap that I had to wear to cover my head. The cap I was given was made of paper, and it kept sliding off my head every time I moved. I was curious how the caps seemed to stay pretty steadily on other people’s heads, so I observed the Jewish people around me – They each had a plastic hair clip with their caps! (I knew there was some sort of trick!).
@Budapest
Grand Synagogue.
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Holocaust Memorial, in memory of the 600,000 Hungarian Jews murdered in the holocaust during WWII.
@Budapest
Parliament.
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While I was having dinner, there was a massive protest with a crowd of 70,000 (most students) at the square outside of the Parliament, two blocks away from where I was at, defended by several lines of police with riot gear.
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And I was like, “I need to get out of here!”
@Budapest
Royal Palace.
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While I was having dinner, there was a massive protest with a crowd of 70,000 (most students) at the square outside of the Parliament, two blocks away from where I was at, defended by several lines of police with riot gear.
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And I was like, “I need to get out of here!”
@Budapest
The green bridge and the white bridge.
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While I was having dinner, there was a massive protest with a crowd of 70,000 (most students) at the square outside of the Parliament, two blocks away from where I was at, defended by several lines of police with riot gear.
\\
And I was like, “I need to get out of here!”
@Budapest
Cave Church.
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While I was having dinner, there was a massive protest with a crowd of 70,000 (most students) at the square outside of the Parliament, two blocks away from where I was at, defended by several lines of police with riot gear.
\\
And I was like, “I need to get out of here!”
@Budapest
Cave Church.
\\
While I was having dinner, there was a massive protest with a crowd of 70,000 (most students) at the square outside of the Parliament, two blocks away from where I was at, defended by several lines of police with riot gear.
\\
And I was like, “I need to get out of here!”
@Budapest
Ruin bars are considered the hippest nightlife in Budapest. These bars were built in Budapest’s old Jewish quarter in the ruins of abandoned buildings. This neighborhood was left to decay after WWII, and was a perfect place to develop an underground bar scene.
@Budapest
Heroes Square.
@Budapest
Liberty Statue.
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Didn’t Simba get presented by the monkey in Lion King exactly like this?
@Budapest
