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Original poster

Am I the only one that has this anxiety pre holiday

54 replies

Yorkshiremum80 · 02/08/2025 08:14

I think I am going mad!
About 2 weeks before our family holiday I always start to feel anxious, not about the holiday or travelling but that something will happen to stop us going. Its stopping my excitement 😔
Does anyone else get this?

OP posts:
bowchicawowwow · 02/08/2025 21:14

I get this. However we have had some really bad things happen over the years whilst on holiday so I just accept the nerves as part of the pre holiday build up. For example, we have been stranded in France for weeks before with a broken down motorhome, both in laws died unexpectedly whilst we were on two separate holidays and last week our brand new motorhome broke down 48hrs before we were supposed to leave for holiday and we had to cancel ☹️. I think I only really enjoy it once we are home safe.

OSTMusTisNT · 02/08/2025 21:16

I'm the same since covid.

Can't seem to go away for 2 weeks now. Max 1.

Panic at the thought of leaving my house empty, what if there's a water leak etc.

Worry that MIL might die while we're away (in a care home).

Worry the hotel won't be up to my high standard despite hours of research.

Me before Covid - book 2 week in Caribbean, no stress, no worries.

floppybit · 02/08/2025 21:20

I’ve found my people here! I really suffer from this, to the point I’m not sure if I can go on holiday anymore!

Lushvegetation · 02/08/2025 21:21

I worry about my ridiculously needy cat because I know she hates it when we are away. Amongst other things.

CatsForLife · 02/08/2025 21:28

Yes, all of the above. Even down to… I don’t like doing long car trips in the weeks leading up to it just in case there’s an accident. It sends me nuts. I’m actually having hypnotherapy for it and other anxiety-relaxed issues. It’s reassuring that I’m not going mad on my own! We had a water leak a few years ago so I also panic about leaving the house even though I leave a key with family and a neighbour. As PP said… it’s definitely a post-Covid thing.

Sandyoldelbows · 02/08/2025 21:40

I don’t think all the fast media helps - we never used to hear about strikes etc in other countries and now there is always something travel related in the news. Strikes, weather, accidents, protests… I am just back from a hol and it was the first time for years i wasn’t aware of some last minute threat to the holiday. A few years ago there were baggage strikes, the following year I booked a ferry instead and there was a freak summer storm so we had to have a last minute extra night in France, then we travelled the day after the internet crisis last year - very touch and go! This year I avoided googling and didn’t know that there had been airport strikes in our destination that day till after we landed!

autumngirl714 · 02/08/2025 22:15

I always do this and I just cannot accept it’ll happen u til it does. I’m convinced we’ll get every illness before we have plans. It’s exhausting 🙊

Berlinlover · 02/08/2025 22:17

I’m exactly like you. I never believe I’m going on holiday until I’m on the plane.

Asabat · 03/08/2025 07:15

@Yorkshiremum80 legs are shaved (badly) but now obsessed with burglary, bedbugs in hotel and why they have confirmed one room but not the other (the hotel not the bed bugs).

LegoHouse274 · 03/08/2025 07:42

Yes and for the first time we've just had to miss one and lost all our money as we've all sequentially caught a stomach bug. Luckily we only book (relatively) cheap UK holidays but it's still very disappointing.

Notsurewheretostarthere · 03/08/2025 08:03

I always worry that something cataclysmic will happen. I also feel very anxious on Xmas day too. Have done for years, well before covid.

I am super excited about going, but while I'm away, I lie awake at 3am worrying about things I can't control. I can't lie in on holiday even though I really need to relax. And I tend to count the days until I can go home even though I really want to go on the holiday!

Original poster
Yorkshiremum80 · 03/08/2025 08:08

Asabat · 03/08/2025 07:15

@Yorkshiremum80 legs are shaved (badly) but now obsessed with burglary, bedbugs in hotel and why they have confirmed one room but not the other (the hotel not the bed bugs).

I hope you manage to have a good time and avoid any bedbugs 😁

OP posts:
Notsurewheretostarthere · 03/08/2025 08:08

@TheAutumnCrow your post made me laugh. We avoid Gatwick like the plague and tend to only choose destinations that can be flown to from Heathrow and ideally on BA (who we've never had a problem with and who couldn't give a monkeys about the dimensions of your bag!)

Helpless25 · 03/08/2025 08:09

Yes. But with good reason as our last two holidays had to be cancelled for family reasons.
I now won’t actually believe we’re going until we’re sat on the plane.
just make sure you have a good insurance policy so if the worst happens you can put a claim in.

LilacPony · 03/08/2025 08:13

Exactly the same, since Covid. Find it debilitating. 24 hours before a holiday I feel like I’m constantly battling a panic attack starting.

Original poster
Yorkshiremum80 · 03/08/2025 08:36

It's so weird how we all feel like this mainly since COVID.
I was just saying to my husband it's hard to imagine, whilst I'm sat here on a cool cloudy day, that in a few days we'll be going to a hot country. I think the fact you can't imagine yourself there makes the anxiety worse.
I feel like I am just trying to get through a day at a time until we go.

OP posts:
Danascully2 · 03/08/2025 11:10

I don't think it's COVID related for me, for me it's more about always being an anxious person and then since having kids and the added complications of travelling with them.

pyzaz · 03/08/2025 19:23

@EssexCat You're the same as me - I love organising & booking holidays! But get so stressed actually going on them. I feel so responsible for everything.

Another thing that has made it worse, is the children being older(teen & an adult now), so I feel responsible for 4 people's holidays instead of just DH & l.

Screenager · 05/08/2025 18:48

My anxiety is about the practicalities of the run up to the hols… due to the money I’ve spent!

What if the car breaks or we get injured or unwell beforehand! That kind of stuff!

Original poster
Yorkshiremum80 · 05/08/2025 19:36

Screenager · 05/08/2025 18:48

My anxiety is about the practicalities of the run up to the hols… due to the money I’ve spent!

What if the car breaks or we get injured or unwell beforehand! That kind of stuff!

Yeah I get those too. Currently worrying we won't get to the airport 😭

OP posts:
UncomfortableSilence · 06/08/2025 05:55

I’m laying here now with my stomach absolutely churning. This has got worse for me too since Covid as I’ve always absolutely loved holidays but now I’d easily not book at all.
We booked a very last minute trip as we’ve had a horrific year with several bereavements in a row but every morning I am waking around 4 with the most awful anxiety I can feel myself trembling inside and diarrhoea every day I’m on the verge of just not going and saying to DD and DH to go alone.

Natsku · 06/08/2025 06:05

I always get anxiety before holidays, or any trip that involves travelling - its mostly about the journey itself rather than the holiday. I get nausea with it too which makes the journey unpleasant but I've found its gotten easier lately so perhaps the more I travel the easier it gets.

Lushvegetation · 06/08/2025 08:10

Helpless25 · 03/08/2025 08:09

Yes. But with good reason as our last two holidays had to be cancelled for family reasons.
I now won’t actually believe we’re going until we’re sat on the plane.
just make sure you have a good insurance policy so if the worst happens you can put a claim in.

I just had to cancel a holiday and put a claim in .
the insurance firm have been absolutely awful.
I have only now got a pay out after months of stress, and not for the full amount. It’s made my anxiety even worse. I will never cancel a holiday again, even if I’m at deaths door. So that’s ramped my anxiety up several fold.

Screenager · 16/08/2025 22:08

We are due to drive over to france tomorrow. A 10hr drive tomorrow, then another 6 the next day.

I an so so anxious that something will go wrong! Namely with the car!… Up until today it’s all been on my head. It’s a reliable car, low milage and recently serviced. But then this afternoon a chassis control warning light came on 😩
It’s gone off again now and i have no idea what it was for, but it’s driving me insane with anxiety!

Wincher · 16/08/2025 23:36

God I read this thread when it was first made, thinking to myself, no, I don’t really have that anxiety. But we were meant to go on holiday today and it’s been cancelled due to airline strikes… Got another holiday booked in its place leaving in a few days but it’s been an anxious few days!

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