Looking after yourself..whilst travelling!

Sometimes I think the fear and anxiety we can have that everything will "go to shit" is worse than when everything does actually "go to shit" 😂

I'd say first of all to be proud of yourself! You know it could be tough for you but you're sticking through because you know the travel and experience will be worth it, that shows a wonderful mindset.

I think having your mother there (hopefully a good/adequate support for you), and some kind of plan is enough. Never be afraid to try and remove yourself from a situation if it's what you need, even if you feel a bit awkward doing so.

Other than that, sounds exciting! Vienna waits for you! (Idk if you're going there but I'm a big Billy Joel fan)

Hi @_PixieSolstice_

I travelled overseas last year and did a lot of planning with my mh team before I went. Made sure my meds were all sorted out and had a letter from my doctor outlining what I was taking- medication needs to be in its original packaging.
I was able to call family and friends back home through either WhatsApp or Facebook messenger easily.
I could email my psychologist.
I was told by someone that you could call lifeline from overseas, but I did a quick google search and I’m not sure? Not sure if you were to put the +61 in front of it whether it would work? Depending where you are travelling too, they probably have crisis phone numbers also.

And to be honest, in the end I was having a good time, I didn’t need any of that. I made sure I got enough sleep, I took some melatonin with me too. Ate and drank. We didn’t really have anything go too wrong and when it it I just remembered to breathe.

Enjoy

hi @_PixieSolstice_ i can understand your fears

perhaps while you still have time, do some research into services that you are able to access that have english as a recognised language. many websites can share details now with what languages are spoken and what services you can access in english. make a list of the services, contact details, websites etc that you can use and have that handy with you.

Holy moly.

I did it!

I went to Japan, yes I struggled, but I did it!!!

I was super worried about the time zone difference, as like when daylight savings ended here, the lost hour of sleep screwed up my sleeping patterns and triggered hypomania, but somehow did alright, with an hours difference this time. I think because I had a fair few nights where I stayed up a tiny bit later/slept in a little bit longer, so my body was a lil more accustomed this time haha.

There’s no way to hide this - I struggled massively for the first few days. The language barrier was harder than I expected. I panicked leaving the airport, not knowing which train to catch (which is stupid because I had looked this all up in advance!!)

My lil group of friends all seem to be night owls so if I needed them, they were there. I did reach out to a friend on the second night, sharing how anxious I was, and she had prior experience going to other countries that don’t speak English and that helped

the nightmare that was organising Webster packs beforehand (I’m on a “staged supply” where I can only get one weeks worth of medication at a time. If I want to go away for more than a week I need to visit my GP and get them to speak to the pharmacy to give the ok. It frustrates me but that’s a story for another time) was not great. I got super stressed over that.

I did hear there was a doctor that spoke English, that catered for international tourists, however the website said “we do not see mental health issues” and that was a comfort to know how they see mental health in Japan 🙃

but anyway, had a great time. I shouldn’t have worried so much beforehand

Congratulations @_PixieSolstice_ !

Soooooo happy for you! Well done!

When you are up for it, we'd love to hear more.