People who know me, knows that I love to travel. Those same people know that I also have anxiety and depression. The one thing that seems to calm my anxiety is travel. Well, two things. The other being Xanax.

The interesting thing about these two things, is that my anxiety gets worse if I have to drive in city traffic. The day to day travel gets my nerves frayed. The ironic thing is so do thunderstorms (especially if it means I have to drive in town through said storm), and I live in Florida. I am a native Floridian, and normal afternoon summer thunderstorms haunt me.

Planning for a trip calms my nerves. Watching travel videos, reading about different places and making up fake trip plans (If I don't have a trip set in stone yet) in my mind helps me relax after a day.

If I travel, the storms don’t bother me as much. I also usually opt to take Uber if cars are a must within a city‘s limit. When I travel, walking and taking train are the things I love the most. I can see what is going on. I can experience the sights that you might miss when you are driving.

There is also something about being the stranger in a new place that is comforting. I know I won’t run into people I know, because in my very Gen X brain, I would prefer not to have to deal with people unless I choose to deal with people. Life at home, dealing with people is a daily event. In case you missed it, I am also an introvert.

I have spent a significant amount of my life in Florida (mostly, as a teen and adult, even through I was born here), and there has been so much I…