Do You Need a Holiday After Your Holiday? (Me too!)
If you’ve ever come back from holiday more drained than rested, you’re not alone. For neurodivergent, introverted, and highly sensitive people, travel can be overwhelming, even when it’s enjoyable. Here’s what I’ve learned about looking after myself before, during, and after a trip, and why I now plan the recovery as much as the getaway.
It’s a myth (to me anyway) that holidays are relaxing, restorative, a chance to switch off, recharge, and float back into life with a glow!
If you’re neurodivergent, highly sensitive, or introverted (or some wonderful mix of all three), holidays can feel more like a mission than a break. Especially if you’re the one expected to organise the packing, the planning, the snacks, the sleep arrangements, the directions, and everything else.
If you add in unfamiliar beds, disrupted routines, food that doesn’t quite feel right, endless decisions, and other people’s noise and needs, then you’re not on a break, you’re just somewhere else, trying desperately to cope, in a different location.
The Potential Inner World of the Neurodivergent, Introvert or Sensitive Traveller
Being neurodivergent, HSP, or introverted doesn’t mean you don’t like travel. In fact, you might enjoy novelty, change, and beauty, but your system processes deeply, it notices more, and it burns out faster when overstimulated.
Holidays often mean:
Sensory bombardment (noise, lights, smells, temperature, scratchy bedding, awkward pillows).
Disrupted food and routines (especially if you have dietary needs or sensory issues around food).
Social overwhelm-even with people you love.
Constant transitions-new place, new plan, new toilet, repeat.
The pressure to get it right and make it fun.
Trying to predict and prevent every possible meltdown (yours or theirs).
And if you’re someone who’s good at holding it together; the planner, the organiser, the one who “just gets on with it”, that can come at a high cost to your nervous system. People assume you're fine because you're functioning, and they don’t often see the quiet internal chaos.
My Recent Holiday: A Retreat (and a Realisation)
I recently went on a warm water breath work/birth- rebirth, retreat. It was beautiful, moving, transformational; all the things I’d hoped for. It was fantastic (and maybe I’ll write a blog about that soon too).
But it was a lot to cope with, and I didn’t even have anyone else depending on me. There was driving an unknown route-on a motorway, new location, a bed in an inhospitable treehouse (!), lots of new faces, deep emotional work, sensory intensity, shared mealtimes, no real alone time in my usual safe spaces and routines, big internal shifts and managing group dynamics for five days!
Thankfully, I had booked the following week off too because I knew I'd need time to recover from the social energy, the emotional processing, and just the sheer amount of adapting involved. I knew I wouldn’t be able to be fully present for my clients if I went straight back into work. And I got a cold, classic, so needed to get over that too.
I spent a week getting back to my rhythms and routines, ate what my body wanted, let silence settle and tried to process all the emotion that couldn’t be fully felt in a shared room with sixteen or so other people.
I know everyone has different circumstances, and I’m lucky enough to be in a position where that was possible. But hopefully there are small ways you can do what you need to feel balanced and reset.
It reminded me just how vital it is to give ourselves what we actually need, not what we’re told we should need. We all need completely different things, and that’s OK.
Use the Trip to Practice New Boundaries
If you’re usually the one who ends up sorting everything, from car snacks to Google Maps to where everyone’s going to sleep, it might be a good time to switch things up.
Planning a holiday can be a golden opportunity to shift long-standing dynamics and share the load. Can someone else book the accommodation? Can you make a shared packing list instead of holding it all in your head? Can you say, “I’m sorting my own stuff this time, so you’ll need to handle yours”?
It’s not about being difficult. It’s about protecting your energy and recognising that being competent doesn’t mean you have to do everything. You’re allowed to need support too.
You Don’t Have to Suffer for the Sake of a Getaway
If you come back from holidays more frazzled than fulfilled, you are not doing it wrong.
You’re probably just wired differently, and that difference deserves honouring.
Whether you’re away with family, friends, or by yourself, your needs matter. You’re allowed to want quiet. You're allowed to not be flexible. You're allowed to plan everything or nothing. You don’t need to explain why your sunglasses, noise-cancelling headphones, and three kinds of snacks are non-negotiable!
Gentle Travel Tips for Neurodivergent, HSP, and Introverted Folks
Here’s how I now try to plan my holidays, with my nervous system in mind.
Before You Go
Build in a buffer: Try to book time off either side of your trip, especially when returning, to land gently. Even half a day helps.
Prep what soothes you: Plan food options ahead if you have dietary needs. Check where the shops are. Pack any supplements you rely on.
Pack early: Reduce last-minute decision panic. List it all out and include your comfort non-negotiables.
Delegate: If you’re always the planner, try handing over part of the load. Let someone else take the reins.
Set boundaries early: If you know certain situations (e.g. too much socialising, last-minute chaos) tend to overwhelm you, gently communicate your needs in advance.
While You’re Away
Create mini rituals: Anchor your day with something familiar, a morning coffee, a journal page, a soft pair of socks. Predictability soothes.
Take your comfort kit: Noise-cancelling headphones, familiar snacks, supplements, journal, eye mask, cosy jumper, whatever helps you regulate.
Schedule alone time: Even if you’re with people you love and even if it’s 15 minutes in the loo pretending to scroll!
Communicate (as much or as little as you want): You can say “I just need some quiet to recharge.”
Honour your food needs: Whether sensory, dietary, or emotional, eating what feels safe and satisfying makes a huge difference.
Let go of the ‘shoulds’: You don’t need to be spontaneous, take 300 photos, or make magical memories, a slow morning and one beautiful view is enough. Don’t worry about what everyone else’s instagram holidays look like, they’re probably not showing the mosquito bites, the flash floods and the family rows!
When You Return
Plan a soft landing: Give yourself space to rest, nest, and re-regulate before jumping back into work or life.
Expect a vulnerability hangover: Big new or emotional experiences might need space to be integrated, give yourself kindness and quiet where you can.
Soothe your senses: Familiar food, your own bedding, your favourite tea, cat, puzzle or lego set!
Reflect gently: What worked? What didn’t? What would you do differently next time? You don’t have to get it perfect, but you can get more attuned each time.
It’s Not Just a Holiday – It’s a Sensory Expedition
Your system isn't being awkward, it’s communicating and telling you what helps and what harms, what calms and what overwhelms.
You might not be able to control every part of the trip, but you can take care of the traveller inside you, the one who feels deeply, thinks fast, and needs a lot of rest to come back to centre.
So next time you book the trip, book some time around it too. Be mindful of your unique needs and your beautifully sensitive, quirky, wired-a-bit-differently nervous system.
And it doesn’t mean you’re weak, or a lightweight, or too sensitive for your own good.
It just means you’re you, doing it your way, and you're allowed to.
Want to explore this more in therapy?
If any of this resonated, if you've ever come home from a trip and felt like you needed another one just to recover, you’re not alone.
Whether you’re navigating your sensitivity, your neurodivergence, or the pressure to “keep up” in a world that doesn’t always understand, I offer a space where your needs are honoured.
You’re welcome to get in touch to book a therapy session or an introductory call. Let’s find ways to support your system, together.