The Down Side: 14 Cons of Travel that People Don't Like to Talk About

Rand Blimes
Jun 19
5 min read

Aerial view of ocean waves crashing, creating a striking contrast between dark and light frothy patterns. Dynamic and textured scene.

Travel bloggers often act like they have to love every place they visit. Like it's their job to make everywhere seem amazing. They highlight the colorful festivals, the perfect beaches, the smiling locals—and skip the less shiny parts of the journey.

And I get that. You naturally want to focus on (and remember) the good stuff.

But there’s certainly more to travel than just the good stuff.

Here’s a list of 14 real, often overlooked cons of travel.

1. Connection Comes with Caution

We travel to make connections, but we also have to be careful. 98% of any place’s population is wonderful—friendly, kind, generous. But 90% of the people you’re likely to interact with while traveling want something from you: to sell you something, guide you somewhere, or ask for a handout. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. It just means you have to keep a layer of caution between yourself and the world you came to experience. It is hard to maintain this caution without dehumanizing others, or just cutting yourself off.

People carefully walk along a narrow cliff path holding ropes. Below, a beach with turquoise waters and palm trees. Sunny day, adventurous mood. — The vast line to get to the fragile beach on Nusa Penida

2. Tourist Impact Is Real

Whether you like it or not, you’re part of the problem. Your presence drives up prices, strains local infrastructure, and sometimes incentivizes exploitation, environmental damage, harassment of wildlife, even modern slavery. The only way to avoid that completely? Stay home.

3. You’re Going to Get Sick

I’m careful. Really careful. And I’ve still had giardia—twice. Salmonella—once. Basic traveler’s diarrhea? I’ve lost count. And that’s not even getting into the concussions, infections, and bruises that have taken turns running through my family. It’s not always serious. But it’s always inconvenient.

4. Travel Can Be Mind-Numbingly Boring

There’s a lot of waiting involved in travel. Airports. Bus stations. Trains. Delays. You need a way to deal with long stretches of boredom that will accompany travel. I used to say a big book was my most important piece of travel gear. Then it was my Kindle. Now it’s my Audible subscription. Bring entertainment—or risk being all out bored in the inevitable down time that accompanies travel.

5. You’ll Get Comfortable Taking Risks You Shouldn’t

Especially when it comes to transportation. Or thrill-seeking. In some places—like Thailand—guides will let you do anything you ask: ride on the roof of a truck, pet the cobra, cliff-jump into water of unknown depth. It often works out fine. But it’s easy to normalize behavior that’s not just reckless—it’s dangerous.

Man in glasses smiling on a curvy road, wearing a blue shirt. Trees line the road, with a metallic guardrail on the left. — I rode for about an hour, standing on the back of a truck driving on winding roads through the mountains of northern Thailand. And then . . . I climbed onto the roof and rode there.

6. Traveling Is Selfish

Travel has a funny way of teaching you that people matter more than places. But to see the world, you have to leave your people behind—at least most of them, most of the time. That trade-off wears on you.

7. Long-Term Travel Can Feel Like a Job

The logistics, the planning, the budgeting, the motion—it stops feeling like vacation and starts feeling like work. And this is to say nothing of the looming pressure to have great experiences all the time (Oh, you didn’t spend the day hand-feeding an orphan monkey while making lifelong friends with at least seven locals? Loser!). Some days, you need a vacation from your own trip.

8. Your Fellow Travelers Test Your Faith in Humanity

Watch the beach in Thailand after a full moon party and see what’s left behind by all those well-off, well-educated tourists. Trash, plastic, destruction. And I once saw a young, healthy American man in the Himalayas run up and top off his porter’s already massive load with his tiny daypack—just so he wouldn’t have to carry it himself. The porter was wearing flip-flops! And don't even get me started on the person I heard in Bangkok begging their group to eat at McDonalds so they could get some "real food."

Hiker with backpack traverses a shallow stream in a narrow, sunlit canyon with towering red rock walls and dark shadows. Quiet and serene. — Travel can make you feel very small

9. You’ll Never Fully Belong—Anywhere

You can connect with a place. Even fall in love with it. But you’ll still be a visitor. And when you’ve traveled enough, you might find you don’t quite belong at home anymore either. You’ve changed. And sometimes, you’ll feel like no place fits quite right anymore. That can be exciting. It can also be lonely. It's like this: I can't get homesick . . . because nowhere is really home.

10. There’s No Scratching This Itch

The more you travel, the longer your “must-see” list becomes. It grows faster than you can check things off. You’ll never be done. And that’s wonderful. And a little maddening.

11. Your Carbon Footprint Isn’t Pretty

Flying pollutes. Crowds trample trails. Wildlife gets disrupted. Even when you’re doing everything “right,” your presence leaves a mark. Be honest about that. Try to do better.

12. It Is Easy To Care More About Photos Than the Place

I’ve seen it too many times: someone arrives at a perfect beach or a magical waterfall, takes 10 minutes to get the shot, and then leaves. Doesn’t swim. Doesn’t sit. Doesn’t look. Just posts. I have to remind myself constantly—experience the world with your eyes first. Your camera second. Travel should be about what you do, not what you tell your followers you do. It is surprisingly easy to forget that.

13. Reentry Is Rough

Coming home after a long trip can feel weirdly disorienting. Your friends have moved on. You’ve changed. And no one wants to hear about your “transformational journey” for more than about 30 seconds (which is probably what leads you to starting a blog which you have no idea if anyone will ever read). Everything at home feels small, contained, and oddly difficult to settle back into. For me, “reverse” culture shock hits the hardest.

14. It’s Costly

Even budget travel adds up. Every dollar you spend on a trip is a dollar you’re not spending on other things: housing, savings, security, charity. And while I think travel is worth every penny—I also know debt isn’t. Travel smart. Credit cards are tools. Not lifeboats.

So no—I don’t think these are reasons to stay home. But they’re worth keeping in mind. Do what you can to minimize each of these (and all the other reasons you will almost certainly discover if you travel a lot). Shift you attitude. Plan carefully. Do things that offset your carbon footprint. Just do what you can, but know that there will always be negatives that you cannot entirely avoid.

Travel is magical, but it’s not pure magic. It’s discomfort. It’s compromise. It’s confrontation—with the world and with yourself.

And that’s part of the reason why I keep doing it.

Not in spite of the hard parts.

But because of them.

Because travel doesn’t just show you the world. It forces you to grow into it.