Anxiety Around Holidays

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Does anyone else find planning and booking holidays/vacations way too much? Although I love actually being on holiday, actually making the decision of where to go and what to do is an incredibly stressful situation for me. In theory it should be incredibly easy - there are web sites with lists of hotels, flights, attractions, availabilities and reviews, but the decision making complexity of this is fractal and I get overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Because of this I often end up putting it off, becoming more and more anxious as the week I intend to go gets closer and closer, and then become even more panicked when I see that some of the options I was considering before are no longer available.

Naturally, none of these last minute panic-booked holidays have ever been a disaster. Once I have an itinerary, everything is fine - I had a plan to drive around California for a fortnight last year and it went really well.

Another element of anxiety is the anticipation of actually leaving to go on holiday. Once I'm in the passenger lounge or on the road of whatever I'm generally ok, but the night and hours leading up to this often render me unable to swallow food or think clearly. I would give up anything to just be able to wake up at the destination with all the stuff I need, haha.

These days I take a really long run up to events and give my mind plenty of time to mull things over. Planning a trip on my own is tricky but my last holiday involved planning with a friend, which I found much harder. Going through all the logistics of where to go and what to take really left my brain feeling over taxed.
I'm currently planning my winter travels which will involve cycling and camping and hopefully visiting some old friends, and feel much more relaxed planning for a solo trip. Are you going somewhere soon?

I develop high levels of anxiety prior to going on a trip, so much so that nearer to the departure date, not going starts to look more appealing than the travel.

I have done this enough to know it is just a temporary fluke in my brain functioning and ignore it.

And yes, as soon as I am on my way, all the anxiety peels away and leaves me feeling excited and pleased about my trip.

That's a really interesting point about travelling solo, as I don't remember ever having this much trouble before I was with my partner. Of course, I never really felt compelled to travel before unless spurred on to do so by someone else. I guess a big part of the issue is not just picking something to do, but trying to second guess what the other person may or may not want, and then having to work through a process of decision making with them. Essentially, if it was just me I might be more capable of making a somewhat arbitrary choice, but being happy to go with whatever it turns out to be.

Of course, I'm always way more afraid that I made a bad choice, or am somehow missing out on something than she is. I'm just as terrible at buying a new washing machine, with spec/price spreadsheets and review site links all over the place.