Smoking can be a difficult addiction. Whilst the short-term side effects of smoking appear to be minimal (though, they’re not), of course, the long-term implications are overwhelmingly negative. For that reason, more than half of smokers are smokers who want to quit. Much of smoking comes down to habit.You may end up forgetting smoke for a few days when travel.This way you have better chance of quitting.
Though it may seem unconnected, traveling is a great way to stop smoking. This isn’t to say it’s the only way, but it’s certainly a silver lining of what traveling offers. And, it’s important to consider this opportunity for what it is in order for you to take advantage of it.
Smoking alternatives are more travel friendly
Smoking isn’t actually the easiest thing to maintain whilst traveling. Of course, lighters can’t be taken on planes, cigarettes need to be bought from certain stores, there may be regulations you don’t know about, like where you can and can’t smoke.
Whereas, smoking alternatives such as Killapods pouches are allowed on planes (and can even be consumed during flights), and take up much less space. Travel-friendly possessions are important, so use this as an opportunity to stock up on alternatives.
Breaking up routine
Much of smoking comes down to habit. After a few days, or weeks, of smoking at a certain time of day, or during a certain task, you begin to crave fulfilling the habit more than the object itself. This is why traveling is such a great time to stop – travel utterly ruins your habits. You can say goodbye to waking up at the same time every day, eating the same breakfast, and having the same brand of cigarette.
We can use this chaos to distract ourselves away from the smoking habit. It’s likely that if you don’t bring any cigarettes, you may end up forgetting about them for a few days. This will at least give you a better chance of quitting entirely.
No stress excuse
Another reason behind cigarette addiction is stress. Now, this is a controversial one, but depending on your personality you can argue that traveling will reduce stress in your life. Whilst there may be moments of stress, like finding your way to a complicated airport an hour before it boards, there isn’t as much anxiety in the day-to-day of it.
Think of it as a holiday – they are to give respite to stress! So, this takes away some of the need for stress-driven smoking, too.
Different options
Finally, smoking abroad can be a bit of a hassle. You’re likely not going to find your favorite brand of cigarettes, which is important to many smokers, and testing each brand to find the one you like is time-consuming. The danger here is that smoking in some countries is actually more accessible (i.e. smoking in bars), so it’s best to have that in mind when choosing destinations. Somewhere like Singapore, where littering is a significant crime, suddenly more barriers are in the way of smoking.
It’s not that one should go to the lengths of traveling in order to quit, it’s that it’s a silver lining that needs to be recognized beforehand. Once the benefits are clear, smokers stand a better chance of giving it a go – because meaningful backpacking around the world is certainly a wise time to try and give up an addiction.
