The scene is familiar: a crowded bus station in some Third World country; passengers push and shove excitedly; an angry and discordant voice rings out, 'But I've got a reserved seat! Look, it says number 18, but there's someone sitting there!' The foreigner may or may not win this battle, but ultimately he will lose the war between 'what should be' (his expectations) and 'what is' (their culture) - becoming yet another victim of stress.

It is ironic that this complaint, so fashionable among businessmen, should be such a problem for many travellers who believe they are escaping such pressures when they leave home. But, by travelling rough, they are immediately immersing themselves in a different culture and thus subjecting themselves to a new set of psychological stresses.

The physical deprivations that are inherent in budget travel are not usually a problem. Most travellers adjust well enough to having a shower every two months, eating beans and rice every day and sleeping in dirty, lumpy beds in company with the local wildlife. These are part of the certainties of this mode of travel. It is the uncertainties that wear people down: the buses that double-book their seats, usually leaving an hour late but occasionally slipping away early; the landslide that blocks the road to the coast on the one day of the month that a boat leaves for Paradise Island; the inevitable ma-ana response; the struggle with a foreign language and foreign attitudes.

Culture shock

It is this 'foreignness' that often comes as an unexpected shock. The people are different, their customs are different - and so are their basic values and moralities. Irritatingly, these differences are most frequently exhibited by those who amble down the Third World Corridors of Power that control the fate of travellers. But ordinary people are different, too, and believers in Universal Brotherhood often find this hard to accept - as do women travelling alone. Many travellers escape back to their own culture periodically by mixing with the upper classes of the countries in which they are travelling - people who were educated in Europe or America and are westernised in their outlook.

Come to think of it, maybe this is why hitch-hikers show so few signs of travel stress: they meet wealthier car owners and can often lapse into a childlike dependence on their hosts.

Fear and anxiety

At least hitch-hikers can alternate between blissful relaxation and sheer terror, as can other adventurous travellers. Fear, in small doses, never did anyone any harm. It seems to be a necessary ingredient of everyday life; consciously or unconsciously, most people seek out danger. If they don't rock climb or parachute jump, they drive too fast, refuse to give up smoking or resign from their safe jobs to travel the world. The stab of fear that travellers experience as they traverse a glacier, eye a gun-toting soldier or approach a 'difficult' border is followed by a feeling of exhilaration once the perceived danger has passed.

A rush of adrenaline is OK. The hazard is the prolonged state of tension or stress, to which the body reacts in a variety of ways: irritability, headaches, inability to sleep at night and a continuous feeling of anxiety. The budget traveller is particularly at risk because money shortages provoke so many additional anxieties to the cultural stresses mentioned earlier. The day-to-day worry of running out of money is an obvious one, but there is also the fear of being robbed (no money to replace stolen items) and of becoming ill.

Many travellers worry about their health anyway, but those who cannot afford a doctor, let alone a stay in hospital, can become quite obsessional. Yet these are the people who travel in a manner most likely to jeopardise their health. Since their plan is often 'to travel until the money runs out', those diseases with a long incubation period, such as hepatitis, will manifest themselves during the trip. Chronic illnesses, such as amoebic dysentery, undermine the health and well-being of many budget travellers, leaving them far more susceptible to psychological pressures. Even the open-endedness of their journey may cause anxiety.

Easing the situation

Now I've convinced you that half the world's travellers are heading for a nervous breakdown rather than the nearest beach, let's see what can be done to ease the situation (apart from bringing more money). There are tranquillisers. This is how most doctors treat the symptoms of stress since they assume that the problems causing the anxiety are an unavoidable part of everyday life. Travellers should not rule tranquillisers out (I've met people who consume Valium until they scarcely know who they are), but since they have chosen to be in their situation it should be possible to eliminate some of the causes of stress.

They can begin by asking themselves why they decided to travel in the first place. If the answer is that it was 'to get away from it all', journeying for long distances seems a bit pointless - better to hole up in a small village or island and begin the lotus- eating life. If the motive for travel is a keen interest in natural history, archaeology or people, then the problems inherent in getting to the destination are usually overridden in the excitement of arriving. However, those who find the lets and hindrances that stand between them and their goal too nerve-racking (and the more enthusiastic they are, the more frustrated they will become) should consider relaxing their budget in favour of spending more money on transportation, etc., even if it does mean a shorter trip.

The average overlander, however, considers the journey to be the object and will probably find that time on the road will gradually eliminate his anxieties (like a young man I met in Ecuador: he was forever thinking about his money, but when I met him again in Bolivia he was a changed man, relaxed and happy. 'Well,' he said, in answer to my question, 'You remember I was always worrying about running out of money? Now I have, so I have nothing to worry about!').

If a traveller can learn the language and appreciate the differences between the countries he visits and his own, he will come a long way towards understanding and finally accepting them. His tensions and frustrations will then finally disappear. But travellers should not expect too much of themselves. You are what you are, and a few months of travel are not going to undo the conditioning of your formative years. Know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, and plan your trip accordingly. And if you don't know yourself at the start of a long journey, you will by the end.