Overhyping anything is one of the worst things you can do. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you have enormous expectations for anything, including your next trip. It’s better to be optimistically realistic and then be pleasantly surprised than be over-the-top excited and then realize nothing will match your daydreams.
But it’s very likely that you, just like us, have seen how hype can ruin trips that, objectively, would be fine if you were more grounded. If this sounds familiar, you might have fallen prey to Paris Syndrome.
In a nutshell, Paris Syndrome is a psychological condition where you come up against culture shock so severe that you might have a temporary breakdown and experience disappointment, nausea, dizziness, sweating, an elevated heart rate, and even hallucinations or delusions.
This shock comes about as a result of planning to go somewhere for years and years, only for the place not to live up to your immense expectations.
The term itself, Paris Syndrome, came about due to the mismatch that Japanese tourists experienced when visiting Paris, the capital of France. They idealized and romanticized the city to such an extent that their unrealistic hopes for what their trip would be like couldn’t be fulfilled.
Paris, like many other major European cities, has its fair share of pros and cons. As wonderful as the city is, among its drawbacks are issues like litter, crime, masses of tourists, sometimes less-than-friendly locals, etc.
And yet, as Forbes points out, you can also experience the opposite of Paris Syndrome if you lower your expectations.
For instance, some people go online to share that they’ve heard so many negative comments about Paris that their actual trip was surprisingly pleasant when they went.
Aside from Paris Syndrome, other similar psychological phenomena include:
- Jerusalem Syndrome (where pilgrims and tourists imagine themselves to be biblical or messianic figures)
- Stendhal Syndrome, aka Aesthetic Syndrome (where visitors to Florence experience palpitations and paranoia when facing superb works of art and architecture)
According to Forbes, there are a few things you can do to avoid Paris Syndrome and the accompanying sense of disappointment. For one, you have to take care of the basics. Like your well-being.
“Traveling takes a toll, both physically and mentally so it's best to take all precautions so that you'll be in better shape when you arrive—drink lots to avoid dehydration, particularly in Europe's scorching summers, take all advice to reduce the impact of jetlag, don't overpack your itinerary so you'll not get exhausted and be mindful of the impact of any medication you're taking.”
On top of that, you have to embrace the fact that any destination you visit will be nuanced and, well, realistic, nowhere near ‘perfection.’
“Above all, Paris is known, and rightly so, for its beautiful boulevards, markets, historic sites and culinary experiences, but it does need to live and breathe—it has garbage, the subway can get busy, and customer service is not always king, because it is, ultimately, just a city like any other,” Forbes writes.
