What they don’t tell you when you get back from long-term travel.

I wrote a post before I went on my long 6 month trip to Asia on what I had learned about traveling up until then. What I had learned about how people treat you and how you start to feel when you get started on one of these long-term trips. I also would like to place the caveat that this is also in reference to going on trips that you aren’t sure you’ll return from. And no, not in the ominous way, but more in the hope I fall in love (with someone or somewhere) and decide to more somewhere new. Its like a form of detachment from your home and opening yourself up to the world and all its possibilities. Its rather freeing, and it also can be a bit startling when you return home after selling all your possessions, saying a final goodbye to people (that you never had an intention of seeing again), and hoping you’d end up somewhere else.

This post is dedicated to what you do and how you may feel when you come back. And when that dream of forever traveling, or meeting a partner across the world and moving somewhere new ends, and you end up going back home. Or what happens when you say you’re leaving for 6 months (doing all the above), and then coming back after two, having missed home, or just being done with your trip.

Here are a few things I’ve learned:

You’re going to be different.

You’re going to feel different, you’re going to look different, you’re going to have new values and new dreams and have made so many new memories that have created this new person, And you’re going to be so happy that you are this different person who all of a sudden is worldly and has all this new knowledge and new priorities. And it’s perfectly fine if everyone around you treats you like you are this different person that they may not recognize. Change is hard, for the person changing, and for the people that watch their friend or loved one change while they stay virtually the same.

It’s okay that sometimes that different person doesn’t want to hang out with the same friends, or have the same job, or be dating the same person as they did pre-travel. It’s okay that you’re different, and that it’s changed how you feel about something.

You’re going to want to talk about your trip, but not everyone wants to hear it.

You just got back from the trip of a lifetime! But not everyone is going to want to hear about it. Especially people that either have not traveled a ton, have not been to where you went, or have had similar experiences. They’ll have a multitude of reasons for not wanting to hear your two hour story of being on the back of a motorcycle, zooming around Northern Thailand with your new friend you made the day before, and all the cool thing you saw.

My recommendation is to tell them the top few highlights and then find people that have travelled like you have , or have been to similar places. I spent the first couple weeks gushing about how I’ve changed, what I’ve seen and how great I felt to people that really didn’t want to hear the one hour long answer to “How was your trip"?”. I then realized by the 3rd person that I needed to go find my friend that went on a similar trip and we would both enjoy the two hour long download of our trips and all the places we saw. It’s not that these people resent you (well maybe they do too), but hearing a two hour story of something they cannot relate to is not their idea of a fun time. Hit me up if you want to talk about trips, I love talking about cool places.

It’s okay to change.

Let me put it this way, you may start with this renewed sense of purpose, but then when you get back in the daily grind of your life, you may realize your dream of never wearing shoes again, and living a vegan lifestyle isn’t going to work in your everyday. It’s okay to change your mind, and adapt your values from your immediate post-travel reality, and it doesn’t mean you were wrong. The travel version of you is a lot more carefree, while the back-to-reality you has bills to pay, groceries to buy and probably a job to get back to.

My recommendation is to write down either on the last days of your trip, or as soon as you get back, the things that you want to hold onto now that you are back, Whether it be routines, values or habits, write them down and remind yourself every week what you wanted to hold on to, and elicit those feelings once more.

You’re addicted to travel.

I find myself feeling heartsick for the places I went, people I met and person I was when I was traveling. Think about it, you’re the most carefree and adventurous self you can be when you’re traveling. Everyday is exciting, everyday is an opportunity to see something new, or meet someone new. Once you’re back home, all of a sudden there is a crash back to reality and every day seems boring and mundane in comparison. I tend to have a week or two of post-trip blues, but I found when I went on a 6 month trip, I was sad about it for a couple of months. You get quite used to all the excitement, and what suffices for everyone around you seems to be stuck and boring. There is a lot of writing out there that tells you to just book another trip and get excited about that, but also you can allow yourself to be sad about it. Sometimes what feels like grieving the loss of excitement can get you back to feeling better and satisfied with daily life again.

After almost two years of feeling cooped up an unable to get out in the world, I cannot wait to feel free and experience new things again.

-E