I was wondering if anyone out there who has travelled around
and then came back home only to realize away was better? I
am having after trip depression.Is this common? I just can't
be satisfied with my old life , you know? It 's hard when
you have been away and seen all the beautiful things and
then come back and try and pretend that all the things that
were beautiful to you before are beautiful still. That
probably made no sense but if you have been where I have
been and then left the place that you consider ultimat
beauty and peace- aw shit it is really hard.
Talk to me please.
[There are 82 posts - the latest was added on 1999 Wed 13 Oct, 4:53]
I too was very depressed after being in Europe for two years
backpacking and hitchin' without a care in the world except
where to get water and where to pitch my tent. I can truly
sympathize and had wished there was a therapist waiting at
the airport to receive me when I returned. It took me
several weeks before I could enter a retail store and still
have many fears of being here...my own country...I have
every intention to immigrate in the near future. I hope
this helps..if you would like to talk, feel free to email.
I also have a website at
See ya T...
I think lots of people feel a bit lost when they get back after a trip. I've grown up as a bit of a traveller, born uk, then Tanzania, then Kenya, then back to UK, Ireland and now Australia. I'm settled in Oz, but have been on trips to the US and UK over the past couple of years and always find it hard to settle after a trip.
One thing that makes it more bearable, I find, is to have a couple of "mini trips" back home. I regularly go & stay for just a weekend at hostels/backpackers quite close to home.....I think a lot of what I miss is the people that you meet.....this helps take care of that.
Also, without wanting to sound like "Pollyanna", I find it useful to spend time around things I do find great at home. There must be somethings that you still find beautiful if you really think about it.
Finally, if you REALLY want to go "back", then just start working towards that goal. There is always a way to do it if you want to. One thing a lot of travelling has taught me is that 'home" is where you feel yourself, not a geographic location.
In reference to that last comment 'Home' is where you feel
yourself not a geographical location.
I returned from Oz 4 months ago, had the time of my life, I
wanted to come home, but I found it so difficult to deal
with life back here, Oz seemed like heaven on earth, nothing
here could live up to it!
I really felt myself in Oz, I really 'clicked' with the
place, It did'nt confuse me as much as England does.
After working hard and saving (again), nothing can keep me
from what I want really deep inside!
I'm off back to Oz in a few days, I feel as though I'm going
home! will I return? who knows, I'm following my instincts!
Is there anything as terrible as returning home from your
travels? I don't think that anyone can adequately describe
the feelings people experience upon return. I have never
talked to anyone who says they adjusted easily to old habits
and patterns. Suddenly things that seemed so familiar feel
foreign and strange. It's a whole new kind of culture shock
but it is real and, unfortunately, the only cure for it is
time. Eventually, you will settle in and get back into the
groove of things. Just accept that it will be a bit painful
and difficult for awhile. I have also found that the best
cure for this ailment for myself is to immediately begin
planning my next trip! It offers some light at the end of
the tunnel.
Yes!
i understand what do you mean...
get back in a shop and say "sorry" or "please" instead of
scusi e grazie, give fiftythousand bath instead of liras,
feel a bit shy when asking, or ...
the worst...
burp loudly in a restaurant after long time in India!
The medicine for your disease?
just think that's is your real life, your reality, when you
travel is...
is a better life, but is not the real life!
In wich place have you been right now?
I was in Lao during january, and -beleive it!- i start to
feel sad as i cross the Mae-Kong going back to bangkok!
for people going to Lao:
please, be very respectfull of their culture, they are much
more nice and honest of the neighbours ( thailand-vietnam)
don't take advantage of their friendliness and hospitality,
if someone is offering a beer or a coffe, don't give money,
is not polite, just buy them sigarettes or something.
MAURO
I left "home" two years ago, saying "Be back in a year...if
I last that long!".
Ha.
I haven't come to the most beautiful place in the world. And
sometimes I miss my home. But I like missing it.
So I'm staying "out here". And my "here" is changeable, my
life is pretty messy most of the time. Friends "back there"
have homes and stuff that, I guess, is very meaningful for
them.
But I have something. Big, big life.
And so do you.
You have to find the courage to love it, and do it well.
I know what you mean I have been home this time for 6
months and I always have the post trip depression! I am now
35 and it seens to be getting worse the older I get. I run
to the libary to get the vidio tapes on India or Indonessia
and watch them trying to get my self back there again. I
find this Westernized world very empty and lonely and the
focus of the people is just all wrong and self centered.
The thing I miss the most is meeting new people every day
and forming intaimate relationships straight away It's
approiprate to sit down with someone when your alone and
just settle in! Not really exceptable to do that here.
Also since none of my friends here travel they don't
understand how your feeling! they ask How's the trip? and
give you about 10 minutes to share one year and that is all
they want to hear, it's just another world And i have to
agree wisth the guy on Loas It was brillant! the most
interesting and friendly people I have met so far I pray it
dosen't get spoiled the people are so genuine anyway
thanks for letting me babble and if anyone comes up with a
way that I can stay over there let me know... short of
marriage! by .
I got this post trip depression too. I came back from my
4-month Europe trip last October and I felt good to be back
home for the first couple days. Though words like "oui",
"merci", "excuse moi" etc came out of my tongue just a
reflex and my mind was captured by all those memories of the
trip. I returned home coz I was kinda homesick but it's rare
that when I finally got home I started to miss Europe. I
felt the same way as if I woke up from a fabulous dream,
back to reality was not a good feeling.
Well, I exchanged letters and e-mails with the people I met
in Europe to share after-trip feelings and future travel
plans. It helps. As of one of the reponses said, think of
your future trip will help. Or, you can think this way: with
the dullness of your ordinary life back home, you can
compare, appreciate and cherish the travelling experience
much more. Just think that you're at home preparing for your
next trip!
puilin
Coming home craziness....i think if your trip taught you
anything, it has to happen. Last summer, I left India after
4 mths there to fly to London, and I completely freaked out.
It wasn't home (i'm canadian) but it was still the
western world. It was so completely different. No one was
staring at me anymore. I was completely anonymous for the
first time in ages. I could wear shorts and a tank top
again, and i felt so exposed. Everyone had such nice
clothes and shoes and i felt like such a total bum. People
stood in queues instead of shoving. I could get a cold
glass of milk again. I could go on...but it was like
another planet. I don't know where you are coming home
from, but to live amongst another culture makes you see your
own home with eyes you've never had before. It can be
depressing to see things that are negative about your home,
like materialism, or the alienation of people from nature
and each other. But it also opens your eyes to see what you
might have that the rest of the world doesn't. Like, I
found I was in awe of the fact that if i had been born
female in India, or most of the world for that matter, I
would probably never have learned to read, i'd be married at
14 and had 6 kids by now, and generally not have anything
close to the freedom a woman has in the West. I'd never
really realized that before. So, like everything else in
this wild world, you get good things and bad things out of
coming home. And before you know it you'll be settled back
into a daily routine and maybe you'll even miss those days
when you first came home and found everything so different
than it was before you left. Hang in there.
I think the worst part about coming back home is that others
lack a frame or reference to really understand what it is
that you experienced, not that everything in which you
partook was so exotic and unearthly, but you did experience
it, and you felt the need to leave home to do so when most
others feel no such urge to wander.
You may so badly wanted to have told some amazing stories,
from the humourous to the heart-breaking, but others may in
the long run consider them to be just that--stories, and
they don't understand why you are different. Your stories
have had an impact on you, however small, and you may not
see things, for better or worse, the same way anymore.
For example, in NYCity where I'm from, a caustic, biting,
sarcastic point of view is entirely acceptable, even
indispensable for handling yourself around others if you
want their respect. The verbal equivalent of a wrestling
match. However outside those urban centers, such humor
doesn't translate too well, even if you only hop across the
river to New Jersey! In South Korea, where it took me a
year and a half after my equally long stay there to learn
and accept this, the people laugh at you, mostly, if you did
something that pleased them--trying the language, choking on
their food, singing badly in the Karaoke bar. I was present
once when a South Korean baby said it's very first words, in
English, to it's mother. "Bye-Bye!", he sang. The whole
family froze, looked and pointed rather bluntly at him and
started cracking up, followed by a chorus of what I
interpreted as mocking imitations. "Bye-bye! Bye-Bye" they
chanted, but smiling big. That was their way of showing
approval, I realized far too late, because I scowled. I
encountered that again and again, not only in S. Korea, but
backpacking around South East Asia. Here I am, I'm
thinking, trying out their language and eating their food
like a respectful tourist and they think I'm the village
idiot? No, they were actually encouraging me, and I was
too self-concious to realize it. It sort of hit me recently
what they were attempting to communicate, and now, a year
after I've returned from Asia, I've finally internalized
it. The unfortunate result is that my family is
now disgusted with me because I won't join the
insult-hurling which is supposed to pass for affection
around the dinner table. They think I'm secretive, no fun,
and unhappy, when in reality, I'm merely sick of being
goaded, sick of having my private life exposed before the
company for the sake of getting a laugh, and sick of how
tense I feel going there for holiday dinners. And if I
tried to explain all this to my well-educated,
cosmipoltan, and politically-involved family, they would nod
their heads, tell me what a wonderful experience I had, and
then cut me down some more for being pretentious. I've
stopped aruguing and I've given up. Take it from me,
sometimes communication is not a means to an end.
Another example: I've witnessed the downside of the economic
miracle in Asia, and consequently not too impressed anymore
with materialism. I saw a lot of greedy people who simply
created a lot of garbage dumps, not to mention radically
unfair work conditions, because they wanted to show off
their latest status symbols. We all like to be comfortable,
and we all like a good salary, but I have no inclination now
to go get a better stereo, or any stereo, when I don't
really need one. The same thing goes for TV. I'm happy for
the multi-nationals that they've figured out how to access
100 channels for my viewing pleasure, but when most of it is
enterntainment and destroys my attention span, well, I hope
I can stop compulsivley watching the few channels I have
already long enough to pick up a book once in a while. I
now believe that television, and acquistivness in general,
is an addiction like any other, and if you don't keep the
necessary hoarding to a minimum, it just creates more
trouble than it is worth. This is an attitude a lot of
people don't understand, and they act strangely around me,
like they'll catch something. My mattress was on the floor
for a long time because I just didn't feel the need for some
simple structure that didn't do anything beyond lift my body
a foot or two off the ground. Ya get it? I'm not the child
of hippies, nor do I pretend to be one myself, though I can
admire them for sticking to principles. I'm just another
29-year old who has recieved a bit wider and a bit more
intimate introduction to my planet than what I can see or
read about in the news. Hey, even I feel pretentious for
saying it, but that's my mindframe right now. And looking
back, I've done a lot with my life and didn't need to insult
anybody, nor spend a lot of money to reach my present goals.
Hope that helps. I don't have an e-mail so please don't try
to respond. That would get me in trouble at my company.
Yours,
Jesse.
SEEMS TO ME ALL OF US WRITING ON THIS BRANCH OF THE TREE
SHOULD GET A CECK IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL....
IF WE GET IT TOGHETER WE MAY GET A GOOD DISCOUNT
AND HAVE MEALS ON ORDER...
I WANT:
-MUSHROOM SOUP(ANY KIND OF MUSHROOM IS A MAGIE!)
-VEGETARIAN SPRING ROLL
-RASMALAI
-PIZZA CON LA MOZZARELLA DI BUFALA
THEN, WE CAN GET A COMPUTER COURSE TOGHETER, SO WE CAN LEARN
TO SEND NOTES ONLY ONE AT TIME (AFTER A LOMNG WORK I
REALISED MY MESSAGE DIDN'T WENT THROUGH, YESTERDAY...)
When I came home the worst thing was that everybody
reproached me of not being grateful for what I have in my
country. I'd better not told them that it's a shock to come
back. I can still hear those long sermons, all ending with
the same conclusion: "You couldn't travel if you were born
in that third world that you enjoyed so much. You can only
travel because WE fulfill our duties for our society."
I am presently "suffering" the same syndrome after returning
from a trip last month that jolted me out of experiential
inertia! While at a fist glance it seemed as though
travelling was the "real life" and being home was the
exception, it really isn't so bipolar. I prefer to translate
the experience as one of profound orientation. My world just
expanded from my contracted concept of "place" to a much
broader horizon of experience. I was a suffocating person
without a clue until I drew in the life giving breath of
movement. Now I only hope to retain my new perspective and
remain vigilant about this and, rather than struggle with
being back "home" along with its own new brand of culture
shock, I am reviving myself...my new self that is!...in
planning my next trip now...and what better place to do that
from than home? In other words, the inherent struggles of
post travel shock can be kung-fu-ed to create a new and
better order to one's life... Or maybe I am saying all this
to make myself feel better! But its working for me.
Dear Tec,
After reading your letter I felt like I know who you
are. I have felt how you are feeling and it is hard.
There is a solution for your problems that I have cooked up
for you. You must find a guy who has had similar problems.
Ideally this guy would be a rather tall bloke and hopefully
he doesn't live too far from you (within a few city blocks
is choice). He should also share your passion for travel,
experiencing new things, and Otis Redding (she rules).
After you find such a guy, if you should ever be so
fortunate, you should date him. Sounds weird huh? Trust
me, all of your worries will dissapear as fast as a Welfare
Cheque cashed at a bank directly across the street from an
L.B.S.
Good luck!
It's been 10 months since I came back from my 2.5 year journey in Asia.
I wouldn't say I'm "depressed", but I feel like I'm falling
back into my old ways; ways I didn't like.
My best friend and I just had a falling out because I've
become so different. I can't figure out America. There's nothing
I wish to do here.
So I'm thinking of leaving again. To live and work overseas.
I like the challenge of communicating in a foreign country. I
find that it's much easier to express myself to non-native speakers
of English than to my own kind. It's strange. No one listens here.
No one cares. People are so absorbed in meaningless things.
We should organize a group: Post Travelers Blues Network or
simply just go off on a trip again.
I spent six years travelling around the world. The day I returned (to London), I got caught up in the rush hour travel on the underground (subway). I thought "What the hell am I doing in this fucking jungle? Let me out, back to the green jungle." That was many years ago.Since then, I studied, got married, had a family, went to work, made friends, developed many interests. Travelling was wonderful, but being fixed can be wonderfu, too. People who travel or have travelled are no better or worse than the people who stay behind. And people who are fixed can develop just as much as people who travel. It all depends on the individual. So, if you can't go travelling again, get into something you enjoy, and do it with passion. The post-travel blues will soon clear.
Well that really helped me. I had given up on explaining what I was feeling to my family and friends. They have no clue of what I'm talking about. I was in Europe for one year and have been back for four months now. I've decided I am going back. Hopefully to live if I can find work. I'm afraid the longer I stay here the more I fall back into the old. I have changed so much I really don't have very much in common with my friends or family. All the things that were important to me before I left, mean nothing to me now. So I'm going to keep going. Thanks again everyone, it's nice to know I'm not alone.
Anyone who has experienced travel has also had to deal with the changes that take come from that travel experience .Celebrate your growth. What you are feeling is a sure sign that you were bon to travel ...use your energy to work,save, and plan your next adventure.
. Twenty years ago I made my first trip to Europe. It was a dream come true. My husband stayed with the children and I had a month that changed my life forever. Like everyone else out there, upon my return, I found that everyone wants to hear all the details of your trip..as long as it only takes 10 minutes..unless they too were travelers. Even my husband seemed never to have any questions or engage me in the tales of my journey. Over the years I on occassion would tell him something that happened on that trip long ago, and he would say you never told me that before! He is right...but he never seemed interested either.But get this...over the last 4 years we have taken 3 trips to Europe together and NOW he is interested in where I went and what I did.
I was always so hurt that he was so disinterested in my dream come true..it never occured to me that he had no point of reference, so formulating the questions was out of his realm. Now he is experiencing the same reactions from co workers and friends....and so we put money we use to use for special occasions into a travel fund..and share our next dream adventure with each other
. We suround ourselves with friends that like to travel...and tell them of that wild drive down the Amalfi coast, of the hours we spent practicing the art of doing nothing in Italy, of the old lady that ran that little hotel in Austria..or the breakfast we had along the Mosel...you know the hotel with the shower that you had to turn sidways and suck in to get thru the door...yeah that one..the one with the three watt light bulb...best food I ever had!!! Lets go back there someday.
You are I think experiencing a perfectly normal feeling. You have left something you loved and no one understands. But you will go back and you know what...it will be just as you left it.
I can totally relate to the post-travel blues. I've been
bit hard by the travel bug. I started travelling when I was
18 (now I'm 33) and it seems like I've fallen into a natural
rhythm... travel, post travel blues when I return, save for
the next adventure, travel. It has turned into a two year
cycle for me, but the smile never leaves my face because I
just keep going in this pattern. As long as the world
exists, I plan to keep on travelling. The best way to get
over the blues is to start dreaming (and saving) for the
next adventure. Right now, I'm planning my next adventure
(known as "Julie's World Domination Tour" to the shock and
dismay of my friends, family and coworkers). In 1999, I
plan on leaving Portland Oregon once again and hitting
Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, teach in Thailand for a
year then continue on to Laos, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar)
China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria,
Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Eritria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania,
Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The happiest moments in life
are making my dreams realities. Enjoy life while you can!
Cheers, Julie
i just got back today to calgary, canada, fucking cowboy
redneck town after 7 months backpacking in japan, china,
laos and hanging and smoking all the time. hard to imagine i
was on an island in thailand just 4 weeks ago and partying
in roppongi, tokyo about 48 hours ago. but guess what guys,
i have the perfect solution to the blues. treeplant, yes,
trepllanting in canada, it's fucking hard work but it's my
fourth year and 3 months and ten grand in the bank later i'm
off again to wherever i desire, so if you want to make some
cashish real quick and you're really determined to do so by
working really, really hard i.e. waking up at 7 am in
northern saskatchewan and it's -5 degrees celsius and
working your fingers to the bones for 12 hours a day,
mosquitoes and horseflies eating away at you, waiting in the
rain for the helicopter to take you back to camp, else you
walk 20km in the mud. drop me a line and i'll try to help
you out. sorry canadians and people with work permits in
canada only.
At last some people that understand. It's true friends ask you how your trip was and 30 seconds later get that glazed look in their eyes. They don't understand they never will. I have been back 4 weeks from a 6 month trip round Asia. I started backpacking when I was 21 and am now 32. Had a seven year blip where I brought my house and spent all my money on it. I still have the house but have decided not to spend any more money on it and just save up and go travelling. My big dilema now is the biological clock ticking away like Big Ben in the back of my head. Do I have children and backpack with a kid (is it possible really) or do I just backpack for the rest of my life. To make things worse there is a bloody great cruise liner parked outside my office window on the Thames - I bet it's going somewhere nice. In the meantime I will do this boring meaningless job earm my money and get the hell out of here by Xmas hopefully and one thing is for sure when I put that pack on again I will appreciate the freedom it give me. Another thing I have noticed about the west nobody had time to do anything not even to talk.
I think the worst of it for me was not just the blues, which
are still going, even though I've been back for over 3
months, and still wanting to go traveling again, but people
telling me that I had my fun and now it's time to get
serious and get a job, career, family - oh my god!
I refuse to believe that all my fun loving travel days are
over!
That's why, even though you have the blues, it's important
to have travel goals and work towards them so that you know
that soon you will be out there again.
The thing about the travel bug is that it never goes away...it only gets worse! I was away for about 15 months and have been "home" for 8. It was a bit of a shock coming home but I had sort of prepared myself for the feelings I knew might come so that helped a little... although I wish I had practically prepared myself too (had some savings etc.). Coming home to no money, no job, having to live again with my parents for a while and in the dead of winter ( -30 degrees from the tropics!!!!!) was hard and it got me down a little. But live and learn...next time I will be more prepared. Another thing - I agree with "home is where you can be yourself and not a geographical location". It is really easy to blame a place when things are not going well for you there. It is important to get involvd with the community, meet people, work, play or whatever while you are in a place and try to make the most of your experience there. When I first got home I was so "high" from travelling that I wanted to keep that feeling - that feeling that you are living life to the full, you can pick up and go any where you want at any time, and generally that things seem so much easier and you feel so much more fearless than you do when you are "home" . I try to imagine that I am still "travelling" and in a sense I am - that where I am is only temporary and things can and do change so I might as well try to get the most out of where I am. Still - nothing beats travelling and I did not see my trip as a once in a lifetime trip but as just the begiining. I plan to travel more and throughout my life and I know I will. The worst thing someone said to me travelling was : "Travelling is great but sooner or later you have to go home and start your life" I thought: This IS my life.
i came closer to my potential traveling cause i went alone
and had an opportunity to meet myself. i developed a
tolerance for every person and every person's opinions,
well you know, you have to. and i fucking liked myself.
when i went home i was sucked into being the same old
person again, which would've been fine if i'd never learned
how good a person i could be. and it's true, no one has any
clue what you've just done. they're just stories and
they're just pictures...but you were THERE and no one
around you can relate. of course that sucks.
Pfew! Makes me feel better already to know I'm not alone,
which I thought for a long, long time. I posted a similar
question on the Indian subcontinent section, called "Is
there life after backpacking?". Had some fantastic respons
too, might help you all? If only by knowing there's plenty
more people like us out there. It helps me, that's for
sure..
What is it exactly? I have no idea, but as soon as i read the original posting i had to stop and read every single one. I spent last summer hitchiking across Canada. Not over sea's or anywhere to exotic, but i have the bug. I quit college and moved to the mountains to ski.
unfortunatly i'm now back in the real world with a job. Yet all I ever do is dream of packing up my bag and heading off with nothing but me, my gear, and my thoughts. Hopefully one day i'll quit my job and make it out there. Thanks for keeping the dream alive............
Actually living in another country is not the same as just
travelling through it, and forming complex relationships
with others that last years. There is this great sense of
freedom that comes with travel, but all good things come to
an end. Real life in a foreign country is probably every
bit as sticky as the life that depresses you here.
My advice to you is not to travel again for about a year.
Give home a chance.
I am american and spent last summer traveling Europe, the UK and Ireland. I fell in love (with that part of the world) and have not recovered since. I watch the Travel Channel like it is a religion and every time I see a show on a place i have been I get really upset. Not a day goes by that doesn't remind me of a particular day during my travels. Coming home is reacclimating yourself to the status quo...and its not fun. No one understands and no one wants to hear your stories because they either can't identify or are jealous. It is incredibly difficult to adjust to not being on the move, not hearing other languages, not meeting new people, not seeing incredible sights. Travel is a drug, and coming home is detox.
I can relate to everything that everyone is saying in this
branch. I just got back from travelling around Scandinavia
and some of Russia and have travelled lots before. Over the
last few years I have always had something to dream about
and some trip to plan. Now I am back again and everyone is
saying that it is time to settle down. All I want to do is
start planning for the next trip. Why should we settle down
if our dream is to travel. All I have is work at the
moment, so if anyone would like to drop me a line, we could
swap all those fantastic travel stories together
I agree with #27's posting. Perhaps this post-travel depression syndrome is also a result of having to get back to the "normal", where life becomes static again; it's not just a matter of readjusting to home, but rather of readjusting to no longer having to readjust. One of the great things about travelling is not just experiencing a completely new culture, but that everything is constantly changing - there is always a new stimulus in life, new things to see, new people to meet. But when you are travelling, there is often not time enough to stay in one place long enough for life to assume its real complexity. I spent a long summer travelling Europe for the first time a couple years ago, and was so enamoured of the place that I decided to go back and try living there. It was a pretty different experience. Life even there assumed its own sense of normality after a few months, and relationships had time to get complex and sometimes "sticky". But of course now that I'm back "home", I'm once again nostalgic about that other life. It'll probably just continue as an endless cycle. The grass is always greener on the other side. . .
I think one of the hardest parts of returning home is the
way that other people are just not interested in where
you've been and what you've done ... I've been away several
times, for extended periods of time, and each time I return
family and friends have about a 5 minute limit on their
attention to what I've been doing. I'm not saying that
they should listen to me go on and on about me experiences,
but a little interest would really help. Because of this,
I find it really isolating when I come back. But, it
usually doesn't last, so hope you are feeling better and
more connected. And, hope you are planning your next big
trip!
I just got back from 6 months in Africa. Coming home has
been the hardest part of all. I have come home to my
boyfriend that I was longing for the whole time I was away
but now everytime we have the slightest problem..and trust
me there have been quite a few..i just want to take the next
plane back. It's really hard to jump back into your own life
when noone is listening and giving you the chance to work
out the last 6 months of your life. If anyone out there
wants to chat, I would love to hear from you.
kat
I went to Europe for a year when I was 17 and came home for my 19 birthday. It was so depressing. I'd grown so different from my best friend that I felt I hardly knew her. My mom had lost weight, my little sister grew up-- and I didn't even recognize her standing beside my mom! I wished I'd never come home.
*
By my next large trip, I'd forgotten how depressed I was when I returned and it took me a real long time to get over it.
*
Suggestion: When you return,
DON'T put your life on hold (can't go to university, can't learn a new carreer, can't commit to a large purchase, can't commit to a relationship) because you MAY go away soon. You'll just get more depressed as you see others growing and you're stagnating on hold.
DO DECIDE: do I take some short term term work and go travel within the year-or- do I commit to growing at home and going on lots of shorter travel trips.
*
I think if I had made a committment to do one or the other right at the beginning, it would have made my life much happier and richer (emotionally) much sooner.
*
I've finally got my shit together and am out of my slump now. I'd love to go on more long term trips, but now I finally have a job that I love. So, instead I'm going to go on lots of shorter (2 and 3 week trips).
*
Another hint: Keep in contact with all your travel buddies. Several friends I met travelling have come over to visit and it sure made my month!! And I love hearing from them by phone or mail.
I'm turning 34 this week and have been travelling since I
was 18, but only for 2-5 week trips. Am I too old now to
chuck in my career and blow my savings to travel for a year
or two???
i'm 33 and i'm going to "chuck" my fairly comfortable
university librarian job to go teach english in japan for a
year or two. i figure, either i'll love teaching english so
much that i'll want to completely change my career and keep
going in that direction, or, i'll just find another job in my
field. there's always another job out there. and who knows
what wonderful thing might come out of chucking it?!?!?! the
last time i chucked it, i came home & a MUCH better job than
i had left came looking for me.
If you can afford to travel enough to get this sickness,
you probably live in a country that lots of people in the
world risk their life and give up everything to reach. If
you like the third world so much, its probably because you
were treated with the importance you couldn't get at home
and everyone expect you to be superior than they are in the
way of the "west."
In that case, go ahead and move to a place where you get
servants and where you can afford to tip the waiters extra
(hehe, massaged a Hemingway phrase thru, read his work to
relate) The last thing any society needs is a horde of
neurotics who are too busy being prissy princesses to do
anything productive or permanent.
Unfortunatly, I have heard that this is a problem. Not only is away better, but people cannot relate as easily to someone who has seen things that they have only dreamt about. I am planning to take an extensive trip and I am concerned about this. I am going out there to find out about myself and the world, but then what!?? Plan another trip, or maybe Peace Corps or a job that allows you to travel would help...write a book?? Anyway, I hope you find happiness and feel free to write back.
One chooses to travel on a trip by themself. You are by yourself, you do things by yourself, and you are very much ALONE. You might have people around you, people that listen, and people that care, but you are still by yourself. Returning to home you are still by yourself. Learn to be HAPPY with YOURSELF. HAPPINESS comes from within. Faulting your friends and/or family for "not understanding the thrills of your travels" isn't solving anything. If you want so much for them to understand then take them on your next trip. Did you go on your trip for YOURSELF or to add another feather in your hat? My travels have all been unforgettable and every experience has made my life what it is today. Yes, sometimes I would like to share all of the travel tails to a listening ear but my saddness comes and goes and I am with myself once again. The best part of ALL of my travels is coming HOME. I love my trips but my HOME cannot be any BETTER. My travels make my HOME a better place to be. Every moment is a new experience. It is how it is recieved within that makes it good or not so good. Smiling is a fun thing to do when you are in an area that does not have many smiling faces. Try it sometime. One returned smile drowns the frawns. Good words from #27 and #30. HAPPY TRAILS TO ALL!!
From what I've seen, everyone seems to have their personal
preferences... some like "home" better while others prefer
"away". (Personally,I have a hard time defining "home"
myself, having grown up in three different countries.) Just
do what suits you best!!
After living in the UK for 3 years and travelling around New
Zealand, OZ and Thailand I was actually looking forward to
go back home (Berlin that is). I loved the first two weeks,
it was great to spent more than only a couple of hours with
my friends etc. Anyway, after these couple of weeks I grew
impatient and was only thinking of leaving again.
Unfortunately this was and still is (9 months later) not
possible, first of all I need to save money again. Anyway, I
try to do the odd weekend trip (in the past 4 months I've
been to Bonn, London and Prague). I don't think I will never
completely get rid of the post travel syndrome. I try to
make the best out of it, try to meet new people, go to new
places (there still so many areas in Berlin I don't know
yet, even though I grew up here), have the odd weekend away
and plan my next trip (even though it will only be for a
month). It's working, I feel o.k. here, the only thing which
gets on my nerves is that you're restricted so much, but I
will have this everywhere - except when I'm off travelling.
I know that moving to another country to work wont cure this
itch, maybe for a little while, but then it will be the same
again. So, I try to save my money for another trip and enjoy
myself while I'm stuck here.
I think number 33 suggests the best therapy - keep in touch
with those you met, because with them you can keep your
memories alive. Don't let go and don't get despondent, just
use this time to apply what you learned abroad - about
yourself and about the world - and know that it all happens
for some sort of reason and the circle continues, so you'll
be happy again soon. It sucks sometimes, of course, but
that's when you can visit the TT to share! ;^)
Hello everybody and I will shake hands to all.
Every time I came back from a trip I got this depressing
feelings and indeed they become worse all the time.
But..I try to see my country (Holland) as another culture
I'm visiting on my trip.
The thing is, I only want to leave when I feel at home
again ( in my country), because only then you can return
with positive feelings.
Probably this summer I can start as a guide in Asia. Maybe
some advise. Get some goals while travelling. By guiding
tours you can travel and make some money as well.
Anyway, when you come back, take time.......
I never knew that there were so many people in the world
that felt like I do! I worked for 6 months last summer at a
resort just 4 hrs from my home in the states and completely
understand and am suffering from post trip syndrome! I'm
planning a 3-4 month trip backpacking through Europe next
the summer of 2000. I'm super excited about it, but I know
when I returnn to the states I'm going to be very depressed.
I have just returned to Canada after 6 years living in
Kathmandu ... in total shock to find myself back here! But
I realize that many of the issues being talked about here
are about being able to make changes in your lives. That
wonderful feeling of being able to pickup and go somewhere
else! Travelling means change ... constantly moving (even
if you are sitting still and watching a new culture) and
seeing/exploring news things in other cultures. Constantly
learning new things about yourself. Today, I am 5 weeks
back in Canada and realizing that I am just as depressed
about sitting around today as I would be if I was sitting
in my flat in Kathmandu. Kathmandu is a lot more "exotic"
but I experienced the same "self" when settled there.I am
34 and for those of you talking about "chucking" careers
and travelling ... find a way to combine it! I have worked
and travelled for the last 10 years and my job has always
paid for me to be somewhere interesting! and then after the
work was done I would take off on my own to explore! It is
possible to combine both ... every job I take has to
include overseas travel ... even when I was living in
Kathmandu ... if I didn't get the chance to work in China,
Lao or Myanmar ... I didn't take the contract! Explore and
be creative about your work!
Like everything in life, when you have no more new things or surprises you get bored - just the human nature.
But it is only up to you to remain in the same direction or board on this boat of life!!
And I thought I was the only one!! I have been back home for
just over 8 years now and have been yearning for what was
ever since. I have filled in the time getting a number of
degrees, the goal being that the next time I leave, it will
be for good. I wont have to return for anything, including a
guilty sense of needing to do 'something useful' instead of
being blissfully happy travelling about the globe. I am
about to take off for a short trip to the South Pacific as a
reward for being half way to finishing my PhD. After that,
the world will be mine again, guilt free :) I look forward
to meeting you all in my future travels. I'll know who you
are by that self satisfied aura that surrounds those who
have discovered the treasure that fulfills every dream and
desire, travel.
leaving on my next trip in a week. thanks for the company,
the good spirits, the help and advice! i couldn't have made
it through this past year without you all!
~
happy trails, and hope to see some of you out there, in the
world!
~~~~~
Keep in mind most of the time you are on vacation your
biggest worry is where you will eat or when to go to bed
(and sometimes with whom). At home you have to deal with
more serious things. I may be wrong but that is where my
"back home blues" came from. They eventually pass when you
start planning the next vacation.
I started traveling 4 years ago when i was 34. I took a
trip to europe by myself, now, every year I have gone back
to Europe and everytime I come home I get that feeling of
the blues. I have a totally different point of view now and
a different perspective from traveling. I no longer have
any prejudices (from meeting people from around the globe)
and I am happiest when I am traveling. My family does not
understand, they hate it when I go away but I will
continue, I am happiest when I am doing. I definitely have
the Travel Bug.
In some sense, you don't have to end your travel when you
are back. You can keep on moving even in your own country.
Then the travel in fact has never ended - it just takes on a
special flavour. So there's no post-trip blues but there's
a post-trip 9-5 blues. The problem is how we are going to
handle our way of sustaining our everyday life here.
Believe me there are actual alternatives to earning a living
other than a 9-5 setting. Everyday is a travel in itself,
depending how you arrange it to be :)
just returned from east africa. hate being back, long for a
road filled with pot-holes and lined with smiling, waving
african children. read earlier message about getting back
into rountine after a while, but thats just what i don't
want. miss the madness of africa, beginning to realise just
how uniform and boring life is at home. thing is i've got
three years of uni starting soon so getting away from it
for any length of time will be impossible. i used to look
forward to uni, but i know nothing in swansea will compare
with rafting the source of the nile or listening to hippo
eating outside my tent.
It is good to know that people like me exist out there. I
have travelled to more than 40 countries and feel miserable
every time I come back. My last trip was to London. And
though it was a business trip and only for a week it made me
realize once again as to what I am missing.
My thoughts were flooded with India, North Africa, Europe
and South East Asia. And as many of you understand the
worst part is that the people at home have no point of
reference as to where you are coming from. The quick 10
minute run down of your trip is what they want. And
ofcourse to know if you had sex.
Disgusting mentality!!!!!. I hate it when people tell me
how much more I have in my life and how 90% of the planet
will never see what I have. True but how does that relate
to my passion for travel. I have been in Houston for one
year and feel like I have been living in purgatory. I don't
even know anyone in this place so coming back jere is so
difficult. Sometimes I want to give it all up and go. But
I need a lot more money than I have to support me for a one
or two year stint.
My only advice for tec is to get out of the place you are in
. Not for good but for the weekend. Go to a friend or
relative you get along with. I never spend the first
weekend after I'm back in this city. I had once and spent
the whole day in doors depressed. It was horrible.
Finally, for your own sake don't listen to any music that
reminds you of the places you have visited. It is such a
sweet pain but it prolongs the agony.
Hope you feel better.
F
After many post-trip traumas, I've come to realize that we
"travel" wherever we are; it's just a matter of perspective.
It feels like we live in a parallel universe where each
far-flung culture and place exists on its own. All manner
of complex social relationships, politics and language
systems already exist before we arrive. Then someone
wearing a "Rambo" t-shirt or Michael Jordan basketball shoes
pulls out a cell phone to take a call and we realize that
some things aren't that different.
Life at "home" is as complex for someone visiting us as our
own travel elsewhere. It seems that a good cultural
anthropology course could open up one's perspective and make
the adjustment easier. There's plenty of cultural diversity
within our own communities already - just as exotic and
distant as in another country.
Greater cultural awareness of the subtleties of social
interaction, something Americans seem to be painfully
lacking, would go far towards easing relations between
people here in the US and abroad. I think any future travel
experience can be appreciated more fully with that in mind.
I feel closer to others both here and in faraway places
because we share so many things already. We only need to be
aware of it and be open to it first. That's how I manage to
return without getting too depressed.
To all of you who have written about post-trip depression--
I know where you are all coming from--I lived in The
people's republic of China as an English teacher in a
remote coutryside village in the Hunan Province. I lived
and studied and taught out there for what seemed like a
lifetime!---At times , I almost lost the sense that I was
an American---Such a strange feeling for an Air Force
brat!! Anyways, coming home was really hard. Just about the
most challenging thing I had to do was say goodbye to all
my friends (students and teachers alike) and come back here.
For the first three months back, I didn't work--just rode
my mountain bike and occassionally hang out with friends---
I wondered for a while what that whole experience really
meant to me, my growth, and the development of my students
and teachers in China---
That was the history---now the morale of the story---I have
come to a place in my life where I feel very few could have
experienced what I did--most of you can say that about your
own experiences....But don't forget the good times you
had!! The poeple you met!! Smiles you put on the faces of
fellow foreign friends and natives alike!! How about the
stories you can bring back with you, to inspire a young
mind to do the same thing? Travelling the world is now
excessible to us all, and we should really work hard to
place our emotions in perspective, see the experience as
one of beauty--a veritable treasure to keep in your heart
and share with others for a lifetime...You feel depressed?
You just engaged yourself in an experience most in the
world can't do, and many of those that have the money
wouldn't even think to---you had the enthusiasm, the
confidence, and the courage to go for it----now it's time
to honor yourself for what you did and how you contributed
to your spiritual growth...now it's time to inspire others
to see the world...time to be strong, not only for the sake
of yourself, but for the sake of those you could inspire to
go halfway around the world to make a difference to someone
or a group of people less fortunate!!!! if you become
depressed, keep in mind that there are many out there less
fortunate than you; you had the ability to travel the world
see this, then come back home to the many great amenities
of your own country---- peace
....with my grandfather on a little island about 40 miles
off the north coast of Honduras. The place was pretty
remote, and it was definitely "third world." I got to know
many of the locals around him, and I spent most of my time
wearing nothing but shorts and sandals. I was ther in the
winter months, and the sun set most days around 5 pm. After
dark I would sit on the beach and look at the stars - which
were glorious - and was lulled to sleep by the sound of the
surf breaking out on the reef. When I returned to Detroit
(the city I was residing in at the time), I found that I
couldn't fall to sleep without the sound of the waves. Work
was woefully a inadequate surrogate, filled with white
shirts, ties, suspenders, monotony and political
correctness. Whenever I travel, I go through the same
returning-home-blues. It was the same when I returned from
the Highlands of Scotland.
We were lucky - all our travel has been done as a couple,
so we both have someone around who can relate to our own
experiences. We highly recommend it. As for others relating
to them, forget it. 4 months in Europe, and some friends
and family could relate a bit. 6 months in Africa and it
was only our former travelling companions. 12 months
hitchhiking from London to Brisbane, and it was only the
two us who had any idea of what we had gone through. But at
least there was TWO of us.
.
Most recently, it was a couple of months cycling in Central
Asia, with our two little children, and you can forget it
if you expect ANYONE to be able to understand THAT! We are
very grateful to have had all these SHARED experiences. We
realise that single travellers have different experiences,
but we wouldn't swap. (Then again, maybe single travellers
won't relate to what I've just said, either:-)
.
Interestingly, while on our earlier travels, we didn't
really have a real permanent home that we were leaving, but
this most recent trip with the kids involved we were
leaving our 'real' home that we had built with our own
hands and we were actually happy to 'come home' to it.
Perhaps, to help get over post-travel blues, it is a case
of creating a life at home that you are happy with (house?
family? career?), as well as having a travelling life. Put
some effort into life 'at home' and then enjoy both aspects
of your life, even if your 'at home' side exists solely for
the purpose of preparing for your next trip.
.
We are very much looking forward to getting back out on the
road again, but with a family, there is (a teeny bit) more
to life than just travel. What can you add to your life? If
nothing in particular, then hell, get back out there and
travel! We all know it hardly costs any money, just
commitment.
I'm a 43 year old man who's been hapily maried 20 years
with two kids (12&16). If I didn't travel I'd go nut's, it
helps me put my world in perspective. My friends go on
hunting trips or golf excursions and I go to Haiti or
Ecuador. I couldn't begin to explain to my friends who
don't travel about all I have experienced. They think it's
insane.
Since I have a familly my trips are short,and sometimes the
familly has gone but I'm lucky I have a wife who
understands me and let's me go (she has no desire to go).
I've been to 21 countries, most in the third world. The way
I look at life is totaly different from those I know who
haven't travelled. Sorry if I sound like im bragging.
Every time I arrive in a differnt country, I feel a little
scared. I get over it quickly enough, but it is always
there to some degree when I first land.
When I go home, or rather to the land where I was born,
since I do not know if I really have a home, I feel the
same type of fear. It is all the more pronounced because I
thought I knew this place.
You cannot know a place until you leave it. I have come to
look on my trepidation as agood thing, a way of being on my
toes. A way of seeing things as though for the first time,
even though I may have been around them all my life.
Good luck,
George Cerny
Well Here I am reading every bodies messages and one thing
comes to mind. You may all be home and quite depressed, as i
am to say the least , but don't forget that it is still all
out there. It isn't as if that now you have returned you
will never go to the same places or meet like minded people
again.
I returned early from a years travelling, big mistake! I
thought that it would be nice to surprise the family and
was also mentally and physicaly exhausted. On arrival i got
the distinct impression that everybody had been quite
content without me. Yup worst thing to come home to - a
family that have forgotten who you are and why you haven't
been at home for the last year. Anyway this managed to
depress me even more but then you have to realise that no
one can possibly imagine what you have been through in the
time you have been away. Yes home always seems shite
compared to the places you have been residing in over your
days, months or even years of travelling. But hey if that
wasn't the case I am sure that the point of travelling
wouldn't be as exciting or as fun.
Anyways enough rabbiting on........Just remember that there
are tonnes of us out here that feel the same way and yes
home is always cruddy after sitting on deserted beaches and
wondering through ruins or ancient civilisations. Oh well of
to work!!!
I, too suffered from a bout of culture shock after
travelling a far away land. But since I have recovered
though i'm still not as comfortable in my homeland as I
had been before my travels. Maybe all of us have the
tendency to think that other places are always better.If
we really live as the locals do, maybe we'll think twice.
Funny to read all your stories of coming home, feeling
depressed, not getting along with that western lifestyle. It
has already been three years since we came home from our
trip "around" the world. I actually thought I'm over it, but
reading this makes me feel so sad again. Is it really the
life i want to live? Is it really important to look for a
bigger appartement? Is it really important to ....
We are planing our next trip too, but the longer you are
home, the more difficult it gets. But really friends, this
helps. Somehow i start to look forward to my homecoming
blues.... Erika
OK, I haven't had time to read all the messages - but I
can't beleive everyone hasn't cottoned on to the most
obvious answer to this dilemma - get a job which involves
travel and kill two birds with one stone! It's what I
decided to do when I came home from my trip in December -
ok, it hasn't been easy but I've done it and keeping busy
looking for that job has helped keep my mind off being
depressed about being home.
And another tip is to travel in your own country - how many
of us can truely say they've seen as much of the place
which they consider home as the visitors to it have?
Oh man, I was worried about this.
I have been away from Home (OZ) for nigh on two years now and am supposed to head home in a coupla weeks.
I was worried about Post-Trip Depression and now I know it'll hit hard.
One suggestion I'll take on board is to do a trip as soon as I get home. Nothing huge, just a week in Byron or something to ease back into Australian life.
Then the real fun begins. Find a house, move in, start work. Fight with accounts department to get paid quicker (no cash left you see, all in Europe). Get a car, see the pals, go to pub, tell some lies, et al.
Gad. Maybe I should just stay in London........ or go to Damascus or Dushanbe or somewhere wierd.......
Love to all
SAMBO
xox
Almost five years ago, my wife and I left our hometown, Miami (USA) and backpacked SE Asia for almost three months. It was, to say the least, a life-changing experience. We returned to our new "home", Charlotte, North Carolina. I had a major case of the blues. But looking back, I think the depressed feeling was stronger because we left Miami (not dull and very familiar), toured SE Asia (incredible) and came to roost in Charlotte (quite dull and unfamiliar)
In fact, we never did "get" Charlotte, so we sold our house, took a 2 month trip through the American West (incredible), and moved back to Florida. I really didn't have too much post-trip blues this time. But being back in Florida has a lot to do with it I think. We are really discovering the area for the first time. I see why so many come here.
Anyway, lots of good advice on these postings. Since we came back from the big Asia trip, we've been to BC in Canada, to see a friend we met in Malaysia. We've also camped alot in the States. And I'm planning a solo trip to Ecuador in the Spring of 2000. So, yeah, plan that next trip; keep on truckin'. And for my non-Yank friends out there-get hip to the Grateful Dead (live versions only). They are about freedom and alternative living, and they never let me stay down when I listen to a live set.
God, coming home can be the worst!! Iīve been there too. Just donīt give up- things will always get better. The blues come and go after a trip.. My only advice is to stay in touch with the friends made on your way, you wonīt regret that! I didnīt think I was gonna go back to a place in the UK where I spent last summer, but I did anyway and it was great!! Donīt be afraid that people and places change- so do you. Take it for what it is and live life.
Peace to all..
Hi everyone, can't believe there are SO many people who
feel like I do, kind of a relief to hear everyone's stories
as NOBODY here at home understands my travel blues. I was
an exchange student to Finland at 16 and that experience
changed my life. Studied abroad at a University in London
and now what?! What I haven't figured out yet, is how can
I find a job that allows me to travel and still make a
living to support myself? Any suggestions...please email
me at Asmylr2@aol.com Thanks and find a way, ANY way to
keep travelling.....
FORGET how sad you are
and REMEMBER how happy youve been.
If you realise that life at īhomeī is not for you then get
saving for the next trip (and enjoy the things that are good
at home - pie and mash, sunday lunch, a pint etc).
Dont be a cog in the machine.
Free yourself.
Anyone who has traveled far away from home and seen the
world for themselves experiences "post-trip depression".
I myself barely left my house for weeks after returning
from a trip in Europe. But if you wanna get outta this
funk, you have to set a new goal...perhaps another trip, a
small one. My words of advice to you are "Don't cry
because it's over...smile because it happened"
Perhaps there is a simpler explanation. For me, it has
some to do with being overseas, and a larger part of being
on vacation. When I have vacationed out west or taken
holiday in the south (of the USA), I find that a miss those
places just as much. My advice is to take good pictures
and always make lots of friends wherever you go so that you
always have a connection back to where you visited.
Peace.
-RC-
Do you know the best way to get over not being able to travel..when you want to anyway?Give work to overseas backpackers and enjoy their company.Yes I was totally lost when I last returned to Australia from Asia in 1995.I loved my time travelling but felt I should be settling down for a while.I had done a lot of fruit work for different orchardists and really enjoyed the lifestyle.I approached several orchardists for work and after a few months found i needed extra help to complete orchard work contracts.The answer was to find several backpackers who were looking for short term work and wanted to work extra hard to earn good money.Now four years later I employ 100+ backpackers every year on my own orchard and several other neighbours orchards.If Young Whun,BaekaKiong ,Lucy,Ploy,Dave,Jung,Sandy from Kent or any one else who has worked for me is reading this I hope my note brings back fond memories of N.S.W. Australia.Any other friendly travellers out there if you need work for one week or six months drop me a line....John Reynolds"Brantwood"Nashdale via Orange 2800.N.S.W. Australia.I'll reply to all correspondence and also help to find other orchard work for you all over Australia.Oh but I still wish I was travelling again.......take care everyone.JR.
Hey, what about all those people who can't afford to travel
in the first place? My advice is stop moaning and
appreciate the chances you've had - and will have again for
the future, count your blessings that you've got friends
and family back home who I'm sure do like you really even
if they don't want to hear you rabbiting on and on and on
about bungy jumping and trekking and diving etc etc
etc....and just accept the fact that the payment for going
away is coming back and having to live with it.
By the way, all those people who talk about going back to
the places they travelled to live - lifes a bummer wherever
you are if you have to work - or why on earth would all
those aussies be moaning about going home?
in september '96 i went off to israel to a kibbutz, my mum
had to nearly throw me out the house so i would leave. i
had organised a job for when i would get back 6 months
later, so off i went with 1000$ in my pocket, and i loved
it so much i only came back home january this year. in the
meantime i almost spent a year in israel, just loving
jerusalem, where i fell in love so many times i can't even
count it, i worked as a barmaid, cleaner, receptionist,
pizzaiola, handed out flyers, picked peppers for 14 hours a
day and generally saw the sun rise about 4 times a week. no
responsabilities, no worries. i eventually found my
soulmate on the streets of jerusalem, the snow was falling
in the old city, i guess i have seen some magic... we lived
on the beach in elat for a week, this was the best, we
played guitar for a living, it was a dream, unfortunately
everything was stolen on our last night, but it didn't
manage to break our spirits... on we went to holland for
three months, doing all sorts of illegal stuff to get some
work, back to israel for three months, down to south
africa, where we worked for the TRC, the truth commission.
not knowing anything about the country, i was thrown right
into the history of that magic place. i have seen mandela
twice, have shaken hands with desmond tutu and got to know
all the commissioners. i loved it so much, i was sucking it
all up. i guess that i know much more about that country
than about my own (switzerland). we travelled to zimbabwe,
botswana, mocambique and my all time favorite namibia.
there we threw our 30 year old landrover on its back,
waited for days for help and eventually walked over
mountains to find the rangers, we run around naked at three
in the morning, looking at the stars, the morning wild
springbuck would run around, as we wanted to cross the
saltpans, the water pump broke, and we did find a bush
mechanic that had a series 2a waterpump somewhere among
these fifty old cars, swam in the indian ocean, ate fresh
coconut, met a swiss couple that had sold everything and
was travelling through africa for the past 4 years.
together we raved about fondue, cheese and other goodies
from switzerland.
apart from that i have worked with homeless people in the
johannesburg inner city, not always nice but certainly
enriching. it was so sweet to see the children all dressed
up in their clothes for the first mother and child meeting
we had organised for two shelters.
i will never forget that time. yesterday we broke up, there
was no future in our relationship, the distance too great.
we still love eachother, and will try to remain friends. so
i had to make other plans. i am desperately trying to stay
sane in this godforsaken country. i am working in a bank
now, i hat every minute of it. how i wish i could once
again put my feet into the warm namib sand and play guitar.
so in november i will go to austraila for six months, and
then to costa rica or bolivia for a year. eventually i will
write a book and live off it, does sound like a good plan
to me.
if you need any infomation about the above mentioned
countries write me. or if you could give me some about
bolivia and costa rica.
just everybody, keep these wonderful spirits withing you,
and don't let yourself hang to low. the world needs people
with a sense of interconnections and some real skills to
work with.
hang loose, mel
That's what wanderlust is all about. You got the first
part right, it's just that you have to realize home for
what it is, not what it isn't. I came from a wanderlust
family and 50 years ago took my first international air
flight. Our kids began traveling in a backpack at 3
months. I hit this page because I'm researching overland to
Lhasa for Losar. There's nothing wrong or unusual about
what you feel - just don't be so hard on home.
I only have 5 minutes to type because I will soon be kicked
off this free internet access at the Chinatown SF public
library but here goes.
I went traveling after finishing my master's degree last
June and returned at the end of April this year. I spent 5
months in Europe, mainly Germany, and saw Morocco, France &
Spain. Then I spent 2 months between Thailand & Laos and 2
months in Taiwan.
All of a sudden, being home in San Diego felt really bland
even though I loved swimming in the ocean and seeing my old
friends. Then I moved to San Francisco after 6 weeks home
and have had one of the worst times of my life up here. I
couldn't find a job, couldn't find a good roommate situation
and don't feel happy at all trying to resettle. Part of me
wants to take off again for Latin America but is that
running away? I feel scared that if I leave, I'll never want
to come back. Then this other part of me thinks... I better
just go home to San Diego, and wait for life to get better
and try my best to readapt and stick to one spot.
The one thing that keeps me from leaving is this post trip
depression that seems to always linger on. I've been
travelling on and off since I was 17 and now I'm 25 and at
the age where there is a lot of pressure to get a real job,
find a steady relationship, and get a normal life going.
I can't wait to read all these postings, though...
I guess I'll do that when I'm not at the public library. In
the meantime, I'm most likely heading back to San Diego at
the beginning of August where I can at least deal with all
these issues in a more peaceful environment (i.e. beach! and
warm water).
If anyone out there has had similar experiences and is from
San Diego, I'd love to talk.
Kathy
Don't cry you are not alone. I get the blues every time I
visit Mexico and come home. I find that the pictures I take
when travelling helps. When I feel nostalgic, I take them
all out, looking at the pictures bring back great memories.
I do this for as long as it takes, until the next trip.
Travelling for a year or so that's my dream.
However, saving a year just to get away for 5-6 weeks to
beautiful, sunny countries gives me something to look
forward to, especialy when its raining here.
I'm fortunate that my job allows me to travel to countries
which ordinary I would not have picked and meet the nicest
people.
I can image that when you come back after feeling relaxed,
no stress at all and no worries, being dumped in our
"modern" western hectic society that you feel lost and
wonder 'what the hell you are doing back here'.
But then I look on the worldmap picking my next
destination. That keeps me going for another (half a) year
and try to stay relaxed and not to think too far ahead in
the future which is our western style. Tomorrow is far
enough.
.....whether to laugh or cry.
Off home in four weeks, AAAAAARRRRRRGGGHGHGHHGHH;
at least I know i'm not the first to got through this.
Thanx to all helpful hints, all duly noted and heeded.
Love to all
SAMBO
xox
Are there any people out there like myself who are looking
for advice on how to plan your trip around the world and
who would like to get in contact with any other people
planning to go away on their own. I find myself knowing I`m
going on my own but I think it would be cool to have some
other laid back travelling buddies along for the ride.
Write soon people!!!!!!!
Back home, one and a half year ago, from Europe + Israel +
Egypt. I feel like it was yesterday...
Lucky me I was born in the third world (lots of things to
be done, so we can not get really bored down here...), it
is an unique place: Brazil. Always a fantastic place for
travelers... Difficult, as everywhere, is to face a city
life, paying bills, having a nice place to live in a 18
million inhabitantsī city, working hard with lots of
bullshits to do. one exit is: travel internally. Expensive,
but possible.
Planning the next trip is another one: at the moment, I am
earning money and trying to get sponsors for my next dream:
a lonely expedition around south america by car (I have to
find a way to drive through Colombia and its guerrilas).
anyway, i believe the blues is part of the trip, as someone
says: it is the price you pay. travel is a magic
anthropological experience... when back home, you can
easily notice your fellows prejudice and narrow point of
views; you can notice when you are behaving exactly the
same, when you are bastard as a reflex of your own culture
and background.
feeling a foreigner at home can be a bless. you can
consider yourself as a world born person, as a truely
cosmopolitan and free mind one. Isnīt it what globalisation
should mean? (instead of just a better way to explain
global exploitation?)
We better try to get the best we can from the post-travel
blues. i wish you all wonderful travels. a todos, boa
viagem, B.
Any fellow traveller's in the D.C. area undergoing post-
travel blues? So am I! I was hoping to get together with
some travellers for some beer and conversation.
I've been back for about 8 months after travelling
Africa/Asia for 27 months. The suburbs are killin' me!
Help!!!
does anyone feel stuck in the middle of travel and home?
i've just been away for a year and a half and towards the
end (thanks to many things including guardia) i hated
travelling , travellers , and was desperate to come home.
After the 2 week honeymoon period (and antibiotics) , i felt
terrible being home but did't really want to head straight
back on the road again either. sometimes the travel bug
just seems like a curse. you take all your problems with you
wherever you go and as an escapist exercise travel isn,t
exactly stress free. i've loved all the places that I have
travelled over the years and will probably be off again by
next summer. is anyone else out there panicing about their
mid 2o's crisis and being constantly up in the air? t
This post is so far down the list, I doubt it will ever see
the light of anyone's screen. So really, I guess, this is
for me.
My wife and I traveled for seven months around the world,
skipping vast tracts, of course. It was both more and less
than we expected it to be. Wonderful and boring and
delicious and depressing. It was life without the couch. But
by the end of seven months, we were done. We were ready to
come home. Nothing impressed us anymore. It was all flat. So
we rushed into the welcoming arms of home. My first feelings
were total elation. It was home, after all. It took some
time for things to seem too familiar to me. I actually
enjoyed the familiarity.
After a few months, however, the trip faded more and more
quickly in the rearview mirror and I was left feeling
directionless. Now what? Uprooting our entire lives every
few years to travel just seems too painful, too destructive.
Traveling every year in smaller doses seems nice, but
somehow disappointing, too. We're considering teaching
English somewhere to live for extended periods. Thailand or
Indonesia. Any advice on that would be appreciated. But then
again, nobody's reading this.
The post-partum of travel seems to be a human experience,
universal, judging by the 80-some posts on this topic. But
it also feels so deeply persona