After every trip, whether it be two weeks or two months, the tendency to be depressed after traveling is almost a certainty for most. Whether it be you or someone else, we all know someone who just can’t cope with it. You know, the kind of person who ardently grabs every opportunity to take a trip somewhere, has an incredible time and then comes back and falls into a slump. It makes them not want to get up in the morning and look bitterly to the sky every time it rains and curse the day he was born into (Insert Country Here).
As ridiculous as it is, it makes sense. Travelling anywhere ignites a holiday-syndrome. You eat as much as you like, you drink as much as you like, you take as many excitable pictures as you like. No constraints holding you back, no responsibilities tying you down. So how can you avoid that awful sinking you feel when you slowly begin to realise that the trip of your life or summer is slowly drawing to an end?
1) Get excited about being back
Been away for 6 months, a year, two years?! Thinking of all the people you’ve missed and all the wonderful people you are going to see once more does wonders. Late night catch ups with your best friends, the people who love and understand you like no one you really meet backpacking around the world can do. Same with the little home comforts you’ve missed; no matter how well traveled anyone is, they are lying if they say they don’t miss certain things from home. For me it was huge cups of tea practically on tap. All that got me through the horrific three day bus-taxi-bus-bus-bus-taxi-plane-plane-car trip back to the UK from Costa Rica was thinking about seeing my amazing friends and family once more. And the thought of being reunited with aforementioned gigantic cup of tea.
2) Tell everyone in the world about everything you did
People will get annoyed. People will roll their eyes as you start… again. But talking about all the things you did, the people that you met, the drinks that you drank, the things you did that you shouldn’t really tell anyone, well, repeating all of these things is like reliving the experience. But in a more dreamy, exciting and reminiscent way. We (almost) unconsciously exaggerate the amount of fun we had when we look back on the event, and we tend to forget about all of the annoying, awful, boring things that happened. In the two months I spent backpacking around Australia, do I remember the days and days of eating pasta salad and pretty much nothing else? Nope. I remember the beaches, the National parks, the treks, the laughs.
3) Keep busy!
Coming back from your travels can often feel like your life has screeched to a halt. From going from country to country, city to city, amazing experience to amazing experience to just being at home. Maybe back to your job, back to school. Back to routine. Everything seems so much more exciting when you’re away, and it probbaly is. But that doesn’t mean that home doesn’t have to be exciting at all. Plan things, go places, visit friends, go to some cool events. Life doesn’t ever have to boring.
4) Start planning the next big trip
The best way to take your mind off the last trip is to start planning the next one. Many people think you have one, ‘once in a lifetime’ trip which, I guess, logically goes with the name of ONCE in a lifetime. But this is a choice, not an inescapable fact. Get excited about going somewhere else and go get another fantastic experience. Even if not a long trip, go grab a week somewhere. Broke from your last trip? Set a date in the future and start saving. Anything is doable with travel, as long as you persevere and go for it.
2 Comments
Great tips! I’m usually pretty down when I come back from a big trip- it’s sooo important to keep busy, and of course never stop planning 🙂 Planning my birthday getaway right now, actually!
Have a great birthday trip! Let us know where you go