Tips for adjusting to life after traveling:
1. Get involved
The one thing that you find when you're on the road is instant family. I was constantly surrounded by genuine people who were looking for adventure, just like me. We shared a common interest and it seemed as though we had an instant bond: to experience everything we possibly could while we were there.
The hardest thing about being back home is that you've landed back home but it feels more foreign than that little island off the coast of Chile did. So GET INVOLVED.
Get out and about, join clubs that interest you, share your stories online and stay current. I had this wild desire to hide away in my room and lament over all my lost friendships. Alas, they're still my friends and my world has just gotten bigger.
2. Keep your wardrobe simple
While you're traveling there is approximately 1 backpack of clothes you can choose from. It doesn't take long to decide what you're going to wear in the morning. Mostly it's the tshirt and pants that are clean that make the cut. Once you're back home and you open up all the stuff you left in storage, your wardrobe quadruples and you're left having to make these very hard decisions of what to wear in the morning, and sometimes those decisions are so hard I end up not leaving the house.
3. Start cooking
Once you return home, you're back to cooking. Yup, no more Som Tom (Green Papaya Salad) on the side of the road for pennies in Thailand, or Taco Stands, Tortillas, Soups lining the roads of foreign cities. Get a couple of cookbooks and go to town. Try to remember some amazing dishes you ate in that little Spanish town, or on the boat cruising down the Mekong River.
4. Reflection
For you,
morning rush hour is now a time of reflection. You have so many things and projects on the go that there never seems to be enough time in the day. Be patient. After long bouts of travel time for reflection is very necessary. You never truly benefit from your travels and experiences until years later. Enjoy the moment and the fleeting memories that present themselves throughout the day once your home.
5. Be Thankful.
Not everyone has been around the world and been able to experience the things you have.
And last but not least
6. Deciding what to do next.
This is the biggest challenge for many returning long-term travellers. I'm yet to meet anyone who took a year or more to travel the world and returned exactly the same person. Dreams change, ideas change and your mind is expanded. Your world is now HUGE. There are foods in your memory, smells and sights that have changed you forever. We now want to put that into use, into practice, but we just don't always know how to do it.
1. Get involved
The one thing that you find when you're on the road is instant family. I was constantly surrounded by genuine people who were looking for adventure, just like me. We shared a common interest and it seemed as though we had an instant bond: to experience everything we possibly could while we were there.
The hardest thing about being back home is that you've landed back home but it feels more foreign than that little island off the coast of Chile did. So GET INVOLVED.
Get out and about, join clubs that interest you, share your stories online and stay current. I had this wild desire to hide away in my room and lament over all my lost friendships. Alas, they're still my friends and my world has just gotten bigger.
2. Keep your wardrobe simple
While you're traveling there is approximately 1 backpack of clothes you can choose from. It doesn't take long to decide what you're going to wear in the morning. Mostly it's the tshirt and pants that are clean that make the cut. Once you're back home and you open up all the stuff you left in storage, your wardrobe quadruples and you're left having to make these very hard decisions of what to wear in the morning, and sometimes those decisions are so hard I end up not leaving the house.
3. Start cooking
Once you return home, you're back to cooking. Yup, no more Som Tom (Green Papaya Salad) on the side of the road for pennies in Thailand, or Taco Stands, Tortillas, Soups lining the roads of foreign cities. Get a couple of cookbooks and go to town. Try to remember some amazing dishes you ate in that little Spanish town, or on the boat cruising down the Mekong River.
4. Reflection
For you,
morning rush hour is now a time of reflection. You have so many things and projects on the go that there never seems to be enough time in the day. Be patient. After long bouts of travel time for reflection is very necessary. You never truly benefit from your travels and experiences until years later. Enjoy the moment and the fleeting memories that present themselves throughout the day once your home.
5. Be Thankful.
Not everyone has been around the world and been able to experience the things you have.
And last but not least
6. Deciding what to do next.
This is the biggest challenge for many returning long-term travellers. I'm yet to meet anyone who took a year or more to travel the world and returned exactly the same person. Dreams change, ideas change and your mind is expanded. Your world is now HUGE. There are foods in your memory, smells and sights that have changed you forever. We now want to put that into use, into practice, but we just don't always know how to do it.