Coming Home and Facing the Post-Travel Blues

After a romantic, grueling, challenging and blissful 10 weeks traveling around the world for our honeymoon, WE ARE BACK! 5 continents, 16 cities, and almost 50 hours in the sky has led us around the entire globe and back home again. And it feels… well, I guess I’m still trying to figure that out.

Kevin was quite excited to head back to the States. To him, so much was waiting for us: our families, our two kitties, new career options, house hunting for our first home, the Christmas season, donuts and In-N-Out…

But for me, I can’t help but feel lost. Boarding on our plane home sent me into waterfall-like tears. Tears so strong and uncontrollable that just poured out of my eyes and I couldn’t stop it! My confused and supportive husband didn’t know what to do and just resorted to handing me candy pieces over and over in hopes that the sugar rush would have me ditch my depression and start feeling euphoric. I’ll admit, the in-flight entertainment helped distract me.

I will say though, our arrival home couldn’t have been better.

7 in-flight movies and a 14-hour flight later, we arrived early on Thanksgiving day. No one knew we were coming home, which made our arrival that much more exciting. After getting on the Roadrunner Shuttle, we headed straight for my parents’ house.

They are notorious for going to bed late and sleeping in, so arriving to find them asleep (even on Thanksgiving) was not much of a surprise. I went into my parents’ room and gently woke them which caused my Mom to scream joyfully. This scream then led my older sister (also asleep) to come see the commotion. This, I’ll admit, was the highlight of arriving home.

After surprising my little sister who came later that day, we went to Kevin’s parents’ house. Just as they were setting up for dinner, we walked in through the front door. Their faces could not have been any more shocked. Especially since we emailed them and explained we weren’t coming home for Thanksgiving (hehe). After a moment of stunned silence, they continued to ask themselves if this was really happening and for a minute, being home felt like bliss.

The dinners we had with both families were perfect. Granted we were just in Australia where hipster burgers and milkshakes were ever-present. But Thanksgiving food is just on another, American level. It was the perfect time to come home.

But a week has passed.

And the newness and the home-sweet-home thing is starting to wear thin. Our sleeping clocks are still off and we don’t know what we want to do with ourselves. This feeling I had was all too familiar, similar to my horrible time readjusting when I came back from my year abroad in Sweden.

Yesterday, I found myself looking up things like ‘Post-Vacation Blues’ and ‘Is Travel Addiction Real’ (which it totally is and you can read this very informative and interesting article, here). 

There are moments when I feel like the scum of the earth. ‘I should be feeling so lucky,’ I think to myself. ‘I went on the trip of a lifetime, with the man I love and am welcomed home by our supportive and sweet families during the most wonderful time of the year. How dare I complain!’ I hate this stupid phrase, but first world problems couldn’t be more accurate. This then sends me on a shame spiral, mixing my guilt with the blues that I just can’t shake off.

But hey-fuck this pity party and fuck feeling sad. In an attempt to be happy, I’ve created a sort of bucket list to keep myself positive and moving forward. As I write this, we are getting ready to head to Disneyland, my ultimate cure-all, for two days.

Here’s just a glimpse of that list, as it’s always changing and being updated. Some of these points have nothing to do with travel at all. Some of them are just an attempt to reinvent myself, a feeling I’ve had right before we left Melbourne. Either way, these are some of the things that will make me a happier, more positive person:

1. Go to Disneyland (check)
2. Be a tourist in my own city
3. Read more Aussie literature
4. Write in my journal more
5. Plan a trip to New Orleans
6. Plan a sister trip
7. Find a job in the travel industry
8. Go to Big Bear and play in the snow
9. Dye my hair a bizarre color.
10. Do every, Christmassy thing I can afford to do in LA
11. Get this blog on track
12. Volunteer more
13. Do average wifey things that require NO traveling (this one’s for Kev)

It’s short and it’s very… basic. But hey, it’s a jumping off point!
How do you beat the post-vacation blues? Let me know what else I should put on the list.