9 tips for adjusting to life after travelling

21.07.2023 - 08:36 / roughguides.com

Anyone who has been travelling knows how difficult coming home can be. You’ve just spent months abroad, being stimulated every day by new sights, people and experiences; then suddenly you’re back to the old life – and it’s boring!

Maybe you were looking forward to coming home, seeing friends, your comfortable bed and all those familiar things, but once the initial excitement has subsided, life seems drab. You start poring over photos of your trip – now a lifetime ago. Fear not, it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are nine tips that might just help you to banish the post-travelling blues:

Remember that travelling wasn’t always a laugh a minute. What about the time your bag got nicked along with your passport and bank cards? How does your bedroom compare with that dorm in the hostel from hell? Then there was getting lost in a town with incomprehensible street signs, and being scammed the minute you stepped off the plane…

Now that you’re home, getting things done is miraculously easy: trips to the bank and the doctor’s are a breeze. Depending on where you’ve returned from, the pavements may seem exceptionally clean, the roads much safer, and – joy of joys – there’s decent wifi. Buying food is also straightforward – you don’t have to barter and it’s unlikely you’ll accidentally buy chickens’ feet.

This is one of the best ways to get out of an apparent rut, as focusing on the next opportunity will help you to look forward. For example, look for a new job or enrol on a course. It could be something as simple as challenging yourself to get fit or learning a new recipe every week.

“When I was in Dubai…” and “These kale crisps aren’t a patch on the deep-fried locusts I ate in Myanmar.” Oh how easily the nostalgic phrases trip off the tongue. You wish you could stop: you’ve become a traveller parody and you know it. Even so, it’s frustrating when you’ve just had some life-changing experiences and no-one seems remotely interested.

One way around this is to write a travel blog. You’ll get all the stories out of your system, plus all your friends and family can share the adventure while you’re living it – and it’s up to them if they choose to read it. This means that when you come home you can relax and enjoy hearing other people's stories rather than bombarding them with recollections.

© Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock

Why is it that when you’re abroad, you’ll do things you’d never dream of doing back home? Like bungy jumping or mountain biking. If it made you feel so good, why stop now? So, book a paragliding session, climb a mountain or join an aerial yoga class if you want to.

There are plenty of less active alternatives, of course. For example, you could sign up for an evening class (maybe learn the bongos properly