Returning home from a relaxing or exciting travel experience is at best a letdown. The latitude to choose what, when, and how to spend your time and days is simply refreshing from the daily routines we all fall into at home. The spontaneity travel fosters creates a sense of release and that feeling of being away from it all. Perhaps the spontaneity, freedom, and sense of being carefree are what people really miss when they return to their daily routines and work schedules. Feeling blue after returning back into the daily routine can only be expected although not welcomed.

The first time I returned home after almost four months in Asia, I felt downright bummed out. I didn't feel right at my parent's home and didn't feel right back at college either. Suddenly, everything felt so drastically different in my world. My exterior world hadn't changed much at all, but I had.

I went back to college after a couple of weeks at my parent’s home, trying to get back into the mix of college and the social scene I had left only four months before. All the while such a desire to be back traveling the world, embracing the adventure of being on the road and discovering new places tugged at my heart. I desperately missed the newness and daily discoveries of being in a foreign land. My life at home seemed so bland and familiar in comparison. I felt strange for the feelings I had. What was wrong with me? I really did want to come home and see my family, friends, and be back in the States, didn't I? Now, I'm blue being home and just wanted to be about seven thousand miles away across the Pacific Ocean. I couldn't make sense of those conflicting emotions. I waited anxiously for the next quarter of college to begin, which would lend some structure to my days and moods.

When I began to try to understand why I felt the way I did, blue, depressed, bored, I realized how much going to school abroad and traveling meant to me. I realized the one element that metamorphosed when I was away was me, not those around me. Once I took on the responsibility of knowing I had been through a life-changing experience, I suddenly felt more compassion and empathy toward myself and my feelings. How could I come home and be the same? How could I fly home from halfway around the world, walk off the plane in Los Angeles, go back to college and see my friends and not have a new perspective on the world and myself?

Another curious temporary change to my personality arose when I returned. Suddenly, I felt everyone I knew took everything for granted. An over-generalized black and white statement? You bet. Seeing the more-challenged and desperate lives of people in Asia made me feel like everyone I knew, including myself, had everything and every opportunity without even realizing or appreciating it. Mounted on my self-righteous saddle, on the stallion of social justice, I would preach the horrors of materialism and the wastefulness of the general population. Attractive? Not really. Helpful to others? Questionable.

Self-reflection enabled me to realize that belittling the ways and means of others was not the road to change and improvement. Taking a step back, pulling in the reins of my mad stallion, I took a rest and a breath. Feeling like a hypocrite, I came to the conclusion that not everyone had the same opportunity to witness other, more needy people in the world. I had just had the opportunity of a lifetime, more than some ever have, to see these other parts of the world. And now I return home and act like a tyrant because everyone else cannot change as I did. Realizing my egocentric mind set, I shifted gears. I focused on the opportunity I had in my life and how I could take that opportunity and be helpful to the world, country, state, town and family of which I am a part of.

Coming home was not a chapter in any guidebook I had read or a buzzing topic I discussed with other travelers on the road. A part of me intuitively knew there would be a transition period of coming home, I just didn't know what that meant exactly in regards to my life. All the mixed feelings of "happy to have had the experience" to "sad that it was over" played like a pinball popping from one corner of my mind to the next.

When I returned from my journey around the world, I knew what to expect and coped. Yes, there were still times when I felt blue but I had a much better understanding of the re-entry process. By the third time I returned, it didn't feel like such a big deal after all.

One thing you can count on when you come home is this: The first time will be the most challenging and from there on it will become less so. There is something to the saying, "seen it, been there, done that." The following periods of re-entry will feel familiar and you will have already learned how, in your own personal style, to cope with the process and cherish the journey you've made.

HOW TO COPE WITH THE BLUES
ADVICE AND SUGGESTIONS

Jet Lag

Give yourself time to get over the exhausting jet lag you may be experiencing. Depending on where you left to fly home, the jet lag may be greater. Recharge those batteries you had on high gear over the course of the journey. Rest, relax, sleep, and get readjusted with the time zone.

Counter Culture Shock

Remember how strange and different everything was when you first arrived in the foreign country you chose to visit? Remember how it took you a few days or weeks to get into the swing of traveling and cope with the culture? Remember that, it is a process you are experiencing. It will pass as the culture shock of going abroad passed and so will your counter culture shock coming home.

Physical Check-Up

A physical check-up is always a good idea when you return home. You may have contracted an intestinal bug from the food or water when abroad. If you have contracted a bug or are suffering from dysentery you will feel lethargic, irritable, and down. Go get yourself checked out.

"Preacher" Teacher

Sometimes you may feel as though no one cares about the trip you have just taken, the journey you have just returned from. Again, this is a common re-entry feeling. Your friends do care and they are interested. Maybe they just don't know how to ask you what you experienced and where you've been.

Be gentle. Understand they may not be aware or educated on the countries you've traveled and the issues you've learned about. Tell them about your journey and the feelings you have around the experience. Often people will say, "How was your trip? Did you have a good time?" If you just say yes, the conversation usually ends there. Expand on the "yes" and throw in why. Believe me, sometimes people don't know how to ask but they do want to know. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Also ask for an update of their lives and what is going on with them while you have been away.

Be careful not to preach about how ungrateful and spoiled the general population is. Your friends and family will not appreciate hearing how suddenly horrible they are from the person who has had the incredible gift of traveling the world. Helping others to become more aware of the world from your experiences is terrific, just be careful not to become self-righteous in the process.

Journaling

Journaling about coming home and what it is like now that you are back is a great way to express your feelings. What is different and similar compared to the countries you visited and the United States? Write how you feel about coming home, about the insights you have gained on your own physical, spiritual, and emotional journey. What was it that you enjoyed about traveling? The freedom? Learning? Self-knowledge? Adventure? What is the challenge of coming and being home?

Looking back over your trip journal can be fun and can reconfirm that you had a marvelous time and achieved a great deal in self-confidence and self-awareness.

Corresponding With Travel Mates

Write to those friends you met along the way. Send the photographs you promised to other travelers and people you met in the countries you visited. I love finding the air mail envelopes in my mailbox from friends I met on my trips.

Rent Foreign Films

Rent the foreign films you didn't get a chance to see before you set off. Recognize some of the places you were and how they are portrayed in the film. Rent films about the other countries you'd like to visit on your next journey.

Place Photographs In Albums

Enlarge a few of your favorite photographs from your trip to hang up so you can enjoy them.

Plan Another Travel Adventure

Plan another trip. Even though you may not set off on this next intended journey any time soon, it is always great to dream about another destination you would love to travel to in the future. I usually find myself planning the next trip on the return flight home. It may be years away but I still dream of the lands I want to discover. This practice of planning intended travels is a common coping mechanism for most wanderlust individuals. It works pretty well too.

Celebrate!

Celebrate! Throw and host a party in your behalf. Yahoo! Invite friends and family you've missed seeing while away. Give an hour slide presentation of your trip. Usually an hour leaves the crowd wanting more, not wanting to run for the door. Cook up some foods you may have had on your trip that you really enjoyed. Play some native music from the countries you visited. If you took print film, lay out your photo albums and let people flip through them. This is a terrific way to see friends, family, and celebrate your journey and return.

Host Or Attend A Local Slide Show

Seek out local travel presentations and slide shows. Look in your local paper, the travel section or travel stores to get dates and times of presentations. A terrific place to meet other travel-minded people and see and hear about other places you would like to travel too.

Make your own slide presentation. Offer to give a slide presentation in local schools, retirement communities or other local organizations. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing young and old light up when you begin to talk about your travels and show them the slides and souvenirs you've brought home. You can be a role model for other little girls, showing them that women do travel and have a terrific adventure. Getting other people excited where you've been can be a delightfully rich experience.

Seek Out Other Travelers

Seek out other people who have traveled; they will remember going through a period of readjustment to being home. They may have some helpful hints or advice to help you through the re-entry period. Finding others who can relate to your present experience will be reassuring that what you are experiencing is normal. On the flip side of seeking out others who have had similar re-entry feelings, be there for someone else in the future. What goes around comes around.

Incorporate Aspects Of Travel In Your Life At Home

How can you incorporate the aspects of traveling that you are now missing at home? Would you like more freedom in your schedule? Take steps to make that happen. Are there organizations at home that talk about issues you found interesting, disturbing, or inspiring while away? Topics such as the Tibetan plight, women's issues in Asia, Africa or in general, or are you interested in historical background of certain regions or countries? Many local community colleges, extended education programs or organizations may offer such classes or active groups. It’s great way to learn and meet people with similar interests.

Be Easy On Yourself

The best advice is be gentle with yourself and with your loved ones. It may take you a couple of weeks, a few months, or a year depending upon the trip taken and the individual woman you are, to feel like you are past the re-entry period. You cannot help but be changed by any travel experience so, feel yourself fortunate to be one of the few to have had the opportunity. Remember the days, weeks, months traveling are yours, no one can ever take that away from you. You are a better woman for the experiences, challenges, and risks you decided to take on and create. Congratulate yourself!