‘How does it feel being back? Is it weird?’
Weirdly enough, it’s really not. I can say with some confidence that ‘reverse culture shock’, the readjustment upon coming home experienced by many a long-term traveller, really isn’t so bad the second time round. The travel gods must really be looking down on me because to top it off, I haven’t had one bit of jetlag either.
I was expecting the symptoms I felt once I came home from my year abroad. Everything at home seems so dull, you feel like you’ve seen things, everyone in England seems unbearably narrow-minded… worst of all, it’s So. Damn. Cold. It took me days, weeks to get over it. I missed my Paris life. My friends in Salzburg seemed so far away. I wept, I reminisced, I wanted to travel forever.
After 7 months in Southeast Asia though, I can honestly say I’ve been pretty happy to be home. What luxury to have hot running water 24/7! I don’t have to look for a new roof over my head every few days! I can COOK again, my favourite thing to do.
Although it’s taken me a while to stop jumping at every shadow out of the corner of my eye and assuming it’s a rat or a cockroach, the slide into home life has been pretty seamless. What makes it that much easier is having a project (in my case, job and internship hunting), getting some much-needed post-travelling exercise, and planning your next trip. On my hit list: Vienna, Pau, Paris, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham… and further afield eventually, once I get my now much-loved backpack fixed.
The final travel map of our route through Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bali, Koh Chang and Koh Phangan in Thailand, and back home. I can’t help but look at all the places we missed out!!
