How to Beat Post Vacation Blues: 5 tips + 18 Uplifting Travel Quotes

After travel, (which I almost always consider a vacation) you might get hit with the post-vacation blues… I usually do.

 

Every trip I’ve returned home from has left me with either some type of nostalgia, or the straight up blues. That down and out feeling can present itself after you’ve just spent some time on an incredible trip and escaped your daily normalities. That can put a damper on your adjusting to being home.

That leads to our first tip.

Give yourself at least 3 days to adjust back to being home

More, if you can. That way you have some time to unpack (not just luggage but your thoughts & emotions).

I see a lot of people go back to work the day (or second day) after they’ve returned home and that just doesn’t work for me. I need time to unload!

3 days isn’t much but its reasonable and enough time to rest and gather yourself. Plus I’ve you’ve travelled across time zones, that adjustment will be an additional layer to address.

Speaking of layers…

Get Comfortable

When I get home from traveling the first thing I like to do is take a shower or bath. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting clean after airports and being away from home! Plus who doesn’t miss the familiarity of you own bathroom? I definitely do.

After that I like to put on my favorite clothes and style my hair. My hair is naturally curly so traveling sometimes causes things (like, my hair) to go awry. My curls usually behave when I bring the right product, but it just feels good to wash and style once I’m home. Truly makes me feel comfy.

From there, I light a candle and chill out at home sweet home until my hearts content. Now that’s comfortable!

Practice a Mindful Ritual

For me, this usually consists of smudging (ethically sourced sage, palo santo or yerba santa are my favorites).

Traveling means being surrounded and encountered by so much newness. New places, new people, new energy.

So when I get home, I like to mindfully let go of all that with a mindful ritual. Whether it’s smudging then meditating, journaling over a cup tea or coffee, painting or dancing…do something that allows you to release and let go.

Unpack Your Bags and Do Laundry

I know you’re probably thinking “……ok (rolls eyes)” to this one but hear me out. This is something I myself struggle with when I get home and I’ve learned that subconsciously I avoid doing this to “hold on” to my trip as long as possible.

That just makes things harder and takes away from the present moment (not helpful for post travel blues!).

So, if you don’t already, I challenge you to try unpacking and doing laundry as soon as you can after your trip. For me- this is never the first day I get home (unless maybe I arrive early morning but thats unusual), so just do it when you can and the sooner the better.

Take Care of Your Body

Whether that means going for a walk, practicing yoga, or hitting the gym…get back in your body. Travel can really take a toll on our physical selves, so be sure to tune in and see what need suits you.

Maybe its eating a nutritious meal, maybe its taking a break from something your body doesn’t need, or maybe its just drinking more water.

Whatever it is, it’ll be different for everyone. So really what I mean here with this one is, listen. Tune inwards and see what your body needs more of after your trip.

If none of these tips help… here’s 20 of my favorite travel quotes that might soothe your mind!

20 uplifting travel quotes

1. No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. –Lin Yutang
2. Traveling leaves you speechless, then turns you into storyteller. –Ibn Battuta
3. When you’re traveling, you are what you are, right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road. -William Least Heat-Moon
4. People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home. – Dagobert D. Runes
5. The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes – Marcel Proust
6. . The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognise you as a tourist. – Russell Baker
7. Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone. – Wendell Berry
8. A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places. -Isabelle Eberhardt
9. Traveling carries with it the curse of being at home everywhere and yet nowhere, for wherever one is, some part of oneself remains on another continent. -Margot Fonteyn
10. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in. -Alan Alda
11. Never go on trips with anyone you do not love. – Ernest Hemingway
12. To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. -Aldous Huxley
13. When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. -Clifton Fadiman
14. Wherever you go becomes a part of you Somehow. -Anita Desai
15. Travel is never a matter of money but of courage. -Paolo Coelho
16.  When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way. -Paolo Coelho
17. Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live, and she was always thinking that, in the future, she might regret the choices she made now. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none. –Paulo Coelho, Brida
18. You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. –Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

What are your favorite post-travel blues tips and your favorite travel quotes? Share in the comments! Would love to expand my list 🙂