How to deal with post-travel blues

The post-travel blues can get us all and can often be even more pronounced when you’ve spent a year+ nurturing new friendships and creating a whole new life for yourself on a working holiday.

Moving back home after you’ve been away from it for so long can be full-on. You’ve just had the most amazing experience creating memories, meeting people from all over the world, exciting things to do all the time and suddenly you’re back at home and nothing’s changed. The first few weeks were exciting, catching up with friends and family but sooner or later it hits – you’re back living at home, looking for a job, with a lot of time on your hands.

This was my reality after I got back from Canada, Australia and some travels in New Zealand (yep I’m a working holiday addict). So as someone who has been there too – here’s some tried and tested ideas to help kick the post-travel blues.

Making plans

Honestly, keeping yourself busy is the best thing to do! These don’t have to be huge plans, they can all be small wins. Take yourself on a walk, join a run club, listen to a podcast or just go and sit in the park with your friends. Having things to do every day helps your mental state and can stop you from spiralling and feeling down.

Another thing to try is to make similar plans to that you enjoyed on your working holiday. For example in Canada, I found a love for hiking and when I got back I thought “why have I never done this in the UK?!” There are so many cool places to hike around the UK, so I planned a different hike to do every month. You find the fulfilment in things you did on your working holiday at home as well (to my surprise!).

Book yourself another trip

It’s exciting and comforting having another trip planned - it gives you something big to look forward to. As soon as I got back, I booked a trip to go to France to meet one of the girls I’d met on my working holiday. So not only was I reconnecting with people from my travels it was helping me ease back into home life. Try and book some trips in your home country, or if like me you’re from England, book a staycation or embrace those cheap flight deals with a long weekend in Europe. I think you find a new found appreciation for your home country and its location when you have been away from it for so long. The secret is to have another adventure planned on the horizon.

Open up to friends and family

I found opening up and talking through how I was feeling helped so much - it felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I was telling one of my friends who I’d met in Canada how down I’d been feeling about coming home. Turns out she was feeling the exact same and it instantly made me feel better that I wasn’t alone in this feeling.

Sometimes home friends and family don’t always understand, unless they’ve done it themselves, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be a good shoulder to cry on! If you struggle to talk to people, why not grab yourself a journal and write down how you’re feeling. This massively helped me. I tried writing down my feelings and how I could action it, as I wanted to know how I could try and overcome it. However you feel comfortable expressing your emotions, just make sure you don’t bottle it all up – it’s ok to ask for help or admit you’re not doing so good.

Do another?

If you’ve got the means and are lucky enough to have a passport that offers these opportunities – this might just be the best cure of all. There are lots of countries that offer working holiday visas for 18-35 year olds so why not make the most of it! If you had an amazing time in one country, you could have just as an amazing time in another.

As I mentioned, I actually did two working holidays - one in Canada and one in Australia. People always ask me which one I preferred and I said it’s like choosing between chocolate and sweets. They’re incomparable, but both so good for different reasons.

Be kind to yourself

Try not to be too hard on yourself, which I know is easier said than done. I remember people telling me it would take me a while to settle back in and I thought - that can’t be me I feel ready to come home. But I really did feel down and it took me by surprise.

Time is truly the best healer, just think about all the memories you can bottle up and stories you’ll be able to tell forever. Spend time making a scrap book of photos or mementos you picked up along the way to look back on, or even simpler, make an album of photos on your phone of some of your favourite moments on your working holiday to reminisce when you're feeling down. Before you know it you'll be back in your usual groove and no doubt planning your next adventure in life.