BootsnAll Travel Community

Hullo booties,

'Tis been a while for me to be treading these boards, 'cos, well, I've been doing what booties are oft-doing - treading the globe. This topic is probably in here SOMEWHERE, but I can nay find it, so I apologise for re-starting the same ol' drivel if it's all been said before! But I need some opinons/reassuring words of wisdom re: returning home, returning to your country of origin, returning to the hideously inhibiting 'norms' of society after travelling for so long, being accustomed to living a happily erratic, 'see what happens' style of life for soooooooooo long... Yes, obviously I've just returned to my native, STRAYA, after four years in Ireland, preceded by two in the UK, and man, ouch, sheesh! Nothing can prepare you for the shock! I 'mentally' prepared myself over and over and tried to 'imagine' the culture shock, reality of day-to-day week-to-week living fulltime in the country you were born in, and it's not even about how freakin' samey everything becomes, because I was pretty much doing the 9-5 Irish thing - in fact, I could do with a bit of a routine to keep me sane - for a while, until the inevitably itchy feet! It's about feeling out of sync with the country you were 'apparently' born in! Now that I'm here, and as much as I appreciate how beautiful it is, and all the good things I missed, all I seem to notice is just how much time I have on my hands... It was the right decision for me to come home, I've no regrets, despite the frequent pangs to be sitting in an Irish pub again, and I'm aware that it's gonna take time to 'adjust', but I'm having some very shite days! Trying to 'distract' myself, focus on creative things, taking long walks/drives - it's like coming out of rehab and 'focussing on the positive'!! But, there's the inevitable 'realities' of jobhunting, househunting [being dependent on family is driving me insane!], making new friends - starting all over again! My closest friends are now a g'zillion miles away, my social life is non-existent, my 'old' friends/lifestyle doesn't exist here anymore, which is to be expected/a relief. I'd hate to have returned to everything being so the same that it never felt like I left... BUT... anyone got some nice 'day by day' spiritual advice to reinforce? I'm only back a month and have no desire to feck off again [yet!], so while having short-term travel goals in mind will help, I'm just wondering how people get through the initial 'eek' settling back in type stuff... Other than sending Boots my 7-year travelogue, any suggestions?!!!!!!!!!

I hear you well.
I havent even left for my six months and the thought of coming back here does not apeal to me at all.
if I do have to come back it will be RV buying time and hit the road to California to bug the guys at bootsnall.com Then its off to Thailans next year.

Jared {the nomad} Sasek

Have a good trip...looking forward to the stories on your return and have fun

I don't think we travellers ever get used to coming "home". Something about the changes travel instills in our beings. We wouldn't do it otherwise!

Sama sama as they say in some place I was in once, same thing happened to me when I returned to the UK after 8 years away. I hear what you're saying and you hit it right on. Old friends might be doing the same thing, but you've moved on mentally from before. When you've seen waht's possible in the World its hard to pretend it isn't there.

I'm from London and have always wanted to get away. I remember walking around my neoghborhood and thinking what a tiny little place it was and how backwards all the businesses were. After being back for a month things began to seem more normal and I thought 'oh no, this is going to be just like before when I was dying to ge away'. I made up my mind to do some travelling around Europe and ASia and then get the hell out of there for good. Australia is a great place though, plenty of land, great weather, relaxed atmosphere and I prefer your situation to mine. Wouldn't it be great if people were allowed to swap passports for a while!

My advice is to not let a year or 2 slip by just veging. Check out your part of the world and then make a decision on where you want to be.

Nick

I only went on a RTW trip for a year, and found it funny before I went that people kept saying to me 'you're so brave'... I always considered it to be exciting...living in North London at the time was a brave thing to do in my mind.

I started to panic and worry about having to come back. Knew London wasn't for me, and to go to my birth place of Brighton was the next obvious choice. But that filled me with feelings of 'retirement' for some reason. So I picked up my campervan, looked at the map and drove West. I had to 'settle back in' to a degree as my son needed to get back into school and playing with kids. he had a bit of a hard time settling in... but for me.. a brand new place down here in Devon was just what I needed. It definately felt like an extension of the trip... and I had to do similar things like go out there and talk to people, sit in coffee bars and watch them, drive around soaking up the scenery. We got back in the May, a couple of months later I wanted the sun and a break!! Headed to Turkey with my lad during the holidays. But pleased to say that this last school break we spent it travelling around the countryside awwing and ahhhinging at the beauty on our doorstep.

I have even found family historical links going back to the 16th century just up the road - how weird is that. Maybe this was my home in another life!

(been on the 'spiritual' site a while this evening!!!)

Lisa

Ging, I hear you. I spent three years away and, even though I still have some friends, most have filled the gap I left with other things, like I've filled the gap they used to occupy. I left because I needed some time off of my stalled career and am now doing the same shit I was doing before I left, but for less money. Plus, the economy has gone down the toilet, costs for everything have gone up and what few opportunities existed before have become even fewer. I'm still struggling to bide my time in the place I no longer want to be.

The upside is that I've had plans to get out of here to keep me going.

BTW, I noticed you are in Brisbane. I should be there, fingers crossed, some time in early March. If you are still there, we should catch up for a beer.