Take mini breaks at home between legs of your trip?

For those who have done RTW trips, did you come home for a break in between legs of your trip? If so, how long did it take you to regroup and get organized before setting off again? Was it nice to be home- do you wish you stayed longer? Or did it kinda mess up your travel equilibrium?

My bf and I are planning a year-long RTW trip. We are starting off with a 4-month leg in South America, and are considering coming home to the states for 3 weeks or so to see friends and family, as well as take care of additional visas, vaccinations, etc. before heading off to India and Asia for several months.

Just curious what people did and what their experiences were as I imagine we'll have to book the flight for our 2nd leg sometime toward the end of our South America trip...

Actually I am on my last week of a 2 month break in my trip however the thought of returning home never entered my mind. I just stopped in Bangkok where I completed a TEFL course & rented an apartment in a non-touristy area, thus gaining a whole different perspective on life here than one gets as a tourist.

I met a couple who were doing this- they were from Belgium, and were taking two months to go somewhere then a few weeks at home before the next leg. I think this worked because the places they were going weren't all that hard to get to from where they lived (ie one leg was North America, the other was the Middle East, South East Asia, can't remember the others), but I don't think I'd do it for my rtw because it wouldn't work for the places I was heading and it's fun to be out on the road a long time and find your rhythm.

So I guess I'm saying it comes down to personal preference and if you guys want to head back sure, it makes sense as you probably have to fly through North America to get to your next leg and it's your trip so you can do what you want.

I don't think it's all that common of a scenario. The main reason is that it's generally going to be quite a bit more expensive in terms of flying. Plus, it also could involve quite a bit of travel time and additional jet lag. Flying back and forth amongst the Americas may not be such a big deal but I doubt many people would want to incur the time and expense of say flying from Aus/Nz back to the USA just for a few weeks and then back to Asia.

The other thing to keep in mind is how easy it may or may not be to visit friends, etc when you return home. Most of the time they are going to be busy working. Plus, if you've given up your car, accommodation, etc. I think you'll find getting around and doing the things you want to do when you want to do them isn't going to be necessarily so straightforward (especially in America). I am not saying that it can't be done, it's just normally a much bigger headache and less efficient than when you live there which can have it's own set of frustrations.

Coming home from a big trip is a strange experience at the best of times. And I think popping in for a few weeks at several points throughout the trip would be even stranger. One thing to realise is that when you travel and have new and different experiences every day, a few months can seem like a lifetime (and a full year even longer), but to the people at home that are continuing in their workday routines, even a year goes by like nothing has happened. Because it hasn't.

So having someone who's supposedly on a long trip popping in every few months is a little strange, and difficult for your friends to understand just how long you've been away from your perspective.

Add to that the expense and hassle of coming home periodically, and it just seems like a bad idea. Taking time off to just stay in one place for a few weeks seems like a much better approach.

I agree with the other responses. Wouldn't coming home for a "mini break" , in a way, defeat the purpose (not that I pretend to assume that all people travel for the same purpose) of an extended international trip?

I definitely think we will experience "travel fatigue" on our trip. We plan on dealing with this by slowing down and staying in one place for awhile.

Another option is to have friends and family come and meet you during your trip. This worked out really well for friends of ours that recently returned from a 15-month trip.

I concur as well. I decided to stop for a couple of weeks between my European leg and my South American trip. Aside from the connecting with family ( we live on separate coasts ), I found it a hugh letdown to be in the US, even if only for a short time. Don't believe I'll be doing that again.

I did three months in South East Asia, came back home for three weeks, and then headed off to South America for six months. A huge part of the reason that I came back was because one of my best friends was getting married, and I really wanted to be home for that. Buying two seperate tickets vs. buying a round the world turned out to be quite similar in price, so financially it didn't matter.

Even if there wasn't the wedding to attend, I'm glad I came home, it was nice to regroup, repack and catch up with friends and family before I headed off again. And, it was summer at home, so it was nice to be home and enjoy my city at its finest. But, I can see the arguement that you loose your travel rhythm coming home - had I stayed at home any longer I don't know if I could leave the comforts of home to go off again!

This is exactly what we are doing and we are now in month 7 of our trip. We come home between legs to be with our dogs because we don't like being away from them for extended periods of time. We normally travel for 2 to 3 months, come home for about 1 month or so, and then head back on the road. We are heading to Japan and China next month.

That being said, if we didn't have the dogs, we wouldn't have chosen this method. The downsides to coming home:
(1) It's a lot more expensive. For example, we just spent 2 1/2 months in Southeast Asia and now we are making another transcontinental flight back to see Japan and China for 3 months.
(2) We lose time with jet lag on both ends.
(3) For the time we are back in the States, we get to see our friends and family only intermittently because they are also working, busy, and whatever.

Everyone here seems to think that breaking up your schedule will break up your travel momentum. It hasn't for us because when we get back home we are still in semi-travel mode. We don't have a permanent residence and end up bunking with our families or friends or renting a place to stay. Breaking up your trip is not like when you go on vacation and then come back to your house and have your bills and yard and whatever to deal with. We are still "traveling"; we are just traveling at home. Right now, for example, we have rented a mountain cabin in north Georgia and are chilling for a litle while before we take off to Japan.

On the plus side to breaking up our trip, we get to be with our dogs and that is incredibly important to us. In addition, we both work while we travel so when we come back to the States we buckle down and make enough money to fund the next leg of our trip. Because we have these breaks in our schedule, we haven't needed to dip into our savings very much.

I think it sort of depends on how long you are traveling for, how long these mini-breaks are, and what your purpose of traveling is. I had intended to do a 16 month RTW. After 12 months, I was totally exhausted and could not imagine flying to Africa from India, my planned route. I went home to see my sister's new baby, rest and reflect for three months. After about three weeks, I was ready to leave again. It did cost me more money, and I think I was home too long, but at the time I know that I would not have enjoyed Africa if I had gone there feeling the way I was feeling.
However, I wouldn't have wanted to go home in the middle of my trip just for no reason. I was in a groove while I was traveling and had a mindset of being gone at least one year. I think it just really depends on what your goals are for your RTW. And yes, it will cost you a lot more money to do that.

I would do this. I went backpacking for 2 months and was extremely happy to get home after being on the go the whole time. Of course if I were moving at a slower pace maybe I would be okay with being gone for a little longer. However my partner does not really like being away from home long periods of time so this is how I will have to do it if I plan on following a rtw dream or just longer term travel.

We have a place we can come back to so if we could save enough money for the travel costs...we would be able to return to the comforts of home to regroup and not be crashing with friends and family.

For me it would be perfect...coming back home. I enjoy lots of down time and while I love the adventure of travel...I have found I also love being able to jump in my car to go to the store or to my favorite bar. Coming back home would be just as fun as traveling since I won't be coming home and working...I would just be coming home to relax a bit before heading out again. Also I would set an "at home" budget as well so I won't come home and blow my money on silly things.

So basically for me...I would not return home to see family and friends. I would return home to take a break. It would basically be a vacation from my travels. Who doesn't love vacation?

greetings!
i'm new to this board, looking for advice, and stumbled upon this question; i found it very interesting because that's exactly what i'm planning on doing. i'm married--and own a home--and have sort of made a deal with my husband that i can travel for a year if i come back from time to time. i realize this will be more expensive, but i think if it is the only way, then it will have to be that way. plus i'm hoping that being able to break up areas of the globe with short trips home, i'll appreicate being away even more.

I found that I can travel about 2 months before I get worn out and then I need a break. I tend to stop where I am for a while and chill out, but it could be nice to come home as well I suppose. I never thought of it.

I think the problem here is assuming travel has a start and an end. It's being treated like a movie with a discussion if intermissions make sense or not. Considering most people here like to travel continually, what is to say when one trip end and the next begins? Sure you could say swinging by home was something of a 'reset' but maybe it's the midpoint to you. But when is it a break and when is it a reset? 2 days? 1 week? under a month?

I think more realistically we're all traveling and all swinging back through home from time to time. Some of us just look at that as different trips and others look at is breaks in a much longer voyage.

I think it boils down to how you feel as you're traveling. Also, have you bought or researched tickets going from South America to Asia? I did a bit of research regarding a similar route I'll be taking in the future and it turned out to be less expensive getting two one way tickets (one from Peru to Los Angeles and then LA to BKK - or my route which will be Peru to NYC and the NYC to London) then flying directly from South America to my next destination. This was just using online search engines but cheaper flights may be available in country. Given that I will connect through NYC, I'm going to take two weeks to hang out and repack and get other stuff in order before continuing, but I think for me personally more then two weeks would be too much (and if the prices were the same I don't think I'd go back).

I did a year long trip previously and was definitely getting burnt out after 4 months and once I got to Hong Kong decided to stay there for 10 days (I had originally planned for 5 days) reconnecting to certain aspects of the western society/culture (something as simple as visiting an English language bookstore can do wonders) that I had been missing. After that I was ready to go again. I left when it felt right, but once I got to Hanoi I ended loving the place and staying there four months and had planned on staying there for a year to teach but ended up changing my mind and hitting the road again and finally returning home (but am planning another trip!). I think the best thing is to wait and see.

I had never taken a year long trip before and it's definitely different then just going somewhere for a month or couple of months. For example, it took me about four or five months just to figure out my traveling style and relax into the trip (and I was traveling alone - you'll be with someone else so you may have to accommodate each others' styles), so rather then setting up a definite date of return, even for a mini-break, maybe you should leave it open and see how the trip unfolds. In other words, no need to make the decision now, you might just end loving some place and decide to stay longer then anticipated. That's one of the things that makes traveling fun. Either way, good luck!