Once you've experienced the excitement and thrill of the travel lifestyle, life back home is incomparable

From my experiences, feeling somewhat miserable when returning home is a reflection of the change of lifestyle you may have experienced abroad. Moving to a new place and feeling excited, meeting new people, identifying with the culture and enjoying a different pace of life are all the perks of travelling - returning home can feel like the opposite of this. I had been looking forward to coming home and having a break from the schedule of looking after three younger children and living in a chaotic family. But it felt like going back in time and losing all the personal development I’d experienced by being abroad, including a lot of confidence and enthusiasm.

Even now at university, I don’t think I’m the only one who gets a train home for the weekend when life’s getting stressful or overwhelming - I always expect that the familiarity of home is going to solve my problems and make me feel better. Although it’s always comforting to see my parents and relaxing not to have to think about cooking and washing up, ultimately I start to get this feeling again of being stuck. Once you’ve experienced the excitement and thrill of the travel lifestyle, life back home is incomparable. Now I’m always planning and looking forward to the next time I can get away again.

Is it worth travelling, knowing that coming home can give you negative emotions? Yes, absolutely! Travelling gives you so much opportunity to feel alive, to learn and to experience. So coming back may be difficult, your sense of ‘home’ changed, but you’d be missing out on so much to live without it.