Have you ever gone through serious withdrawal after a vacation?

That always happens to me, always, regardless of where I went to on vacation.

This year alone: in January I returned home from Disney World (even though I wasn’t really there for vacation though it felt like it for the most part – I was there all of 2011 doing an internship) and was really sad about it because I’d left so many amazing friends behind and it is Disney World after all; then in February I went to Cape Verde and when I returned to the US in April I was really sad because I left my mom behind (she still lives there); a week after returning from CV I went to Florida to visit my boyfriend and when I returned home a week later I was really sad (for obvious reasons); and more recently I went to spend a week with one of my best friends in New Jersey of all places lol and when I returned home I was sad because I’d had such a great time with her and her family. I guess going back to your reality after having escaped it for however long will always make you feel sad, huh?

I had this after spending a month in Brazil, where I stayed with 10 different families over that time. The transition back to my reality, to the things we take for granted in this country, to the things we don’t even have to think of that are a struggle for many back in Brazil… And the transition back to “normality”... It had me low for a few months that one,

More recently, I had a magical week on a remote Scottish Island earlier this year with a group of friends – it was so far removed from daily life, so remote and so beautiful, it was incredibly hard to leave there. I still carry a tiny little bottle of the sand from there on a necklace each day.

Yes, always. The longer it was, the harder. We are traveling to Madeira tomorrow and stay for 2 weeks.

I just went through this. We visited friends in a different state. We saw three groups of people that I really like.

When I came home I missed the camaraderie. I went into a funk for a couple of weeks.

Happens to me every time. About 40 to 45 minutes North of Utica NY is a sign. It says“Leaving the Adirondack Park”.That always sends me into a funk.

Lots of places have that effect on me. But the worst is probably every time we leave Tokyo, though others run a close second. Last time I stayed behind an extra week just because. I didn’t even do anything really, just wandered around, chatted, watched the world go by. Sometimes I think it’s because part of me understands with great clarity that this is the way things ought to be. When I finally leave, I just reassert my efforts in cultivating that sense where ever I am, but that feeling of having stepped back from something wonderful never really leaves. As an aside, but I think related, come spring wanderlust strikes as regularly as the sunset and it feels much the same.

I have never felt it so much before. I think it means I need to move. Or, change something big. I think it never happened like this before in my adult life, because most of my adult life was living in FL, which in many ways felt like vacation every day. Although, I’ve done a few really good trips while living in TN, including Japan, which I loved, and VT/QC which was really fantastic also. I’m sure my recent accident and related frustrations add to everything, because while I was on vacation all of those thoughts were put aside. Plus, this vacation was a cruise, which is so mindless, almost no stress, no big decisions on where to eat or where to go, or needing to know how to get to the restaurant. Maybe I’ll get addicted to cruises for a while like some of my friends.

I get holiday blues really badly, so much so, that I dread the holiday blues even before I have started my holiday.

Every year when I come back from Kenai.
The second I get into the car I miss everyone. Even thinking about it makes me a little sad to be at home, instead of there.

On the contrary, I’ve always been happy to get back. I loved the vacations, but I guess I love home more. I feel more comfortable with my own life routines. I cherish my memories of places I’ve been and would like to go back to some. I think that if you’re engaged with a group of people, it makes it harder to leave them, not the place.

Not in any really incapacitating way but yes. I am going through this right now. Took off to the beach for 2 days last week and came home to the heat wave from hell. I have been in a bit of a funk the last 3 days, wishing I could have stayed longer. Longer vacations I am always happy to get home again, it is the short ones that leave me feeling a bit off. lol

It takes 2 days to get ready to leave for two days and 2 days to catch up on the two days of stuff while you are gone, sooo, a two day vacation takes 4 days coming and going. Bah! lol