Short Trips: The Best Cure For What Ails You?

Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Musings & Inspiration
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Feeling homesick? Wondering if your host country will ever feel like home?

Fight fire with fire: take a short trip!

No, I haven’t lost my mind. I know you may feel that the last thing you need right now is yet more travel and commotion. Yet a little road trip is exactly what the doctor ordered, as it will help you:

- Shake up your daily routine

Homesickness hits you hardest when you’re bored out of your skull and have too much time to think. Exploring a new-to-you area or a neighbouring country will keep your mind and your senses engaged.

You will be out of your slump in no time, and with a bit of luck, you’ll come back with great memories that will give you a lasting boost of energy and optimism.

- See your host country in a different light

Sounds silly, but there’s nothing like going away – even for a couple of days – to feel more “at home” when you come back.

Sleeping in your own bed, not having to wonder where to get food you like, being familiar with your surroundings: those are the small but significant luxuries of being home. You’ll be better able to appreciate them after a few days on the road… and you may just realise that this place already feels more like home than you thought.

- Scratch that itch to run away from it all

After a particularly frustrating day, do you ever feel the urge to pack up your backs and leave it all behind, never to come back again?

Well, go ahead, do just that! The difference is that you will be coming back, of course. But in the meantime, leave the challenges of expat life behind for a while, and enjoy being a traveller again. Do unabashedly touristy stuff if that’s what you feel like – but most importantly, have fun and give yourself a break!

You’re away from your home base, so it’s OK not to know. It’s OK to be foreign. It’s OK not to fit in. Isn’t that a relief? Enjoy it all you can! You can go back to the intricacies of living between cultures once your trip is over, but for now – have fun!

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Emmanuelle

Image by Bill Gracey (top) and sandstep (bottom), both via Flickr Creative Commons