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All depends on where I went on vacation. If I had an out-of-this-world type of vacation, enjoyed every day/hour of it, then I find myself praying the plane will crash on the way home, to avoid the depression that will follow, the painful adjustment to reality.
If it was not so memorable, and I was counting the hours/minutes before the return flight, then I looked forward to the return.
At the end of a glorious vacation, it always helps to have a bad experience towards the end, like getting mugged/being ripped off, then it's easier to board the plane back home. That happened on time on a glorious, memorable foreign trip, got mugged the day before I left. Kisses and hugs to the mugger!
I am always excited when preparing for a long trip (a two-week trip is not a long trip to us.) I am very excited when we alter the itinerary to add a destination out of the way, or when we extend the trip to much longer time. I am utmost excited when the trip happens at the spur of the moment.
To me, the greatest excitement in regard to travelling is an impromptu trip that is altered halfway through and then extended at the end, which we actually did a few times.
At the end of almost every trip, however, I am often glad to see my home again. Sadness, boredom, or depression does not have a place before, during, or after any of our trips. Travelling is in our blood, we breathe it, live it, and excel in it.
I'm always super excited before a trip, I can hardly wait for it to begin, but after a few days of being home I start to feel a little sad, this is normal.
Going back to the daily grind when everything was carefree and the family was together doing fun things, not being controlled by the clock, but by our own free spirits, ahhh, vacation, I can hardly wait for the next one.
I'm usually pretty anxious to get back home after about three weeks these days. When I traveled for work 300 nights a year back in the day I was OK for about 12 weeks. I had a "home" but actually felt more comfortable in a hotel room back then. Home meant work--cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.
Do you feel happier or more depressed at the beginning of them, or the end of them?
On the three past trips of the sort I've taken (one was not a vacation, but the two others were more or less "vacations"), I felt bad the few initial days about being so far away from home and having to fend for myself for a change - a big change, considering I live with my mother, who (happily, I may add) does practically all my chores. I even thought about re-booking the flight on two of them. However, I got used to it within about three days. When I went to Spain and Morocco in 2008, my first "long" solo trip, within two days of being home I was bored and depressed and went on long, random afternoon "road trips" with the money I had left the first week of being home to cure my "fernweh" (longing for travel). On the other hand, I was a bit depressed the first few days of the trip in Barcelona, and thought about flying out two weeks early!
Last year I took a 2 month trip to Europe. I felt "uneasy" the first week I was there. After that, I didn't even think about work. When I got home, I went to my local Safeway (supermarket). I see the same lady there every time. She said, "Are you on vacation?" I said, "Why?" "Well, you are smiling and happy. You never smile."
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I'm always excited at the start of trips and don't feel sad/miss home...however, sometimes especially when travelling in third world countries one does miss the comforts of home. As much as I love it sometimes the constant sight-seeing all day every day for say a month can get a bit tiresome (loses it's shine a bit) and I just need a place to chill for a few days, if I don't go home. However right now I pretty much live for my trips. Every time I'm home I always long to go somewhere exciting (maybe cos I live in such a boring place) and love to just plan trips/imagine all the trips/itineraries I could take. When I start working the majority of money will go to travel.
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