Living life on standby

Emily,

Adjusting to life after travelling is hard.

I spent two and a half years travelling the world and I loved every minute of it. The experiences were life changing and with them I changed. I was living such an interesting life, like a book you can’t put down, I was always excited for the next chapter. When I returned, slowing down and adjusting to the mundane of the every day, was honestly depressing.

I had an incredible trip but I sometimes missed being at home. Seeing my friends out and having fun, I often felt like I was missing out. I remember getting back, sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea and there was a slight novelty to it. I was happy to be back. However that quickly wore off and those travel blues kicked in.

After the reunions, the story telling and the hugs you soon realise that though you’ve changed, everything is still the same. I’d convinced myself things would be so different when I returned, but they weren’t.

Something you’re really not prepared for, is that not everyone wants to hear about your trip. I found I was sometimes met with eye rolling or mimicking “when I was in….”, of course I didn’t take it to heart, but it highlighted how different I’d become. I’d gone from zooming across Vietnam on a motorbike, to sitting in traffic in my hometown like I’d done years before. I was back. I felt bored and anxious. I needed to get away again.

Fast forward to today, I’m working over 320 hours per month and we’re still in lockdown. It’s tough. I’ve gone from 100mph to stagnant.

My third scarf of lockdown… This one is 7ft long.

Our next plan was New Zealand to work and travel as we’d done with Australia. However the pandemic abruptly put this on hold. For the past year we’ve been on standby, ready to go. I’m very anxious and have a lot of worries buzzing around my head.

Will I be able to get a visa?

What about my age?

Am I leaving things too late?

Should I make other plans?

What if I decide I want children?

Am I going to be left behind whilst everyone else gets the house, car, dog etc?

WHEN CAN I GO ALREADY?!

All I can do is wait… And it’s driving me nuts.

The one thing I’m certain on, is I need to get away again. I miss new experiences and writing about my life. This blog has become very quiet… This is no way a self pity post. I just wanted to express myself and reach out for anyone else feeling the same way.

The travels blues are poop… Lock down does not help.

Published by Emily

A strong love and passion for travel, dogs, coffee, dogs and motorbikes. Yes, I did say dogs twice.

37 Comments

  1. I completely understand the feeling 😦 I’m tired of having my life on hold… and for such a long time, not even being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, we’re closer to end 🙂

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    1. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 it’s good to know I’m not the only one! We’re having an update tomorrow here in England, so I’m hoping we’ll get a bit more freedom x

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  2. I feel your pain Emily. I’m luckier than most here in Perth Australia, but when the rest of the world will be travelling overseas again, we’ve been told it may not be until 2022 until we can leave. But being in the UK is pretty bad, hang in there, it shouldn’t be much longer

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    1. Thanks Alison. Yes it’s very strange here in England. We can’t go any where without masks and all of our non-essential shops are closed which is terrible for small businesses. Hopefully better times aren’t far ahead xx

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  3. I feel your pain. Things are better and worse in some places here in the US. The hardest part right now, in my opinion, is not even being able to plan anything. Life is still on stand by but, as soon as they say go, I’m off to… somewhere. Hang tight, it will get better. It has to, right?

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  4. Pingback: Living life on standby — The Blog of Travel

  5. Hi Emily. Like you , I had been traveling full time for years when the pandemic hit. After staying home in 2020, I bought a car and I am driving cross country! It’s amazing and I have found it can be done safely. Check out my blog Camino Milagro. Kimmie53.com. Be happy.

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  6. 320 work hours per month is way too much (for me anyway). I hope the economic rewards make up for it. If so maybe your hard work now is financing your next prolonged travel adventure. I empathize with your situation. Travel will return. I wish us all the best in hanging on until it does.

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    1. It really is, I hate working this much but at least it’s going towards my future travels. The longer I work the longer I don’t have to work he he 😁 thank you for commenting and reading!

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  7. Thanks for sharing. I can relate to that missing home and the stability and yet on the other hand loving travel and new experiences. I’ve been “on the road” for over 8 years. I have always moved a lot, often in the same town but just as often from town to town to different states. But this last 8 years I quit my job, leaped and have been living on faith all this time, sometimes bartering to stay in people’s homes, sometimes a free place to stay. I’m not a tourist but also not a resident. I’ve realized that ultimately, I do desire a home base, a community that I love, but I’ll always be a traveler, always want to be exploring and then returning to my home base.

    It’s unfortunate you are having to work such crazy long hours. Hoping you soon can move forward with your plans. Perhaps your settling place or home base will end up being some place quite different than where you now call home and it will be more satisfying to you. Kids and dogs can travel with you so having them in your life don’t preclude travel.

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  8. here in australia who knows when we can leave the country again. its a worry. hoping before the end of the year but we will just have to see how this thing and the vaccines pan out. Sigh. and youre doing 320 hours a MONTH? 80 a week? Thats insane! Nearly twice as many as i do and im exhausted. look after yourself. i guess the more you work the more you can save for the next big adventure, and the longer it takes the more you will have saved and the longer you can travel!

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  11. New gets old, older becomes new. That’s just the normal circle of life. When you get a lot of one thing, you miss the opposite. That’s just what happens. I traveled a good bit too and missed home… Back home I miss traveling more than ever and I know for a fact that it will be like that forever. The intricacies of the human mind. I hope that we will all be able to have a break from home soon… I wish that for everyone, everywhere.
    Also, come to Ireland, roads are awesome for motorcycles (well, not the quality, the scenery)

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  12. Can definitely understand those frustrations. Hopefully you’ll be back out traveling again soon to make up for the boredom and long hours at work.

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  13. Hi Emily,

    Make your list and get your plans worked out. You will get out there again. You can’t keep a good traveler down. It’s just a long scarf season, my friend, but it will pass.

    One step at a time,

    Gary

    On Sun, Feb 21, 2021 at 4:46 AM The Blog of Travel wrote:

    > Emily posted: ” Adjusting to life after travelling is hard. I spent two > and a half years travelling the world and I loved every minute of it. The > experiences were life changing and with them I changed. I was living such > an interesting life, like a book you can’t put” >

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      1. Awesome! Whoohoo! Johns Hopkins has been studying the downward trend of COVID and they are predicting by April it will not longer be considered a pandemic.

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  14. I totally understand! Fortunately I came back from my 1-year-trip way before pandemic and did not return to a -too- quiet life straight away, but still it was hard. Not feeling this excitment every day of discovering new landscapes, cultures and people, it was for me a feeling of boredom, and the sentation that everything was too easy, not challenging, not interesting… Can’t wait to start travelling again, I’m currently trying to revive my trip through pictures and so on, but it’s definitely not the same…

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    1. You and I are feeling the same way. It’s the boredom that’s the worst isn’t it! Thanks for commenting, it really helps knowing we’re in the same boat.
      Hopefully not long 🤞🏻

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  15. Life is not a race my friend! You have to leave something behind to go somewhere. People who have house, cars are dying to travel like you. But they won’t because they are bound by norms. I am also in a same position, trying to move to Canada, but then this pandemic happened, and it put everything on hold. I am just waiting for this pause button to be released. Believe me, we are doing great! You have the guys to follow your dreams. What else you want!!? You are already inspiring!!
    Cheers

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  17. I never put my life on standby. I’m used to risk and not afraid of getting a virus. Despite the 2020 pandemic, I hiked and climbed 517 miles compared to 280 miles in 2019. The risks I face while climbing are way beyond the risk of getting COVID-19. I hope everyone has a great year in 2021. Get out there and live life.

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