So my break from writing on the blog has gone on a bit longer than planned- returning to England after adjusting to Asian culture has been a culture shock in itself, and it’s taken me until about now to get used to being home again!

Mai Chau, Vietnam

As much as I missed having a sense of routine at times while I was away, and had to force myself to stick to vague “getting up” and “going to sleep” times to prevent madness- as well as self-imposing “weekends” on otherwise dayless weeks – I have definitely noticed a massive change in energy now that I’m not just freely rolling around in the sunshine on little discovery adventures every day.

There are gonna be times while you’re on any big trip that you get homesick and you miss people. You start to do things like planning what you’re going to eat when you get home (I still can’t believe my friends had me eating Asian food twice in the first two days after I got back) and contemplating all the things you take for granted – clean water, infrastructure, police who obey the law.

But once you get home, it’s hard to replicate that feeling of being completely free and independent- of being perfectly, wonderfully lost. Suddenly being able to read all the signs and communicate with everyone around you feels too easy, too obvious, too much like having your hand held. You get homesick while you’re away and then you get travel-sick when you get home. There’s no winning!

Cambodia

All I can suggest, while you’re planning your next trip, is that you make as much excitement as you possibly can to keep yourself entertained at home. Get a new job – and make it one you’re actually passionate about, socialise with all the people you’ve missed as often as possible, be as spontaneous as you can be.