Matt, I moved to Europe 15yrs. ago the same time as you left on your travels. I follwed your blog from its beginning. After traveling around for 15 years I came back home to the US just before covid broke out. Home was not at all the same for me any more. I read your article and I feel every bit the same way you discribed. Only I am going through a tough time re-integrating. I was not nomadic as you were, I lived in the Netherlands, still traveled, so I had some new cultural roots. Comming back is rough and I find myself not accepting a lot of the American cutural norms I use to. To be honest comming back does create PTSD. I wish you could offer us travelers a resource of help we can get to make comming home less stessful. I would not change one minute of my past experiences living abroad. It was worth it, but comming home is rough.

While we traveled I made sure to keep a proper journal with tons of cultural stuff. I am obsessed with reading about a place before getting there – and I mean, history books and memoirs, and then confronting them with the reality on the spot. So I wanted to come back with interesting stories that will captivate our friends. But somehow we managed to captivate strangers better than our friends. And this hurts a lot. We simply stopped talking about our trip to people whom we saw not interested.

However, the best part about traveling is meeting people and making new friends. And we sure managed to begin beautiful friendships. They are what helps us going each day, our small chats over the social media are what keeps us connected to the places where we actually left some pieces of our hearts. It’s strange that you all of the sudden feel more connected with strangers, but this is how life plays with us.

Take care and don’t worry about others! We, your fans, for sure will continue to read your stories with excitement and curiosity 🙂

Ryan

I totally agree with the talking to strangers comment. I just returned to the UK from travelling around Asia and living in Australia for a year. Where I got used to chatting to everyone I met. Back in the UK, if you can strike up a conversation all they do is moan! No wonder they call us whinging Poms ( I get the irony, in moaning about it btw).

I feel like getting on the next plane back to Australia!

Needless to say I feel completely and utterly lost. No-one seems to understand how I see the world and I cannot understand the morosity of French people. I am no longer French (just my passport I guess is!).

When trying to meet people or talking to them on a bus, train etc. they look at you like you are a mental case!

I honestly do not think I will stay in France. How can you after so so so so many years.

The worst thiing of all is realise all your jobs and experience and linguistic skills are kind of wasted on them! Here what you have done before overseas is a handicap! in other countries it is seen as someone extremely proactive, who adapts easily, a go and getter – which are all me really. But here since being back, I have lost all my drive and confidence.

France cuts your wings and makes you feel like a marginal loser.

I cannot honestly wait to get the hell out and this time, I shall absolutely never come back!

I think the solution is to surround yourself with people who have had similar experiences.

i’m so happy to know i’m not alone. i’m a lebanese dude who spent 19 years in lebanon and 10 in belgium and US and i just landed back home a few weeks ago and think i’m gonna kill myself soon (joke). The religion, the food, the traffic MESS, the eye contacts, the family shitty habits (that used to be so cool years ago).. i just feel lost and envy those ones who never left even if they envy me for traveling and learning a lot as they say from other cultures. I can right a book about it now and how sad i feel about leaving my friends back in europe and trying to reconnect with old friends who are married, busy and weirdly different today. i don’t get the jokes when we go for some drinks, i can’t understand how family is so carrying towards me and so affective and i hate it cause i became a bit westernized and can’t really give back a lot of affection. Arabs are very sensitive when it comes to family members and i feel like i don’t become to mine anymore, or at least like i used to. sometimes i think to leave again, but is it a solution? are we meant to leave away forever? and why should we always go back home? i define home like a place where we feel home, nothing to do with patriotism or citizenship, it’s just politics and paperwork for me. we are humans, and humans travel (birds do ok yeah) and when we travel we settle down, sometimes forever sometimes for a while and when we find THE THING (call it love, call it the best job, call it the DREAM of life) we just stay. I feel like i am a high man when i talk with my friends, they try hard to understand and sometimes i just start screaming and giving them tones of their abnormal habits that pissme off… and they just answer, you’ve been away for too long man, just get back to normal. i’m gonna stop writing now cause i’m gonna cry haha
cheers people.

Simply an amazing blog and definitely what I needed to read after coming back from over 2 weeks away in Europe. It’s so tough to explain to those who have never traveled abroad, as they do get annoyed to a certain point. Reading this inspired me to make my own blog. Also reading this really helped me get out of a miniature funk like the others have experienced who have commented on this blog. I definitely intend on going back to abroad and working there, but for now, it’s time to adapt again to the things that are just so different in America.

Thanks!