I am curious if any other of our members experience the strange sensation or feelings which I refer to as Post-vacation Displacement, or the Coming-home Blues. It can manifest itself in a variety of ways, such as a feeling of disconnectedness from other citizens of your own nation. This is usually experienced upon arriving back at the first airport in your home country. The usual feelings of being a part of the culture seem a bit off and may take a day or two to return. For the first few hours upon returning it can be a bit unsettling, almost as if you are going through reverse culture shock. In part, I believe this particular phenomenon may be due to suddenly being surrounded by others speaking your own language after having spent weeks conversing in and listening to a different tongue. Of course, it can also be attributed to losing the exhilaration of being on the road and returning to the more routine.

Don't get me wrong I, too, get homesick, occasionally tired of the travel grind and yearning for the familiar. But still...

So, out with it you travel junkies. Anybody else get a twinge of the Post-vacation Displacement on the way home?

John Thumbing through the psychiatry section of the yellow pages in San Diego