The Travel Hangover
Returning Home with A Lot More Than Just Memories!
A lot of us have been there, living in the moment, having fun unconsciously, stuffing anything delicious in our mouths, drinking whatever, doing as we please, and losing track of time. Then the fun is over, and all of the delayed pain from the craziness and busyness of the past sets in. In simpler terms, the hangover sets in, in this specific case- it’s a travel hangover.
The feeling that comes when all of the driving around town, walking all over the city, eating nearly every delicious item featured on the menu, partaking in happy hours, going to bed at 2 a.m. and springing back up at 7 a.m., when all of the excitement and craziness of the trip has concluded and then it finally hits all at once. Most of the time when I return home, recovery is minimal- a two-hour nap, a day attempting to stay on the couch as much as a parent reasonably can, and an early bedtime is usually enough to put me back on track. But not this time… not for this latest trip because I am currently in the relentless throes of a travel hangover.
A travel hangover requires recovery that goes beyond naps, ibuprofen, and a Saturday movie marathon. The travel hangover requires bottles and bottles of water, long walks in nature to clear my head, random three-hour naps that overcome me while I’m supposed to be making dinner and at other inconvenient times. The travel hangover requires the heating pad, the neck massager, and my trusty blanket.
Unfortunately and fortunately at the same time, this is not my first travel hangover. I do have some experience. Like that time, I returned home from a cruise and felt like the floor was crumbling as I walked and clinged desperately onto the furniture, walls, and my then three-year-old son’s high chair.
Or a more recent travel hangover that involved an itchy full-body experience brought on by an angry mob of no-see-ums while roaming the beaches of Sanibel Island without any bug spray. The battle wounds and scars from that onslaught left me reaching for anti-itch cream for another two weeks after the trip ended.
The travel hangovers are basically like one of those vacation-horror-when-things-go-terribly-wrong type of shows but it’s happening after the vacation and it’s nowhere near as dramatic or entertaining. Right now, I’m on Day 11 of this current travel hangover and as I reach for my cup of green tea and crank my electric blanket up to high, I wonder exactly what caused this particular travel hangover to come about. Could it be the two days straight of driving in a car with a 6-year-old who was more than ready to be at the destination and therefore spent most of the drive rioting for her freedom in the backseat, perhaps the altitude adjustments brought on by leaving flat Florida to make our way to the mountains, or maybe it’s the 40-degree temperature drop that frigidly greeted us once we arrived in Virginia?
Really, I’d like to blame it all, yet I don’t think I’ll ever know who or what the real culprit is. What I do know is that more trips are planned which means another travel hangover is bound to happen someday. And perhaps, for your reading pleasure, it’ll be way more dramatic, a story full of unexpected twists and turns that rightfully belongs on one of those vacation-horror-when-things-go-terribly-wrong type of shows. For my sake, I certainly hope not!
Thank you and happy travels!