Tips for Nomads For Returning Back Home
If you’ve met us even just briefly, you can sense pretty quickly our love for travel. It will almost always come up in conversation because it’s made a significant impact on our lives.
And I’m not just talking about for Mike and I. I’m speaking for all nomads and wanderlust driven humans out there.
It’s changed the way we look at life and the way we live it.
For us, deciding twice to leave on 8-10 month “sabbaticals” away from the daily grind and the utmost normal American lifestyle was something that, sure, we just did because that’s the only way to do it; but it took a lot to get there, and it wasn’t always easy.
Ironically enough, coming home is its own adjusting period in itself. You could say it’s as hard as making that jump to leave your comfort zone to another foreign place entirely in the first place.
I call it a “sabbatical” because it’s the one word I can find to describe it. It’s not a trip or a vacation. It’s a sabbatical from the daily grind lifestyle, the norm. We packed up our lives, crammed our 45L packs with everything we would posses for an indefinite time and traveled around the world taking life day by day in the most freeing way we’ve ever experienced. And with no plan for what was next or when “next” even was.
Time is different. You have so much of it. So much that you actually experience on a daily basis what it’s like to be truly present in your surroundings. Because truly, your biggest obligations are what you’re going to eat that day, finding the cheapest, while best fitting accommodation, and either staying where you are or getting to where you’re going next. It’s a lot more than that to be honest, but, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
Time is much slower and you quickly adapt to this nomad lifestyle in foreign places, where going back home becomes to feel much more foreign than the lifestyle you’re living.
And while there is no doubt that returning home can be exciting, it is also undoubtedly an adjustment.
Here are some tips for when you return from traveling to keep that adventurous, inspired, and passionate spirit alive.
Don’t stop exploring
Speaking from personal experience, the best advice I can offer is to move somewhere new or to explore where you are.
Whether it be a new city or a new state, moving somewhere new provides both the opportunity to stay and to explore somewhere entirely new.
Both times we’ve returned we’ve moved to two entirely new places for us: Saint Petersburg, Florida and where we landed seven months ago, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
We couldn’t have picked better places for us. Saint Pete is an adorable and progressive downtown just miles away from some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. And though we’ve lived in Colorado for less than a year we’ve already seen that the beauty and the adventures are endless here.
Make sure that where you plan to stay a while provides opportunities around you to adventure and explore.
Keep fueling your fire, taking risks, and being confident about the things you’re interested in and want to give a try
Travel helps us realize how much control we have over our own lives and how much choice we have in the way we want to live our lives. That dream we have of owning our own bed and breakfast and restaurant in another country with acres of land and rescued animals to go on it may sound wild to others, but it’s something we’ve decided we’re undoubtedly going to make happen rather than talk about it and hope to accomplish it in another life.
It’s important to bring back the mindset of: you don’t have to set limitations on what you want out of life, no matter what any one else says or what appears “normal” to the majority.
Our perspectives have changed in that we know we have complete control of how we want to live our lives, and we’re confident we will always live our lives the way we choose to.
Go after something new or something you’ve wanted, that maybe you didn’t go for before.
When we got here and were looking for jobs, Mike applied and accepted a grant to become certified in Cyber Security and is now wrapping up certification tests and kicking his exams in the ass. It’s a huge transition after working in the restaurant industry for the majority of his career, but he went for it and he’s enjoying what he’s doing and it’s exciting to see where it will go!
I was determined to find a remote job and even though it took time I landed the most perfect fit and I’m truly enjoying every bit of what I’m doing and the team I’m doing it with. I also got my business license and opened a women’s online boutique back in March and I’m learning so much from it.
It’s important to go after things that you want out of life, to keep fueling that fire and being you.
Keep doing the things that make you happy
Sure, life will totally change. You’ll have to get a job again and won’t have full control over your time and it’s almost impossible that you won’t fall in to a routine. Just make sure that you love that routine.
Don’t settle for the first job that comes your way, but find the right one. Focus on giving your all at what you do and make sure that you always make time for the things that make you happy.
Now that we’re in Colorado we are outdoors all the time.
I’m working a 40 hour work week remotely, along with time spent on the boutique and Mike has been full time in classes and studying. We make plenty of time for the outdoors on the weekends and spend time exploring the surrounding Colorado Springs and areas outside around Colorado.
Getting outdoors is that thing for us that helps break up our routine and fulfills that wanderlust inside of us. We go camping, hiking, even just driving, and have chosen adventure as a lifestyle.
Whether it’s spending a weekend at the house putting Christmas lights up just because, or doing home furniture projects, or driving five hours away to go camping at the bottom of a beautiful canyon for the weekend, spend that free time doing things that you love and breaking up the routine.
Bring the traditions you’ve learned in to your every day life
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on the front porch drinking my Moroccan inspired mint tea. I couldn’t possibly make it as good as they do in Morocco, but I’ll admit I’ve got it pretty damn close. And something about the tea makes me feel cozy and warm inside and reminds me of times drinking it and feeling at peace and in the present in Morocco.
You’ll have memories that will stay with you forever, and bringing pieces of those memories in to your life when you’re home can quickly, as they say in yoga, bring you back to center and feel close to those places you’ve visited that will remain inside of you forever. Even just talking about your experiences is good for the soul.
Listen to the music you’ve learned. For me, playing Spanish music whether new or music I picked up from different places we’ve visited, truly sparks joy inside of me and makes me feels connected to the culture and the piece of me that will always live in Latin America.
Whatever it is, keep it around in your life.
Surround yourself with photos from your travels
There is something about walking in to our kitchen and seeing the fridge and corkboard squares on the walls covered in pictures of our experiences around the world. It’s easy to forget how much you have hiding away on SD cards until you get them developed and are reminded every day by pictures covering your walls.
Surround yourself with pictures and you will constantly be reminded of those memories. It’s fun to talk about them too with other people when they see them, and have a visual right there in front of you.
Cook your favorite foods in your own kitchen
One of the best souvenirs we’ve ever bought were traditional spices and tea we brought home from Morocco. We’re still using those spices we bought late last year, and Mike has done an exceptional job nearly replicating their wholesome dishes likes cous cous, tagine, and tangia (without the actual tagine). He’s made other dishes like arepas we’ve had in Colombia and Ecuador, pasta ragu like the way Simona made it in Italy, and the mango sauce he would make while we were backpacking from place to place around South America.
Find culture in your own city
My favorite thing about the US is the diversity and the opportunities that surround us to be immersed in different cultures right in our very own neighborhoods.
We’ve always made it a point to find the Asian markets in town, the best banh mi sandwiches or pho, the most authentic mexcian restaurants, and the tiny restaurants around town that have their menus in another language.
It definitely makes you feel home when you continue to explore unique places. You’d be surprised what environments you can place yourself in in your own neighborhood where you can feel like you’re somewhere else.
Live in the present
Wanderlust does something to you where it’s hard not to be planning for the future and where to next a lot of the time.
Travel is beautiful both because it inspires us to look to what’s ahead and makes us ambitious to achieve goals that may have seemed unachievable before, but it also teaches us the true value of the present, which is something we need to continue to live once we’ve decided to settle somewhere new for a little while.
Enjoy every single bit of that cozy home and make it yours
I swear I’ve found myself simply standing and staring longingly at the walls and the surroundings in different rooms throughout our house. When you become familiar with living out of a backpack, you appreciate every possession so much more. From, (if you’re lucky), your washer and dryer and dishwasher and cozy air conditioned bedroom, to the simpler things like the set up of your living room, those colorful coasters, or that table you both made when you first moved in.
It all means so much more. You’re comfortable and you’re home. Though home is more of a feeling than a place, a house itself can definitely take part in completing that feeling.
Appreciate staying for awhile and make it your home like you’re going to stay. Surrounding our home with plants, pictures, thrift finds, or pieces we’ve made together, make our home a place we truly appreciate staying at.
And you’re in America (maybe), the land of conveniences. So appreciate that you’re there to live it.
Don’t be sad. Travel will always be a part of you
Don’t forget who you are and where you’ve been and who you’ve become. After an extended time traveling abroad it can be overwhelming and a little bit sad. It’s this drastic change and just kind of happens one day.
The best advice we can give you is that good things always come to an end, but it doesn’t mean that new good things aren’t right around the corner. Soak up the present. Be excited about the future, and always remember that inside you will forever be curious to chase what you love and fulfill that need for wanderlust, so just make sure you keep what’s inside of you unleashed.
