How to Avoid Homesickness When Travelling Abroad
Let's face it, packing up your life to move overseas is already the best decision you could have ever made. The instant you land, everything is fresh and excitement fuels through you every time you find a new bar, exotic food to try or make more overseas buddies!
Happiness levels are at their peak, but then a few weeks or months down the track confusion sets in when a little ache for your life back home appears. No need to worry though because we are here to show you how to keep those little home sickies at bay.
1. Technology ⌚️
We live in the digital age, so there's no excuse. Get on your smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, phablet or laptop and send a hello home to the ones you love every now and then.
There are so many chat apps that you can download these days; it’s harder not to stay in touch with people. However, if you do need to go old school because your parents think Viber is a noise you just made up you can easily sign onto Skype, get credit and give them a good old fashioned phone call for a small cost!
Remember that it is excellent to stay in touch, but exploring comes first so don’t spend all your free time online, so that you have more tales to tell.
2. Routine 🚿
Get into a daily overseas routine, so your life doesn’t feel as displaced as you start to think it is when the home-flu kicks in. A routine can create a familiarity with home and keep you feeling more comfortable about being so far away. Include making plans for your free time in your routine too like road trips or flying out for a weekend adventure, so you have things to look forward to.
3. Journal 📖
You can either start a travel journal with all the fun and happy adventures or start jotting down your thoughts when you’re craving home. Writing down your feelings at the time can be a massive eye-opener so you can work through your emotions and also look back on some of the amazing highlights of the trip and remember why you decided to head overseas in the first place.
4. Lists 📋
Time to make a list about every single thing you miss back home and get excited about when you will finally get to head back and do them at the end of your time abroad. Home is going to be your next big adventure, and that is something to look forward to! When you get this excitement, you can then apply it to the country you are in now. Write down everything you would miss if you left and keep enjoying it while you can.
5. Bring home to you! 📺
Whether it's importing your favourite potato chips, downloading addictive TV series or having photos of your faves on the wall. A little home sweet home in your home away from home will be your long-term fix for the time you are abroad.
It’s fair to miss home when the home is lucky enough to be hanging with your friends, family, best pillow and pets whenever it wants but the truth is home is not going anywhere, but you sure are!
Go see the world, create stories to bring back with you because one day your homesickness will turn into abroad-sickness and instead of missing home you will yearn for the thrills you had exploring the world!
Click below if your favourite thing is fun around the world! Or don't... but you will always wonder.