Travel Tip Tuesdays: How to Treat Homesickness

“Have any tips for dealing with homesickness?”

Those of us who have traveled more than a week at a time often get twinges (or tidal waves) of homesickness. This can be augmented by events at home, such as a family member catching the flu, a father getting cancer, a mother being hospitalized, a brother nearly dying of a burst appendix, someone going to the ER multiple times with massive blood loss due to complications in surgery… uh, you get the idea. Even without such crises at home, it’s natural (and healthy) to miss the people you leave behind. Here are my three best tips for dealing with this inconvenient ailment.

This is how I felt a lot when I took my Epic Trip Out West.

Stay in touch. Don’t just post status updates on Twitter and Facebook— write actual letters to the people who matter to you. Also, some people enjoy using this thing I hate called a “phone.” If phone is not your best medium, then there’s no need to use it. Try Skype, e-mail, or even chat. (My best friend and I have our best on-the-road conversations over Facebook chat.)

Do things on the road that remind you of home. If you spend all your days doing things that are completely foreign to you, you’ll get homesick much faster than you will if you have some familiarity to your life on the road. I enjoy cooking and cleaning when I travel because it feels homey.

Embrace the homesickness, then let it go. It’s a legitimate feeling, but don’t let it dominate you. This attitude might cause some people to call you heartless. Take stock to make sure you’re not heartless, and then ignore the naysayers. You’re traveling to have an adventure, and no adventure is easy.

Homesickness can be a bother, but it shouldn’t ruin your trip. Allow yourself to miss people and think fondly of home… then go out and have a great time!

P.S. Here’s a blog I wrote about homesickness when I was in Utah last year.