This week has not been a good week (insert pout face). I flew back into Boston Sunday night after an amazing week in London. Back to reality Monday morning, sifting through my mountain of emails, checking my overflowing voice mail, scheduling meetings with clients who I’ve been ignoring via my out of office for the past week. Annual review with my boss today, doctor’s appointment yesterday, groceries to buy, bills to pay, back to my usual 9 to 5 grind.

It would be an understatement to say that I’ve been a little down in the dumps since I returned. “Whelp, here I am again, sums up how I’ve been feeling- I’ve definitely spent the last three days in a deep funk. It’s partially why although this is a travel blog and I’ve just been travelling, I haven’t really had much to say. I’ve got lots of great post ideas bouncing around my head following my trip, but not the heart or interest in writing them. It has proven to be both an emotional funk and a writer’s block.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I nearly cried when I went through airport security; I was good company for the college-aged American girls making their tearful and emotionally distraught goodbyes to their love-of-their-life study abroad boyfriends, promising to Skype every day and come back soon. (I say this not from a tower of judgement, as I have been that girl, several times, but because I was literally on this level of defcon angst about leaving). I’m lucky to have a lot of people I love in London, but that makes ending vacation and coming home that much harder. I leave with the feeling not only that my travel adventure is over again for now, but also that there’s a little London Amani life waiting for me, that I’m leaving as well.  When I moved back to Boston from London a bit over a year ago, I left the city by necessity, not by choice. Going back can be so magical, but there’s also always that lingering “what if things were different”.  Long story short, I have not been a happy bunny since returning to the same old, same old, back home.

Coming home after travels always immediately gives me the impulse to run to my bank account and vacation time log and calculate how long and how much I need to save to be able to go on my next trip. I’ve been working on a more balanced approach to saving since my recent struggles with it, but having another adventure to look forward to on the horizon makes me infinitely happy. It is a bit of an addiction, but at least it’s a (relatively) healthy one.

I think everyone experiences the post-travel blues when they first get back to reality, like the Monday blues, but on steroids. And like the Monday blues, it takes a conscious effort to turn that frown upside down. I’m trying to make that conscious effort and hope to have some great posts about my latest travels coming soon! What do you do to combat the post-trip blues?

Until then, happy wandering!

-xo