Travelling long term is a liberating life style, which has so many positives. Having the ability and motivation to travel are a few things I would never take for granted. Despite feeling lucky and blessed to have this life of travelling long term, it’s normal to deal with homesickness.
It’s not as easy to confront homesickness, because there’s often not a quick fix—such as going to visit family and friends back home. Travelling long term is a huge adjustment towards homesickness. It’s different from a short vacation, instead you may not have a return date or the ability to return home quickly.
Homesickness isn’t just about missing family and friends, though. It can be for a variety of reasons, maybe it’s food from home. Or, coping with culture shock in a new country and wanting to feel the comforts of home.
Whatever has made it strike, I’m sharing some a few tactics to deal with homesickness while travelling long term. Missing home isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s just remembering the good times.
Table of Contents
Stay connected
Staying connected with your support system in your home country may be something you didn’t ever have to think about. Previously, it may have been easy to drop by your family or friends’ houses and catch up. With that ability gone it’s important to stay in contact another way.
This is especially important when you’re feeling homesick. It feels better to chat with family and friends from home to share how you’re feeling. With the amount of technology it’s easy to stay in contact through many ways. For some people I stick to calling, because it’s what works best for them. Whereas with other friends it’s easy to set up a video call.
Remember why you decided to travel
The easiest way for me to ease homesickness while travelling long term is to remember why I made the decision to do so. I was tired of seeing the same things and feeling like my life was stagnant. And, I wanted to follow my dreams of travelling more. When I miss things from home—say, the amazing craft breweries in my neighbourhood—I remind myself how great these things were and why I decided to leave it all.
If you have a compelling reason for leaving your home and can think of the feelings associated with this, it can help ease homesickness. After all, if you decide to return home, many things will be the same or similar.
Find new friends
It’s really normal to feel isolated and lonely, even if you’re travelling with a friend or partner. Finding new friends where you’re travelling—even if it’s during a few nights’ stay at a hostel—is a way to overcome these feelings. Finding connections through new friends and meeting new people is a way to build up a new support system. And this new support system can be a reason for loving a new place and not feeling as homesick.
It’s also a good way to learn about new cultures, whether people are local or not. Other people might even be experiencing the same feelings of homesickness as you. Or, it can be a good distraction.
Find comfort in new place
Something that people miss when travelling is knowing great places to go. When travelling, you often don’t have the same sixth sense of knowing which places are best, such as bars and restaurants. By finding comfort in new places, it creates a space to feel at home, even while travelling long term.
Find a new coffee shop, restaurant, or park to spend time with friends and feel at home. Creating new routines with these places can help ease and forget why you felt homesick in the first place.
Have fun while travelling
It’s easy to feel homesick abroad, if your only fun memories are from home with friends that aren’t around anymore. Making new memories and having fun while travelling is a time to remind yourself why you’re travelling.
It might seem obvious that you’ll have fun while travelling, but it’s often not something people schedule into an itinerary. Some people travel specifically for work or for sightseeing. And, while it might be enjoyable there is a difference between sightseeing and having fun with new friends.
Plan a visit home
Planning a visit home can help fix those feelings of homesickness. That’s not to say it’s easy. Usually from financial or time restraints, planning a visit home isn’t always possible. When it is though, take advantage of having some time off from this new life to visit what you left behind.
Whether it’s friends, family or even a pet at home, going home for a visit isn’t failing at long term travelling—it’s just adding to it. Many people go home for the holidays or other occasions at least once a year. It’s up to you what works with your budget, itinerary and level of homesickness.
Planning to visit Australia on a Working Holiday Visa? Check out my guide on how to get started in the country.
