How Travelling Changes Your Perception Of Home

I thought it would be easy: Coming home after several months abroad. Feeling comfortable straight away. But it's not and this story talks about the “why” and “how”.

Obviously, living and travelling abroad, interacting with other cultures, often very different from your own, has an influence on your personality. You might not even notice, but each foreign encounter shapes your character.

Living in a busy city like Hong Kong automatically makes you resilient towards large crowds, noise and hectic. You get used to a certain standard of (expensive) lifestyle and conveniences. Being always on the go, hopping from one place to the other, lets you forget about time and day and strict schedules. The most important of all: Solo travelling gives you independence.

And this is where I'm facing struggles now.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spending time with my family and staying home for a while. However, this means I have to adapt to this environment and living with other people again. And I can tell you, the clocks tick differently in Austria.

The hardest part: Nothing seems to have changed while I have changed so much!

Supermarkets are not open 24/7, Uber isn't available everywhere, there are mealtimes (yes, we have lunch at exactly 12 o’clock noon), I am not as flexible with my mobility (I don't have a car and public transport is rare on the countryside), time and most importantly my decisions.

Because it's not only about me anymore.

So how can adapting be made easier?

Honestly, I don't really have a proper answer. Every time is different and emotionally challenging. Especially accepting the fact that even though this is home, my heart is craving abroad. And it might be this way for an unforeseeable future.

This leaves me somewhere in the middle of comfort and discomfort. In between feeling to be in the right place but somehow a stranger at the same time.

In the end, I think, adaptation is only necessary to a certain point and I should not force myself to be someone else than the person I've become.