The plane engine roared to life and started speeding down the runway. I slowly felt the G-force pressing me back and down into my seat as we lifted off from Kastrup. I closed my eyes and couldn’t stop myself from tearing up.
I was already homesick for Copenhagen.
It can be hard living a traveler’s lifestyle at times. Yeah, yeah, such an entitled thing to say right? ??
I don’t travel nearly as far or as much as some of my other friends, but one of the most common things I hear often is how it can be lonely traveling. It makes sense. Being away from friends, family, and have to constantly be social and meet new people along the way in order to stave off the loneliness can be exhausting. I’ve dealt with this loneliness before and it sucks. The worst of it was when I had a panic attack while traveling in Stockholm. Who knew a combination of the sun setting at 4:30 PM, missing friends, and having to constantly cycle through “travel friends” would be so triggering?
While this affects a lot of travelers and is probably the most common reason “Digital Nomads” call it quits, this isn’t what I want to talk about today. The feeling I opened up with is actually the complete opposite side of the spectrum that I don’t see mentioned much – Nomadic Homesickness.
We all get homesick from time to time, but what no one told me is that homesick doesn’t just apply to your actual home, but can happen when you just really click with a place and the people there. Nomadic Homesickness is the term I coined to describe that yearning for that place that isn’t your home, but feels like home when you are there. Here’s the kicker though – that yearning travels too. I am living the hygge life in Copenhagen, but miss the warm nights of Valencia. I am enjoying coffee on the beach with friends in Buarcos, but missing my friends and our misadventures back in Visalia. You can’t win.
At the current moment, feel this deeply for Copenhagen. I miss my friends there. I miss walking the streets of Vesterbro in the morning. I miss drinking at Curfew. I miss the energy and atmosphere. Did I mention I miss my friends there?
So then the question is how does one deal with this? Maybe this is more of an issue of being present. Not sure, but I am curious how other travelers deal with this feeling. Do you even get this feeling at all? Are you always happy to be home or in a new place or do you get caught up in the place you left at times?
All I know is I am blessed that I can miss several homes. Copenhagen is a home for me. Valencia is a home for me. Visalia is a home for me. San Diego is a home for me. San Francisco is a home for me. and I miss them all in their own way.
To more future homes – skål! ?
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