Hey Grasya,
Amen to that! In fact, I JUST published a piece about my own renewed travel fatigue, and what I’m doing about it: https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/my-epic-search-for-a-home-base/

hopefully i will be rejuvenated and once my human batteries are charged and travel funds are full, i can start that long term journey again.

Hey Christine,
Indeed, since writing this article I’ve further defined my travel pace and I enjoy slow travel. It’s important for me to generally be in a place where I can keep my own hours and have my morning routine. That’s the closest approximation to what truly feels like “home” for me.

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your input! I agree with much of what you say….except penis length. (ha ha)

Many people have a “kaleidoscope” perspective where more variety is instantly good. But variety gets old and that approach is pretty superficial anyway. Hence the “yawn, not another magnificient mountain range”.

And in many places you discover that people are just people, sometimes poorer and bigoted/biased/ignorant but just in ways that are different from us.

So travel experiences can often be wasted time/effort. I gained nothing from Cambodia and Lao or Vietnam. Siem Reap is just a big set of ruins that admittedly are logistically impressive but since the history of Cambodia is boring to me anyway then that experience was also wasted.

There is something to be said for “intelligent travel” vs “any travel”. The latter is the domain of the young. The differences are often superficial anyway. There is also an attitude of “ticket punching” in which the pig principle applies “more is better”. So much to see and yet really it is not a race. A bit like penis length it’s a bit over rated unless you really think it makes a difference to notch your 130 countries against his 53.

Just some input.

Thank you for the thoughtful reply! I agree. I told my husband this morning that I didn’t mind if he wanted to go off for the weekend with his buddy over the border while I stayed home, but he emphatically said no. We then emptied a carry-on bag of his that was still languishing on the bedroom floor. Ah, what were those grounding housework and exercise routines I really should be getting to now? 😉

Hi Wind,
I think you’re very much on the right track with your theory. As much as we all like to shake up our routines with travel, if there’s no routine to shake up to begin with, it’s easy to lose our grounding. And there’s no doubt that traveling – especially when it’s your career – makes it very difficult to stay on top of daily work.
Humans are creatures of habit….and sometimes, a little time enjoying our “nest” is very necessary.
I hope you enjoy your weekend home! 😉

When I return, I find that I am once again behind. Laundry and mending are piling up. I’ve spent so much time at the little jars, bags and other accouterments of travel, picture taking and reporting my stories, that all the aspects of everyday life are neglected. The eggs have gone bad again in the fridge, my pedicure is pitiful, and I am five e-mails behind with my mother. Haven’t had a check up in goodness knows when. I don’t know what country I’ll be in and when. Last night I found myself in the early morning hours with my heart pounding, angry because my husband has planned another getaway weekend…something other women might pine for. I actually woke him up and made him promise we would not be going. Something inside me had come forth and informed me that the fatigue and strange feeling I have was due to not yet overcoming the last three week odyssey. It wasn’t really that particular three week trip…it’s just that that trip was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Somehow when I came up for air this time, bobbing up at the surface wasn’t enough to steady me for the next bout of salty adventure. Still waterlogged, I wanted to stay ashore.

I can feel a theory developing. I think that perhaps it isn’t how often we travel but to what extent our daily lives are interrupted and for how long. I haven’t traveled as constantly as you have, but for almost 10 years I have not spent a single season in one place, and we have also moved quite a few times. When we come to a point where we don’t really have a daily life, travel fatigue sets in. Like mollusks unable to cling to a rock because of waves crashing and pulling us away, the ocean becomes not a place where we adventure and explore, but a place where we drown. Who can say how many breaths each person needs before they want to dive again?