Have you ever returned from an amazing vacation feeling energized and exhilarated, and before you knew it, those feelings of post-travel happiness faded among the normal day to day activities? Have you ever returned from an amazing vacation and realized you feel so different than before you left, no longer feeling comfortable in your usual surroundings? Sorry to break it to you, but you may be suffering from post-travel depression.

A 2010 article published in the journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life, studied the association between vacations and happiness. This phenomenon can be broken down into a few sections: pre-trip happiness, post-trip happiness, and duration of post-trip happiness.

Pre-travel happiness

This study suggested that pre-trip happiness can be explained by Need Theory, which assumes we have an innate need for wandering, a byproduct of our evolution from hunter-gatherers. This need can then be in part satisfied by the anticipation of the trip. While not even on your travel, just the idea of anticipating traveling will increase your happiness.

Inter-travel happiness

A 2012 article published in the Journal of Happiness Studies examined health and wellbeing pre-, inter-, and post-travel, finding the greatest happiness travelers experience will be during the mid period of the trip. Furthermore, they found that health and wellbeing was greatly improved both during and after the trip when vacationers gained pleasure from their activities.

Pre- Baseline H&W 2 weeks prior to vacation; Inter 1- 4th day of vacation; Inter 2- 8th day of vacation; Inter 3- 12th day of vacation; Inter 4- 16th day of vacation; Post 1.1- First work day following vacation; Post 1.2- next to last day of first week of work; Post 2- 2nd work week; Post 3- 3rd work week; Post 4- 4th work week. Bloom et al. “Vacation (after-) Effects on Employee Health and Well-being, and the Role of Vacation Activities, Experiences and Sleep.” Journal of Happiness Studies 14.2 (2012): 613-33.

Post-travel happiness

Comparing non-travelers and travelers returned from their trips, this study found no difference in happiness levels. Meaning, that after a certain period of time, happiness will return to levels that are not significant from people who did not travel at all. However, if a trip is considered more relaxing, then post-travel happiness will be higher than people who have not traveled at all but will fade out all the same. This circumstance can be explained by Comparison Theory which suggests a social comparing between people who intend to travel who will feel better off than people who do not expect to travel. Furthermore, this theory can also explain the absence of post-travel happiness difference between travelers and non-travelers when the vacation is over as there is no longer a difference between non-vacationers, subsequently giving rise to similar happiness levels.

Another aspect of post-trip happiness to consider is the feeling of change and a subsequent lack of belonging. One of the best aspects of travel is how those new experiences will alter your perception of the world and reshape how you view yourself in your old setting. However, this feeling can also lead to the impression of being an outsider or frustration from your loved ones not realizing the changes, leaving you with an overall depressive state. In many instances, returned travelers can succumb to a state of depersonalization/derealization. According to Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), a global healthcare company, “Depersonalization/derealization disorder is a type of dissociative disorder that consists of persistent or recurrent feelings of being detached (dissociated) from one’s body or mental processes, usually with a feeling of being an outside observer of one’s life (depersonalization), or of being detached from one’s surroundings (derealization)”. Imagine, after experiencing life-altering adventures, savoring unusual and exotic food, and loosing yourself in wonderful and unique cultures, returning home can feel surreal, as if you cannot imagine your world as normal and real as it actually is.

So, given this information, how can travelers keep their post-trip high longer?

1. Plan shorter, more enjoyable trips.Vacationing is something which is looked forward to, yet the length of such a vacation does not greatly affect post-trip happiness whereas the amount of stress one endures, does. Therefore, this suggests that people derive more happiness from more relaxed, shorter breaks than from having just one, longer holiday. An article published in 2014 by Chen et al. in the Journal of Travel Research suggested even a weekend long getaway shows beneficial affects on ones mood and decreases work-related stress. However, the greatest happiness is seen on day 8 in the middle of a 2 week holiday, thus implying that to obtain the greatest beneficial affect, one should take a holiday minimum of around 1 week.June et al. published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism in 2016 that the happiness travelers gained from leisure activities were equally beneficial regardless of whether such leisure time was spent at home or away from home. Therefore, even a staycation can have positive psychological and emotional benefits. However, be cautious because the same study found that engagement in work-related activities and rumination was higher for travelers opting for staycations versus external travel.
2. Plan well to reduce holiday stress levels.The amount of post-travel happiness seems to be mainly based upon holiday stress levels. As all well traveled people know, holiday trips are not always pleasant experiences nor go as planned. Vacationers can procure a series of health problems related to traveling, such as homesickness, or can undergo relationship complications or culture shock as well as experience normal travel related worries. All these factors will affect the extent and duration of post-travel happiness which is known as the Principle of Least Effort in the psychology realm, where the easier the task, the happier the participant. However, keep in mind it doesn’t matter how traveled a person is, all these stresses are 100% normal. Every trip is different, and every trip will have different obstacles. Like all life experiences, we can only take away learning experiences so we can better handle stresses in the future. Furthermore, a comical yet insightful survey done in 2015 by Travelzoo, a global Internet media company, revealed 64% of Americans plan vacations during working hours. If your work is a factor adding to post-travel depression and if finding an alternative career is not an option, taking time away during work can increase your happiness and decrease stress. In addition, planning a trip weeks or months in advance will give the greatest pleasure as well as decreasing the stress endured on the trip. So, plan away!
3. Plan a vacation that consists of activities you would gain the most amount of pleasure from.The kind of vacation has been proven to make or break your trip success. If you are the most happy and relaxed sipping mojitos on a white sandy beach, then I suggest going to Sardinia where the sun is hot and the water is cool. But if jumping off a snow covered mountain or diving the depths of the Red Sea seems appealing to you, I suggest exploring the Matterhorn, Switzerland or Eilat, Israel, respectively. The most important aspect is to plan your activities in detail. A study done by the Harvard Business School in 2013 showed that 74% of travelers find planning in detail to be the most stressful aspect of travel. Therefore by doing the necessary planning ahead of time, you can avoid the stress of planning during your trip.
   

   Seductive Sardinia: Italy's Enchanted Island

   

   Diving the Red Sea: Eilat, Israel

   

   Paragliding near the Matterhorn
4. Actively focus and savor the positive aspects of your travel.One’s mental viewpoint is likely the most important aspect to consider. Given this information, you can be aware of the travel high fade-out and actively try to prolong the affects of post-travel happiness. Bryant et al. (2011) described this active, self-regulation of positive emotions as savoring, where generating, maintaining, and enhancing a positive emotional state can be acquired through focusing on experiences from the past, present, or future. Savoring strategies consist of: Sharing with others, memory building, self-congratulation, sensory- perceptual sharpening, comparing, absorption, behavioral expression, temporal awareness, counting blessings, and kill-joy thinking. Quoidbach et al. (2010) showed that utilizing more than one savoring strategy, know as the positive regulatory diversity concept, lead to higher levels of happiness. Not every strategy will work but a combination of a few will prove more affective at maintaining post-travel happiness.Lee and Oh published last year in the Journal of Tourism Management that tourists have a higher perceived post-travel happiness and self-enhancement when they shared their experiences with others rather than souvenirs bought during the trip. Lee and Oh suggested this might be due to the rosy retrospection phenomenon more commonly known as the “rose-colored glasses” phenomenon, where people often recollect past events more positively than they had actually been experienced. Furthermore, they hypothesized that people reveal parts of one’s identity through meaningful experiences rather than solely material items, which is also supported by Social support theory, where people have an innate desire to bond and form social connections. Burke and Kraut published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication in 2016 their hypothesis of Social support theory as online interactions, influencing well-being. However, well-being effects from sharing travels through social media platforms depends greatly on with whom they are sharing their online communications with. They found that personalized, effortful communication from close friends and others they care about leads to a higher degree of happiness.Whether you like to post travel pics on Instagram, or relish in a well planned and executed trip, or recreate your favorite meals discovered during your travel, or even taking a moment to realize how lucky you are to have taken that trip, you will be well on your way to prolonged travel happiness!
5. Use the depersonalization/derealization to reevaluate the people and choices in your life.

   Probably the most challenging aspect of post-travel depression to address, the feeling of depersonalization/derealization. I experienced this first hand after returning from my first move abroad in Rome, Italy. I was both disturbed by feeling different than I was before and felt as if I was observing my life from the outside but not able to live it like it should. I was also upset that no-one seemed to notice how much I had in fact changed but equally disturbed that I no longer fit in either. This strange contradiction is quite common is returning travelers and ex-pats and you can revel is this shared camaraderie or use this new sensation to reevaluate the people and choices in your life. This dissociation can give you a better, more impartial, judgement on aspects in your life such as friends, relationships, career paths, and even your travels themselves. By re-arranging aspects in your life, you can better adjust it to fit your changed personality as well as realize what is important and superfluous.

   

   “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”~ Edmund Hillary

Travel is a life-altering, sensational ride, however with those highs also comes the lows. Post-travel depression occurs for many reasons but being aware of the causes can help shorten the depressive state as well as to maintain the post travel happiness you’ve gained during your fantastic trip throughout your day to day life. Go forth, travel far, and be happy!