Coping with Missing Europe

Obviously, it is all mental. We developed an attitude on our first trip in '72, that we will see that on the next trip. Didn't return until '93 but now it is nearly annually. Each trip generally includes a couple of places that we have visited before so we are always looking forward to returning. A couple of places (Rome, London) feels like we are coming home since we have visited so frequently. It is very relaxing when we hit those cities. When we get home we check the stock market and our frequent flyer account and starting planning the next trip.

I have my next 10 trips planned! At least where we're going to go. When I get melancholic I just research something for a future trip! Wish I could take more of them but maybe when I retire... sigh.

Three years ago I decided I will visit Europe every other year. At least two locations and if I can squeeze Paris in there so much the better. I have Paris, Switzerland & Bruges scheduled for next year, Ireland then England. I watch YouTube videos of folks traveling in the area I will be visiting next.

I cope by looking at my trip photos, reading my trip blog, and getting onto Google Maps and "walking" around the European city or town that I'm missing the most. And, of course, looking at the "Our Tours" section of this site to find my next tour!

When I went over the first time in 1971 as a solo backpacker, one of the places that interested me was Finland, which I thought when I was in North Sweden the chance of going to Finland was possible. I ended up not going there at all on that first trip, and after all these years, going there is still in the travel plans. That would have been better had I done that in the 1970s. Do I have the travel addiction to Europe? Yes, to be sure. I cope by planning out , at least, conceptually the next trip, keeping an eye out for cheap flights, etc.

For every trip we take I post photos on Instagram and Facebook. My original purpose was to keep my family in the loop when I travel, but now it has really been so that I have an easy place to go when I'm feeling blue or like things are mundane. I will pull up my album on social media when I am on lunch at work, for instance, and be transported back. I'm always researching for at least a few future trips. I follow the forum and I follow quite a few travel bloggers and photographers. We try to set aside days to do touristy things or day trips to areas near our home. We try to take a weekend getaway every three months or so to a new place if we can swing it. And I keep myself busy working as many overtime shifts as I can to fuel the next trip!

Due to expected personal events- I had to cancel my European vacation this year and probably won't be able to return for the foreseeable future. However, I read travel blogs/boards(RS and Tripadvisor) I'm also continuing to learn German. And attend events put-on by the local embassy consulates.
Finally, Netflix now has a glut of foreign language TV shows/movies that are fun to watch to learn more about the current culture.

Like many others, I pull out my scrapbooks and look them and reminisce. I also watch you tube videos and tape travel shows on PBS. Samantha Brown has me obsessing over Shanghai right now. Also reading books about countries I am interested in. Most of our trips are with other family members, so I chat with them once in a while about past and maybe future trips. Besides working on our trip for this summer, I convinced my husband that we had to go to Portugal during February break 2019 (I work in a school) so I have my hotels booked, rent a car booked, and will research airfare soon, and details for that trip when we return this summer. Also thinking of and researching a multi-generational trip to Ireland summer 2019. In other words, a trip is always being planned, whether or not it comes off when intended or later down the road, my mind is always thinking travel. My husband isn't as obsessed as I am, yet; but that is because we are both still working.

Part of coping is knowing that you're not alone. You'll probably recognize yourself in many of these responses:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/you-know-you-have-a-travel-addiction-when

This board helps me, or I'll thumb the various tour catalogues we get (RS, Viking, Odyssey Unlimited, etc..) and dream about the next adventure. We are at the stage where the clock is ticking just a bit, although we were encouraged by the 80+ year old couple on our RS Eastern France tour last summer.

I look at those stacks of postcards I sent back to the family on trips since the 1990s, especially from those trips since retirement.

I visit this forum/website daily! Which actually only fuels my addiction! But I realize that I am far from travel deprived compared to most of the people I know, so I am always grateful for what I have already done. I also frequently look through my scrapbooks and am always planning the next trip!

Boards like this one help me. I also love to plan trips, even if they aren't ones I'll be taking any time soon.

Long story short - you are not alone. ;-)

Boards like this one help me. I also love to plan trips, even if they aren't ones I'll be taking any time soon.

I agree with this! The struggle is real!

I am just getting started, as we went to Italy last year on our first European vacation, and we have another trip to Germany planned for this May. (probably won't do one in 2019) I hope to be able to go overseas every other year (at least). I think I will keep myself happy by reading the board, and starting to plan for the next trip, even if it is a lot more than a year away.

I just feel fortunate that I can take the trips that I do take and then enjoy my free time at home. We take long weekend trips by car (I hate airports) between European visits and those are great fun too. Maybe go away for long weekends, Heidi, to the beach, to the lake, the mountains, to the city, to the desert...wherever!

Enjoy Greece!

At the moment, my coping mechanism (not just for my travel addiction but life generally) is to always have a trip planned. These don't have to be overseas, though of course they are the best.

I find having something to look forward to is absolutely vital. For every hour we spend on holiday, we get a hundred hours of happiness - in the planning and anticipation, then the memories.

I deal with it the most during the two months after returning from a trip as far as really missing being there. I heard a quote once that I like - the essence of it is that you can close your eyes and be back in a memory. When I’m on a trip, I will stop at someplace special and pause for a few minutes to concentrate on the sounds, sites, smell and sometimes touch to vividly remember it when I’m back home.

I have fallen totally in love with Hungary (and am half Hungarian on my mom's side) and now seem unable to visit the continent without adding on some time in Budapest--this time next month I'll be there! I started learning the language after my first trip and I have other little ways to make my favorite place part of my daily life at home:

A couple of small Hungarian folk art paintings hang in my office at work
My morning coffee is in a handmade pottery mug purchased at an artist collective
I have a small but growing collection of vintage Komlos pottery pieces
I wear a sterling Budapest skyline ring every day
Learning more Hungarian recipes
My phone case is inspired by kalocsa embroidery designs and the wallpaper is either a picture of a gate on Castle Hill of a large raven or a photo of the storks on Margit sziget (they are one of the reasons I love to visit Budapest)
I use my transit passes or other tickets as bookmarks
Reading Hungarian literature and learning more about the 1956 revolution
Keeping up with several facebook pages that focus on Hungary, cultural events and language lessons
Watching Hungarian movies whenever possible--this weekend "1945" opens in Berkeley and I'll be there

christa: I too am a big fan of Budapest. For you, I recommend a recent book "The Hapsburg Empire" by Pieter Judson. About the Empire, and of course about the Hungarian part. Much in there about the very important 1850 revolution. When you learn about the 1850 revolution, you learn the street names of Budapest. All the important ters are named after 1850 figures. Also "Enemy at the Gates" about the siege of Vienna in 1683, which set the stage for the process which threw the Ottomans out of Hungary (and is a subtext of contemporary politics in Hungary as well). I've read a number of books about the area. The entire MittelEuropa is the fulcrum of history - so many things have happened in this area that are consequential worldwide.

What is the movie "1945"? Sounds like one that I should look for.

Paul—thank you for the book recommendations, always looking to add to my reading list. 1945 is about 2 Orthodox Jews who come to a small Hungarian town and the disturbance this causes many townspeople; they had appropriated the shops and homes of the Jews who were sent away and there is guilt, denial and anger.