The after-Trip Exhaustion can hit you really hard
For someone who is traveling as much as me, being taken out of my routine and coming back to my routine should now be standard, right?
You would think that I just jump back into work, hop into my e-Mail inbox and continue where I left off. But it is mostly not as easy and comfortable as you would imagine.
Because I have issues with transitions as part of my executive functioning, I also process arriving back home differently than your usual neurotypical traveler.
I can give you an example: I just came back from a trip to Bali. I tried to do my Open Water Certification which wasn’t as successful as I had hoped it to be.
After finalizing my last skills to become a Scuba Diver, we did enjoy Ubud, went to bed early and ate a lot of delicious food. This means we did not do all too much for the three remaining days, as after 4 days of diving, we were both mentally and physically exhausted.
On Monday I started back at work, and as soon as I arrived at the office, I felt like I had been hit by a truck.
By 8:30 p.m., I could have fallen asleep standing up.
And that’s when it hit me (metaphorically, of course):
This was After-Trip Exhaustion.
The High
Listen, I was just happily swimming with three manta rays and watching turtles, I did not expect such a crash. I actually felt energized and enthusiastic. But I think it is part of it. I felt the high very strongly this time.
I’d completed my Scuba Diver certification — something that, if you’ve read my last post (here: https://looking4adventures.com/2025/10/14/the-art-of-letting-go/), you’ll know I wasn’t even sure I could manage (hello, fear response!). And I was in paradise: green, lush, hipster-perfect Bali, full of yoga retreats, vegan cafés, and everything I used to dream of as a young adult. Leaving that behind for a desk and a pile of waiting emails is… less than euphoric.
The Crash
And then Monday morning arrives and the desk looks the same, only I had changed – once again – with new skills and bubbles and manta ray viewings. I felt the exhaustion and the realisation hit me at the same time: Everything here is still the same and I am supposed to just pick it up as if I didn’t just have a life changing experience.
It is not quite like jetlag because there wasn’t much of a time zone difference. It was more of an internal disagreement. I did not fully arrive yet.
My brain is still in Bali mode and I do not know how to get it back into work mode. It is a certain fatigue that you can’t quite explain, one that drags you to bed at 8:30 pm as if you had just run a full marathon. One that makes you zone out in the middle of the day because your body feels so heavy.
The reason, briefly put, isn’t just Fernweh — that aching pull back toward distant places. It’s a mix of dehydration, nitrogen exposure, sensory overload, circadian disruption, and emotional highs.
Here’s why: during both diving and flying, rehydration is crucial. Low and high altitudes alike dehydrate you. On top of that, the air you breathe while diving contains nitrogen, and combined with altitude changes, it can leave you feeling sluggish and foggy. This is why divers have a mandatory no-fly period after dives.
Add to that a week of learning, adrenaline, emotional highs, and lows, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a post-trip crash. This time, it hit harder than usual.
But I always have some difficulty getting back into my routines. Sometimes it takes me a week to go back to training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, because I cannot find the energy in me to actually head over. Usually, after I have convinced myself enough that it will actually do me good, and I do it once, I can return to it with not too much difficulty, but the first step is often difficult.
The Gentle Recovery Plan
But how do I settle back in, and for that I need to still learn how to be more patient with myself.
I am often still trying to directly jump back in and then after yesterday night where I barely kept my eyes open, I realised that there is hardly a rush. I need to give myself permission to rest.
Every adventure has two parts: the going, and the returning.
We talk a lot about the first, but rarely about the second: the quiet process of letting the body catch up to the soul.
My permission slip includes the following:
- I can be a little less productive at work and catch up as slowly as necessary. Nobody will expect me to be on top of everything on the first or even second day of work.
- I can actually go to bed as early as I need to, and there’s no harm in falling asleep at 9:30 pm without having read three more chapters of my book.
- I can eat a comforting meal at my favourite Italian restaurant (or wherever feels right).
- Staring at walls, playing a silly mobile game, or just petting my cat is productive — rest counts too.
- And I can remind myself to drink water, because my body needs it more than my inbox does.
If you feel the same way after a trip, here’s a permission slip for you too:
- Drink water — the sea may be gone, but your cells still remember it.
- Rest, even if you feel you “should” be productive.
- Let your thoughts drift for a while before you reel them in.
- Move gently. Think softly. Breathe deeply. You do not have to start working out the minute you arrive!
You’ve already done the hard part: you came back. Now let yourself arrive.
Looking 4 Adventures 
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