The trouble with flying

Travel is probably the only addiction that gets better as it gets worse. But post-travel blues is more than just a withdrawal symptom - it's the bane of every frequent flier and usually has only one solution: booking the next flight

You hear a familiar ping as the seat belt sign is illuminated and the stewardesses start collecting headphones down the aisles. The familiar whirr of the flaps being engaged and the landing gear extending is accompanied by a crackle over the PA system. "Cabin crew, take your seats for landing." The map on the screen has a little plane circling above its destination, one that is, for many on this flight, home. This is about the time you get a terrible sinking feeling you just can't shake. You're hoping, for the entire 15 minutes or so that the plane is coasting towards the runway, that you'll pull up and fly somewhere; anywhere. And then the wheels hit the tarmac and the realisation hits: there is no escape. You're back.
This year alone, I've taken nine flights to six cities in five countries and my worst was inbound to Dubai. Not the flight, but just ruminating what was to come after - going back to the grind and everything that it entails. That aforementioned sinking feeling... If you have felt this, or feel this every time you return to wherever it is you call home, you may have post-travel blues - and it's a very real thing. Believe it or not, there are entire articles on this, and doctors have even weighed in on this problem that, at first glance, might be dismissed as a '#firstworldproblem'.  But, for those of us that do travel frequently - for pleasure, not for business - it's an all too familiar feeling.
"Travelling is an addiction," says Gustasp Irani, one half of the renowned globetrotting travel and photography duo behind gustaspandjeroo.com, "and it gets worse as you get older," he tells me. Until recently, the couple, well into their sixties now, used to travel for 10-12 days every month, but since the arrival of their granddaughter, travel time has been rather drastically cut down. "We like to think of ourselves as 'grandparents on the go'", says Jeroo, despite the reduced travel. The addiction is not far behind though.

Gustasp and Jeroo
"There have been times when we have stared at a month devoid of travel and told each other, 'let's just hop onto a train/plane and go somewhere'. And we do." Dealing with post-travel blues becomes much easier when you're on the move, they add. "We always have a trip to look forward to, the following month. We do feel twinges of regret when we leave a destination that we love like Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Italy, France, Croatia, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand and a zillion places in India."
The silver lining, and there always is one for air nomads, is the recurring buzz. "When we get onto a plane, we feel like air is our natural element and an airplane is home. Airports give us a buzz, a high unlike any other. We love the feeling of people arriving and departing, the stories behind those arrivals and departures; hearts broken and mended; love affairs kindled, the joy and sorrow that a lovely lined face may hide." says Gustasp.
Waking up in a hotel in a strange country and feeling blessed and privileged to have led an eventful life is another high the couple relish. But then, there's the low, and their advice? Start organising your next trip! "It's the best way to get over the post-travel blues. Short breaks also help," adds Jeroo, which is why they feel like India is the best place to be. "Where else in the world would you get so much colour, organised chaos and often meaningless activity and a spectrum of destinations to choose from when those post-travel blues hit you?"
Like the Iranis, Jeff Johns and Anne Mugnier's first suggestion on getting over post-travel blues is "plan your next trip". The Dubai-based couple run a travel blog as a hobby - an escape in itself from their day jobs - called What Doesn't Suck, and he says that the sadness about coming back to Dubai hits the minute he sees the map on the in-flight screen. "We actually have an app that gives us a countdown to our next trip. We give our trips ridiculous names, put different backgrounds on the timer. Anne sometimes sends me screenshots to remind me of when our next escape is due. It's an addiction. It's a horrible, expensive addiction. But it's fulfilling and enriching."

Jeff and Anne
Jeff also adds that in their attempt to squeeze as much time away as possible, they often end up being "really stupid". "We travel until literally 7am Sunday morning. And then go straight to work." This weekend (being a three-day holiday), they're off to Beirut and once again, flying back on Sunday morning. "We're trying to squeeze every minute out of it. But the worst thing is, while we're away, we're going to be constantly thinking about work. I think that adds to the post-travel blues, in a way."
But why do people in Dubai, crave these getaways? The moment an extended holiday weekend is announced, travel agencies clamour to get the best offers out, very often labelled 'escapes' or 'getaways'. "People work so hard here and they're always busy. so they live for an opportunity, any opportunity, to go away," Jeff confides. "It's not an easy ride here, which makes the escape even more welcome. You'll get a decent salary in Dubai, and that makes travelling to other places affordable, but when those tyres hit, the realisation that you have to go back to that job and might be there till 11 o'clock at night swoops down on you. It's not pretty."
There's also dealing with all of those promises you made to yourself when you moved here, Jeff adds. "So many people come here thinking they'll be here for one year, or two years at most, and save money. But when you land back here, you realise: 'I can't believe I'm still here, I can't believe I haven't saved any money, I can't believe I just signed my lease or work contract for another year. It all hits you at once. You planned your escape and realise you've totally failed. And that can make many people feel miserable when they come back from holiday." Aka, the mother of all post-travel blues.
In fact, it is one of the reasons that Jeff and Anne started whatdoesntsuck.com. "It's so easy to get sucked into the Dubai way of life. You wake up on Friday morning and go to a brunch, end up eating and drinking way too much, meaning you're exhausted on Saturday, and you're back to work on Sunday. It's a terrible cycle. But you can do so much more on a weekend." And he's right. There are several destinations just 2-3 hours from Dubai, with great fares and cheap hotels. "We started doing the math and realised that instead of spending Dh800-1,000 on a brunch every weekend, we could be going to all these cool places! And if you watch some of our videos, you will realise that there are great experiences just waiting to be had. Possibly even the next place to escape to."
The next place to escape to is exactly what is on Jessica Voorn and Daniel Campbell's minds. All the time. Originally from the UK, this Dubai-based couple has been together for almost four years now, and they have travelled together for just as many years. "Dan was used to travelling before he met me, so I am sort of playing catch up. He hates sitting still, being in one place. So, as soon as we moved here a few years ago, we realised that we had the opportunity to go to places we hadn't been before together, and it's something we look forward to all the time." They travel almost every three months, Jess reveals, and prefer taking longer holidays. "Long enough to forget about our responsibilities," she says with a smile. But, she adds, in hindsight, not always the smartest thing to do.

Jess and Dan
"I think it has gotten worse for me ever since our trip to Kenya last year. I had become very restless and just wanted to keep travelling," says Jess. But Dan had exhausted his leave - something she warns anyone who loves to travel to never allow to happen - and Jess had to get away, which meant going alone. "I went to Egypt by myself for five days. I just had to. I think the longer you are away, the worse the post-travel blues hit you.
"I always have a bad week when I get back. I end up doing weird things like cleaning the house," says Jess. "It takes a while for me to adjust. I become a bit distant, too," she adds. After the couple's last trip to Jordan, Jess took up running to ease getting back into the work. She now justifies it as a way of burning off all the food she ate while she was there. "I also make scrapbooks for every place we visit, filled with receipts, postcards, ticket stubs, etc, and frame it. Sort of a post-holiday shrine that goes up on the wall. It helps me transition from the holiday me to the 9-5 me, and I think that's how I get over the blues," she adds. "It took me almost two weeks to make the one from our trip to Jordan - that's how long it took me to get over my post-travel hangover!"
As Jess and Dan share some of their travel stories, it becomes clear that they are by-the-book travellers, in a more literal sense. "We don't plan our trip. We just get a flight - often the cheapest flight, sometimes with terrible connections - and once we land, we look at the guide to figure out where we want to stay and what we want to see." It becomes a welcome departure from the structure and order that they're both used to with their work lives (Dan runs his own business, while Jessica is an urban planner) and having to return from a holiday or weekend getaway comes with the realisation that they have to go back to that structure. "But it could be a lot worse," she pauses, "we could be flying into London," she laughs. "Cold, rainy, London.
"Dubai is great that way, because I don't think either of us would be visiting Jordan or Oman or Lebanon over a weekend from the UK. I don't we would be visiting many of the places that we've ticked off if we weren't in Dubai," Jess says. But the same words of advice crop up, as if to drive the point home - which is clearly up in the air. "Book your next flight," says Jess. "It's the best remedy for post-travel blues. Just start planning your next trip. Get a Lonely Planet guide on your next destination and read up on it to keep the blues away until you you're flying again."
rohit@khaleejtimes.com