The Most Annoying Things about Coming Home from Vacation

Vacations are great. Coming home, not so much. My friend asked me today if I’m going through vacation withdrawal, and while I honestly answered no (I’m glad to be back), there are still some issues that are annoying me in the 24 hours since we got back. Not including finishing the trip report. 😛 What really inspired me to write this post is my lost mail – so let me start my venting list with that.

Organizing Piles of Mail

Usually I really hate sorting through all my junk mail when I get home. Back in the day, it was pretty easy to throw out…well, basically everything. But these days I have to be on the lookout for special mailed credit card offers, or reimbursement checks, or various other things related to this hobby – so it takes some concentration. Not a ton of time, but time nonetheless.

Well, what usually is a 3 on my annoyance scale got upgraded to like a 7 today when I realized I don’t even have any mail to sort. We generally have the US Postal Service hold our mail when we are gone and it always shows up the day we get back. Well, disconcerting sign #1 was the fact that when I got home last night there were like 5 or 6 pieces of mail in the mailbox (i.e., delivered before the end of the hold). Disconcerting sign #2 was the three pieces of mail I got today – as opposed to the fifty I was expecting, including some new credit cards (old accounts with card reissues).

So…that all kind of sucks. I didn’t check the mail until after 5 PM so I had nobody to call and I really hate waiting for this kind of stuff. I can’t even say my mail is lost in the cloud…

E-mail clean up

While on the subject of the cloud, another tedious task that needs to get done is cleaning my e-mail inbox. Again, this was easier when I didn’t have to keep an eye on various hobby related offers. It’s just something that takes time and energy and a reminder that you are no longer in Bavaria eating pretzels all day. Well, I guess I could still be eating pretzels all day. But yeah, first thing I do when I get back is clean out my inbox and make sure all my bills are paid (or that nothing went awry since they’re all on autopay).

Dishes

In terms of “things I like most about traveling”, not having to do the dishes is towards the top of the list. Sure, I had to do them a few times when we were staying in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but when you’re in a hotel – no dishes! I’ve done the dishes about 5 times in the 30 hours we’ve been back, which is kind of ridiculous.

“But Joe, why don’t you use a dishwasher?” one might ask.

My response: Good question. As always, I’m kind of stupid about a lot of things

Jetlag

Either I’ve been hit by reverse jetlag or I am fine considering I am up at 1 AM writing this and not tired at all. The new wrinkle though is dealing with M and jetlag. Really, readjusting her to “normal” sleep habits is going to be interesting overall since she was sleeping in the same room as us for the last week and a half (and even in our bed once or twice). She kicked things off by waking up at 2 AM ready for her day (8 AM in Europe). If anyone has tips for dealing with toddlers and jetlag, please share!

Unpacking

Our house is a disaster zone right now since we haven’t found the time to unpack or haven’t had the energy. To top it off, our dog just weaves in and out of suitcases and laundry baskets depositing her hair over all of them. So, I’d better get on that post haste. Jess would kill me if I showed a picture of our living room, but luckily USMNT Soccer player Alejandro Bedoya had a tweet about the same subject this morning.

Real Life

Of course, the worst and best part about coming home is real life. I don’t have to go to work yet so I don’t have much to complain about – but in general it’s so tough to adjust mentally and physically when you get back to your normal life and routine. I don’t envy people who travel for a living though. In the end, despite my complaining, I love home and don’t mind being back.

Final Thoughts

This is just a silly post I’m writing while frustrated about a specific situation. But it did get me curious – a lot of the times the talk is all about the destination (and how we get there) – what annoys people about coming back? I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Let me know in the comments!

Oh and if you were following along our trip to Germany and Austria and curious about what we ended up doing regarding souvenirs: three bottles of wine, a bunch of free ducks from Lufthansa, a couple of Christmas ornaments, and tons of Ritter and Haribo. Think that will do just nicely.