Definite Signs You’re in the Post Travel Glow
*As previously published on The Everygirl in 2019.
Perhaps you’ve recently returned from a long-awaited holiday. You’ve spent a gorgeous week in Cabo San Lucas, or island-hopped across Hawaii, maybe even enjoyed a few weeks exploring Europe. Your skin is radiating all the vitamin C you’ve absorbed, and with the smell of salty ocean air still tingling your senses, you return home feeling notably lighter. Nay, you’re floating on a damn cloud and nothing can touch you!
You inhabit a new, elevated plane of existence that’s filled with nothing but ‘good vibes’. Maybe it’s all that organic, unprocessed food you’ve been eating, but to the dismay of everyone around you, you are most definitely still basking in The Post-Travel Glow. If your coworkers’ eye rolls haven’t proven enough confirmation, here are some definite signs you’re still in The Glow:
1. Regular annoyances go unnoticed
Passive-aggressive work emails? Manspreader on your morning commute? Cute dog suddenly took a dump and made the otherwise endearing moment of eye contact awkward? (Just me?) Pfft, nice try, earthlings. You cannot, and will not, be brought down. If four days of beach side yoga has taught you anything, it’s to find your inner peace—and the zen has been LOCATED. In fact, you’re still living so vicariously through your own dreamy vaca memories that these daily frustrations go entirely overlooked. Negativity? Can’t relate!
2. Dropping travel references into literally any conversation
You suddenly can’t believe your friend can survive her lactose intolerance because I mean, what about cheese? And not just any cheese - bu the goat cheese in Barcelona where you ate a goat’s cheese and fig jam pairing that actually brought you to tears! (Fun fact: my friend really did cry over the fig jam in Barcelona so—yes I just dropped a reference in a paragraph about dropping references! Referen-ception!)
3. Suddenly using unfamiliar phrases
G’day! Just going to have some avo toast for brekkie before I head out to meet some mates this arvo for a few pints. Cheers! Haha, what do you mean... I’ve definitely always talked like this? Fair dinkum, lol!
4. Dressing like you’re still on vaca
Yes, it may only be 40 degrees Fahrenheit in Chicago when you’ve returned from your two weeks of experiencing an "actually hospitable climate," but it’s APRIL, damnit. Spring has sprung regardless of what the forecast says, and you will not be relegated to sweaters and black jeans for one more day! Cue the sundresses and strappy sandals you’ve yet to unpack, and run quickly inside that restaurant before you catch pneumonia, you floral vision!
5. Posting photos captioned “take me back”
Finally, the pinnacle travel-glow behavior: throwback pics. Every day on IG, you can’t help but upload one more stunning photo from an incredible location that you no longer inhabit. “Take me back,” you caption it, with a few sad faces to really drive the despondency home. ‘Missing this!!” you write below a pic of you and your significant other with floral leis around your necks, clutching Mai Tais. Who said #tbt was reserved for Thursdays, after all?
We get it. You had an incredible time and would rather still be on vacation, or so it seems by the incredibly subtle hints you've been dropping. And while everyone around you may be slightly annoyed that you're still buzzing with the kind of optimism only sourced from four days at an all-inclusive swim up bar, enjoy this high while it lasts! The Post-Travel Glow may even give you a new perspective on how to add some enjoyment into your regular daily routine, and we’ll be taking notes!
*The Everygirl’s ‘Travel’ section has since been archived.