I’m embarrassed to say this about my trip, but I will.

But first I’ll brag a bit. I did a darn good job of planning my trip to Australia and New Zealand. I packed for basically three seasons and while we enjoyed 90 degree (F.) weather in Sydney, the day we left Queenstown, New Zealand, I was driving to the airport with snow coming down! I used the layers, the woolens, as well as the rain gear and the sheer fabrics. The outfits all worked out. Everything about the trip exceeded my expectations.

So what embarrasses me? How poorly I planned for the re-entry! I knew I was in trouble when on November 10th, I was at my table doing my morning writing like I do every single day when I absolutely went into a panic. “Oh my gosh, Russ’ birthday is on the 12th and I haven’t even given it a thought! I need to plan a party or at least make dinner reservations,” I said to myself while Russ was sleeping peacefully at the other end of the house.

I only admitted it to him two days later — that I had worked myself into a frenzy about his birthday on the 12th — only to realize that his birthday is not November 12th. It is March 12th, just like every year. But for those few minutes on the 10th, I was sure I’d blown it.

“What made me think your birthday was November 12th?” I asked him shaking my head.

“Brenda, it’s just mental fatigue. I have it too,” he confessed.

With the ease of travel these days — the mere fact that you can get on a plan in San Francisco in autumn and 15 hours later be in Sydney, Australia in springtime — it’s easy to think that it’s just all so easy.

But it still must take something out of you to do all of that zipping around. I have confessed my bumpy re-entry to only a few people. It seems like a problem one doesn’t speak about.

But knowing that returning home has been a bit challenging, I think I’ll have a re-entry remedy plan in place for next time

Here’s what I’d put on my list:
1. Schedule a massage for two days after landing.
2. Go for a long walks in nature every single day, rain or shine, to get grounded again.
3. Spend time neatening up my closet. That’s always so mentally soothing to me.
4. Prepare good food immediately. There’s nothing more pathetic than opening the fridge and seeing nothing … or something … that’s orange, red or purple and it’s not supposed to be. One colleague of mine has food arranged to be delivered to her house by a catering service upon their return. Smart!
5. Lower my expectations. Plan to do less — much less — and accomplish less –much less — for the following 3 to 6 days depending on how long the trip was or how far away I was.

Sometimes the best part of returning from a trip away is the musing that comes afterwards. I like to sort out the things I learned, think about the beautiful images I saw and relish the trip before jumping right back into the swing of things.

What do you do to take care of yourself in the aftermath of travel?

This was a letter that a reader of Tips & Teasers sent me after I posted my newsletter about travel tips. I asked her if it was okay to share her ideas with you so here they are!

These are Jane’s words and her 5 tips:

I’ve enjoyed your books, tips and teasers for several years now.  Having once had an international career involving multi-stage trips that often started in Geneva and ended in the African bush, I have a few ideas for you to think about, incorporate as you wish. Some are more standard fare, most are geared towards traveling VERY light.

1. If there’s a chance you may be driving somewhere through the “outback” or some other form of “bush”, take a longish, flowing SKIRT.  It will serve as your privacy curtain when you need to pee en route by the road with nary an outhouse, never mind a bush…to squat by. Much easier than having to deal with pants while your traveling companions wait.

2. Always take a pair of shoes you can walk in.  Even if you never have to wear them. The #1 piece of “security” advice I was given once by personnel of Operation Lifeline Sudan (the humanitarian air lift operation into southern Sudan years ago) was to wear walking shoes whenever you boarded the small planes, so that in the not too unlikely event that you might have to crash land, you were prepared to start walking.

3. If you are going someplace that may involve walking about in sandals in dry and dusty areas, take a pumice stone for your heels.  If you are going to a hot, damp tropical area, take anti-fungal cream.  While living in the African bush someone once brought me a bar of beautifully fragrant french-milled soap.  It’s been almost 3 decades since the ”spit” baths taken with it-and remains a vivid and delightful memory.

4. For the Geneva side of things, one basic black skirt, solid jewel toned tops (all knits/no iron) of simple and classic lines that formed the background for a collection of memorable scarves, from silk to thick woven wool wraps…depending on the season there… and jewelry……Everything in one small carry-on bag, always…..and everything coordinated to “mix and match”…

5. One more ”bush” fashion must, in my experience…at least one large cotton scarf that can be wrapped about ones hair if riding through wind, dust, sun in an open vehicle….it doesn’t do much for the hair underneath when you take it off (the advantage of long hair tied in a bun) but it saves you from the damage one such drive can wreak on your hair. Even if you have a hat on, the scarf is a must…and (you’d have a flat head of hair anyway).

Awesome tips, Jane! Thanks so much for sharing!

Anybody else care to share? Add comments to this blog post. I love it!