Homesickness and Travel: A Life Between Places

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines homesickness as “ the feeling of being sad because you are away from home“. Those who suffer from it often miss the place they grew up or live in, along with everything they associate with it: family, friends, pets, food, familiar routines, celebrations, scents, sounds.

But for many travellers, the meaning of „home“ goes far beyond that. If I had to describe home as a feeling, it would be a sense of arrival. You know that feeling when you can truly be yourself in certain places or with certain people? Where you don’t have to pretend or hold back? That’s what home means to me.

Fulfilling my dream of traveling to South America also meant leaving behind my home, which was painful.

It’s true what they say: you only realize the value of something once it’s gone. That hit me hard in the days leading up to my departure. The hardest moment was saying goodbye to my dad and sister at the airport (my mom came with me to Chile). That afternoon, I wasn’t the only one in tears.

After saying goodbye, homesickness set in – just as Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines it. It hit me again and again throughout my year abroad. And even now, back in Austria, it sometimes creeps in.

It took me a while to truly arrive in South America. Around three months after I landed – after I had more or less overcome the pain of leaving and the heartbreak following the end of a relationship – I finally felt like I had settled in.

But then, the homesickness shifted into a new kind of sadness: the realization that my semester in Chile would soon be over. While the first three months dragged on, the final month flew by. I had built strong friendships and found a kind of second family in my host family. A second home.
During my time in Costa Rica, I often felt homesick – for Chile.

After my exchange semester, I backpacked through South America for two months, hopping from one hostel to the next, which is why I felt somewhat “homeless”. The overwhelming sense of freedom I experienced was powerful enough to overcome the homesickness.

When my sister came to visit me in Colombia, it felt like a piece of home had returned. But just as quickly, it was gone again. After two shared weeks, saying goodbye was just as hard as it had been at the airport in Vienna.

In the early weeks of my stay in Costa Rica, homesickness – for both my homes in Austria and Chile – hit me hard again. Especially when things don’t go that smoothly, you long even more for a piece of home. A place where you can arrive and be completely yourself. Although my colleagues were so lovely, that took some of my energy during my internship.

About two months later, I took a trip to Nicaragua. During a yoga retreat in San Juan del Sur, I realized that it sometimes only takes a few hours to feel at home in a new place.

The other guests and the yoga teachers were so warm and welcoming that I felt like I belonged almost instantly. On the second night, I even opened up to another participant and cried in her arms.

Leaving that retreat was hard. The homesickness returned. But it was mixed with excitement for the journeys ahead, and the hope of finding more pieces of home along the way.

And I did: in almost every destination I visited, mostly on my weekends off, I met people and places that felt a little like home. Whether it was an eco-lodge run by an Austrian woman or a challenging volcano hike with amazing people – I kept finding moments of connection. In La Fortuna (Costa Rica), for instance, I stayed in such a great hostel with such lovely people that I would have loved to stay for another week after my three-day stay.

It felt like the longer I was away from Austria, and the more I travelled, the quicker I opened my heart to new people and places. And every time I did, saying goodbye got a little harder.

About two months before returning to Austria, I met a Belgian girl who was doing her internship at the same place I was. We instantly clicked.

Our first afternoon we spent together, we would sit in San José (Costa Rica) with French cheese and mulled wine, laughing nonstop. I felt like I could finally really settle in again. For those two months, she wasn’t just a good friend, she was the embodiment of home for me. But with my return to Austria, I had to say goodbye to her too.

For a long time, I thought it was wanderlust that hit me hardest in the weeks after my return to Austria. But now I know: it was—and still is—homesickness. A deep longing to be with the people and in the places where I had found a sense of home.

Over the last months since returning from South America, I have again met new people and made friends who quickly became dear to my heart, only to have to say goodbye again.

Sometimes it’s hard to accept that some paths only cross briefly. You could call the feeling that follows pain of parting or heartbreak. But I prefer the word homesickness. Because it means that in someone or somewhere, we found a piece of home—a place where we could truly be ourselves.

That’s why traveling is both a blessing and a curse for me. Because no matter where I go – whether I stay in Austria or venture out again – homesickness will always be my constant companion.

Homesickness feels different for everyone. For me, it’s the longing to be with the people or in the places where I can truly be myself. What does homesickness mean to you? And what is „home“ for you – have you ever found it on a journey? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. 😊

Bussi Baba!