Aside from sharing our travels and adventures on our blog, my other reason for starting IOWANDERERS was because I wanted to get organized around travel and share what has worked well.
If you know me at all, you know that the word “preparation” isn’t a strong one.
I have great intentions of packing ahead of time and getting my sh*t together, but I’m usually just scrambling or doing things last minute. 🙃
It doesn’t typically bother me that I operate this way, but damn do I feel good when I’ve thought ahead in some areas in my life.
When it comes to travel, one of the areas I absolutely, positively will not budge on before we leave is ensuring our house is CLEAN and organized.
Am I the only one who feels a deep sense of satisfaction stepping into cleanliness after a trip?
While I love the joy of a tidy home post-travels, I was realizing that trip after trip, I would still feel a bit stressed when I opened the back door and started hauling all of our stuff in.
This blog post is a summary of the last couple years where I started pro-actively addressing my stress points head on so I could actually linger in the bliss we experience on our trips around the world.
Here are three simple ways I’ve chosen to decompress post-travels. I hope you’re able to incorporate one into your own adventures & please share in the comments if there are other things we all can consider.
Get the food situation figured out.
Coming home to an empty fridge is rough, especially with a toddler who relentlessly says “eat, eat, eat” when she’s hungry.
We are big fans of Instacart and we’ve done a good job getting the essentials figured out a day before or day of coming home. Scheduling groceries to be dropped off soon after we arrive home is truly magical. 🦄
We’ve also come to terms that our plates are so full that Hello Fresh is a good “easy button” for now. Knowing that will also be delivered the day we arrive home (or when our cat sitter stops over) gives me major peace of mind! Not to mention I reeeeally love their meals, especially the ones with endless amounts of sour cream. 🙃
In Des Moines, we also have a ton of companies popping up that pre-make dishes. I haven’t done this yet, but for future travels, I’m considering ordering meals I can throw in the freezer and thaw when we get home. It’s a great way to support my local community and have a happy, fed family when I get home.
And most importantly, I always make sure we have coffee when we get home. Always. This is my absolute favorite to have on hand. Bonus: the founders are from Iowa!
Create more white space on your calendar.
Nothing feels worse than getting home late on a Sunday and then jumping into a bunch of meetings the next day. If it’s possible for your situation, do not book meetings the day after you get back unless you have to!
I personally love settling into the morning, taking a peek at my inbox, rotating loads of laundry, popping on to check on my course students, and doing a quick Slack ping to my team to make sure everyone is doing ok.
My mind typically needs some time to assess priorities and get back to the working world, even if I’m feeling rejuvenated! I’m sure it’s a personality thing, but it’s done wonders for my mental health not to pack my days full of meetings, especially post-travels.
If I find myself thinking about work or to-do lists before I am done on our trips, I’ll use Notion to put them into specific tasks related to a day/category so I can deal with it when I get home.
Give your skin and body a boost.
Traveling is usually brutal on my skin, especially if we are going somewhere really warm in the winter and coming back to super cold temps.
Here are some things I typically do post-travels to give my skin & body some TLC.
- Water, water, water.
I love making sure I have plenty of water when I get back. If we are roadtripping I try not to drink a ton so we don’t have to stop as often. If we are on an airplane, I also don’t hydrate well because I hate having to get up and wake up sleeping neighbors. And if we are go-go-going on a trip, I just don’t even think about getting my h2o. Long story short, I am almost always dehydrated when I travel! - Skincare additions.
I’ve got a great routine down when I’m not traveling, but I don’t love to bring all my stuff. It’s heavy and means I have to check items or have more to lug around on roadtrips. No thanks. When I get back I typically find myself dry brushing, charcoal masking, using a body scrub in the shower (I love this one and this one), a lip exfoliator, and this insanely hydrating night cream (or coconut oil)! - Schedule out some exercise classes.
I don’t have a go-to workout routine, but I do try to get some form of movement as much as possible! This is something I’m working on getting better at but haven’t prioritized well. Sometimes I’ll bop over to the yoga studio to get a really good sweat session and other times I’ll go on some power walks with Penelope. When I put them in my calendar, I feel like I’m starting off on the right foot!
Other ideas for down the road.
I am by no means a professional at decompressing post-travels, but I am definitely working on ways to minimize stress so I can soak up the goodness of what we experienced away from home and cherish the memories instead of feeling chaotic.
What do you typically do post-travels to get back to normal without feeling totally overwhelmed?
I need my Type A, enneagram 1’s to step up here because this is borderline a miracle that I have these in place!