This post was most recently updated on July 9th, 2019
Uh-huh? You don’t think you travel too much? Are you sure?
Maybe you’re in denial and you just need to face the truth. There’s a really good chance you travel too much if you find the following are true…
You never need to buy soap any more
If you bring home those little bars of soap from the hotels you stay at, and you never quite use them up before heading out on a trip and replenishing, then you probably travel too much.
All the flowers in your yard are dead
You’re no longer home long enough to enjoy them anyway, so why bother to pay someone to come over and water them for you!
Your favorite shirt has a pocket for your passport
Seriously, if your wardrobe is now full of secret zipper pockets so you can stash your power cords, your ID, your chewing gum, and who knows what else, you probably travel too much! If you don’t already have this shirt with a pocket for your passport, you won’t be able to resist buying it now that you’ve seen it! (Go ahead, and I’ll get a few cents commission!)
Your home decor is travel-themed
Because you probably don’t think about anything else anymore, your home is now decorated with souvenirs from your trips, vintage suitcases, globes, Eiffel Tower statues, seashells and foreign coins. Even your Christmas tree is covered in ornaments you buy on all of your trips!
Your friends have stopped inviting you to things
They think you’re gone all the time anyway, so instead of invites, they tag you on their Facebook posts with “@__________, so sorry we missed you!”
Your suitcase is never fully unpacked
I know. You have every intention of unpacking that bag as soon as you get home. But when it’s time to leave on the next trip, there it is, still full of receipts, dirty socks you should have washed, your favorite cardigan, the hairbrush you couldn’t find, and your little ziploc bag full of airplane-sized toiletries.
Note: If I were you, I’d get an attractive set of packing cubes because at least they look pretty if you find them in your suitcase weeks later! Or if you need a new set of luggage, here’s a code to get you 20% off at PacksProject.com: postcardsandpassports (And yes, these are affiliate links. If you buy anything, you’ll save money, and I’ll earn a little too — win/win!)
Your email inbox is full of flight confirmations
There’s your proof right there. You have to scroll through more than a few confirmations to find the one you need when it’s time to go. And if you’re flying on Southwest Airlines, you have a whole bunch of calendar reminders to check in for your flight exactly 24 hours before your flight leaves. You work your schedule around those visits to your app!
You travel too much if you never quite recover from jet lag
No one is going to keep buying the excuse that you’ve caught a cold, or the neighbor’s barking dog woke you up. You feel the way you do because you’re STILL recovering from jet lag. AGAIN. Or maybe you just can’t figure out which time zone you’re in and you’re missing all of your appointments…
None of your Instagram photos are taken at home
Forget the cute dog posts. Or the fresh muffins you pulled out of the oven. Or the flowers you just picked from your yard (remember you let those die). You don’t have any photos to post except from your travels!
You go through withdrawals if you’re not planning another trip
Oh my, you’ve only been home a few days, and you’re already checking out the flights for a new trip? You might have even committed to staying home for awhile to catch up with friends. But here you are trying to squeeze in just one more getaway before the end of the year when your companion fare expires. You have it seriously bad — you really do travel too much!
I do hope you’re able to find some travelling balance in your life. Personally, I find humor in these “symptoms” only because I am awfully close to nailing all of them! I’m sure I have friends who do think I travel too much! Here I am with my favorite travel shirt with the zipper passport pocket, and my globe necklace. Be sure to comment below and tell me which “travel too much” symptoms I left out!
Wait, I thought it was impossible to travel too much!
Oh good–that’s what I was hoping!
I love this article. So much of it applies to me. By the time I get home from my current trip, my yard will be filled with leaves.
I’m kind of jealous of the fall leaves, though. Wishing you good travels on your next trip, Connie!
Travel is life its that simple, keep on travelling keep on planning. I love the travel planning
Only thing I live for!!
I think I meet some of these qualities but I don’t think i traveled too much. Besides, sometimes my friends travel with me and so we really get to share some quality time together in another place!
One thing that will never happen to me is that my OCD wouldn’t allow any unpacked luggage left at the corner at home. :p @knycx.journeying
Wow, I truly enjoyed the article! There’s no such thing as too much travel, is it 😉 I love the shirt with a passport zip 😀 I want that too.
The shirt is a gem. Never wrinkles, and always looks great. Plus it dries fast if it gets wet!
San Diego is such a beautiful airport. I miss the ocean take offs and landing over Balboa Park. Now that we got that out of the way, we can talk about travel planning withdrawal. It’s a real thing. You start planning and your day doesn’t seem complete if you aren’t solving some logistic problem. I have magic suitcase fairies that pack and unpack those things. It makes travelling that much more fun 😉
This is adorable and I can relate especially to my suffering plants and long lost friends. Traveling too much makes staying home all the more wonderful. I’m learning to pace myself.
Ah, I think I’m guilty of 90% of these! There is no such thing as too much travel… my suitcase is never fully unpacked and have quite a collection of soaps. I plant flowers every spring and then come back from a trip to find them dead… I vow to never do it again (buy the flowers, I mean!) but always do!
I love the suitcase one! I don’t travel all the time, but I often don’t completely unpack my suitcase until I am packing it again for another trip, lol.
Yep, sometimes that’s just being efficient!
This is both hilarious and brutally true! OMG, its insane how many things I can check off of this list. The lack of invites, travel themed home decor, never fully unpacking, yard is a mess, closet full of packaged soaps. LOL Great job!
Right?! I’ll bet we could put our heads together and think of more things to add to the list, too!
Haha. I loved every word of this post! What a fun diagnosis for those of us who travel often!
Haha, what a fun post for travelers to read! I can relate to SO many of these. However, I didn’t know about that shirt. Must check it out 😉
It IS really a nice shirt — it doesn’t wrinkle at all, it dries super fast, and it has a vent flap built in to the back to keep you cool. Plus it has that side zipper pocket that will hold a passport or other ID, credit cards, etc.
This post cracked me up! So many of these are true for me. At the moment, I have a half unpacked suitcase in my front hall, and since I have to pack again next week I’m feeling pretty lazy about putting it away only to haul it back out in a few days. Oh, and my mom once had to drive across the state to rescue my house plant when I went to Peru for a few weeks and forgot to arrange for a friend to water it. That was three years ago, and my plant has continued to reside at my mom’s house since then.
Ha-ha! So funny that your house plant is still at your mom’s!
The worst thing about travel is coming home and fighting that urge to book another trip straight away.
Oh I totally agree with that! The urge is STRONG!
Totally me!
Obviously, it’s me, too!