James Hammond (00:00)

Hello and welcome to this week's episode. So I was sitting in a quiet room the other day, editing my drone footage for Finland, which you can see on my new YouTube channel, Droning with Hammo. But I felt the urge and the want to go back to those times. So it got me thinking, like, do I miss Finland? Yes. Do I miss travel? Yes. And it's that weird hollow ache, right? It's intoxicating, it hurts. But is this post trip blues in a nutshell? And how do you deal with this?

So I'm telling myself as I edit this footage that whilst finishing this project

I kinda got the feeling that we're doing something way more complicated.

we aren't actually homesick for the place, but we're mourning the version of ourselves that existed whilst we're there.

untethered to the curious version who didn't have to answer an email, pay your rent, commute, all the things you do in normal life. And I miss being that version of myself. So is it this? Not the actual place that you miss, but rather the type of lifestyle and or version of yourself.

And lastly what to discuss

The panic that sets in when you have nothing in your calendar. So I think this is called no trip phobia. So it's totally blank, no flights, no reservations, just a straight line of routine stretching out into infinity.

It's that low grade dread of having nowhere to go.

and nothing in the pipeline either. So today we're talking about all those things and why we torture ourselves the editing room while coming home feels like a hangover and how to stop using the past as an escape hatch. There's my little intro. I actually scripted that for once. Can you believe it?

James Hammond (01:24)

Welcome to the Winging It Travel podcast, your weekly ticket to the world hosted by me, James Hammond, proudly part of the Voyascape Network.

This is more than just a travel podcast. This is a cinematic audio experience to take you along with me on my journeys.

through rich immersive soundscapes, authentic storytelling, and on the ground reaction.

bring you right alongside me, whether I'm hiking volcanoes,

checking out the chaos of a city,

or camping under the stars.

With over 15 years I've travelled behind me

I've met incredible people,

seen breath taking places,

and collected unforgettable stories.

And now I get to share them with you.

So

expect a mix of immersive audio episodes.

let you hear the world as I explore it.

Solo episodes where I raw, authentic storytelling tips.

and honest travel tales.

and guest conversations with some of most diverse and well-traveled people that I've met.

This is a podcast for travelers, dreamers, backpackers, or anyone who thinks, what if I just went for it and traveled the world?

So if you're looking for stories to tell, tips to share, and experiences to inspire, then you're in the right place.

There is so much travel content coming your way. It might just spark that trip that you've always wanted to take.

James Hammond (02:42)

Wigging

It is part of the Voyescape Network and you can check all the podcasts out on the network at voyescape.com. There's so many great hosts, great podcasts and many, many great travel tips. Honestly, it's one of the best resources out there for travel and it will inspire you to get out there to see the world. Head to voyescape.com for more great content.

James Hammond (03:02)

So let's dive straight in.

James Hammond (03:03)

Right, the post trip hangover, the dopamine crash. This is surely something that everybody struggles with and this comes in various ways, I think, for me.

The physiological shift. So moving from that constant pace. I call it travel fitness, where you are probably hitting 10, 15, 20,000 steps a day because you're walking around new towns and cities, you're doing a hike, you're doing all these activities anyway. It's high stimulus rather than the predictable routine of domestic life. And I think I do feel much more healthier when traveling because yes, you may eat more.

And you don't track calories that much because you're just eating out or just going to cafes, but you're moving so much more that it feels like you're just better fitness wise, mentally wise, and also you have that great, great feeling of exploring for the whole day and being completely knackered when you get back to the hotel or hostel.

So the flip side of that is when you get back, it's that shock of mundane and I really struggle with this. That is a jarring transition of one week climbing a mountain pass and then the next week you're back on your laptop doing work. The contrast is huge

And I actually think this time around from Finland I had a two to three week high actually. I thought, do you know what? I've had a three week break. I've travelled a lot of places. I've met some friends and some new people.

And I had a great time exploring, doing things. And it got me motivated coming back to getting on with doing these podcasts, YouTube, etc. But I think that has slowly passed. Probably this weekend actually. And late last week, was just feeling like, I just want to go back. And it's the archive trap, right? When I'm there editing my video and it's drone footage of a lake in Finland in the bluest skies you'll ever see, the green scenery of trees.

harmness of the water, the little cabin that we stayed at, and just those carefree days of getting up, going into the sauna, going to the lake, having a coffee, nowhere to be, no time constraints, and doing what you want for the whole day. and all those feelings came across to me whilst editing this video and I thought, I just want to be back.

Do ever get that? You look back at a a video, maybe a social media reel, or if you're a creator like me, editing a YouTube video or doing a podcast, do you ever make your notes and think, those are great days? So this is the post trip hangover I've had probably this last three or four days, and I thought that'd be a great way to get it all out on the podcast today.

And I do wonder if this is different for different types of people in their jobs. So for me, I still work full time alongside this podcast and my YouTubes, and that means I edit a lot of travel footage of my own travels, and it gives me that feeling every time I edit a video. It's crazy. So that can range from a very recent trip, like the one in Finland and Estonia, or even in Bhutan, just before Christmas, or it could be ten years ago.

In New Zealand, road shipping around North and South Ireland with Emma. Same feeling, the same want to go back to those times. But it's not realistic, is it? You can't travel all the time, can you? For various reasons. Money, time, need a break, see people, friends and family, etc. So where's the medium? Where's the happy middle place where you can do just enough travel to keep that?

Burning desire to a nice level and fulfilled and satisfied, and the need for a break to pause and reflect.

Another great question would be if you were given a blanket year and you could do your own job, your own income, something that you love, but you also love traveled as well, what would be your breakdown for the year? Like would you travel sixty percent to forty percent? Would you do half and half? Would you do less, more? I often think about this and I think I am sixty forty, sixty percent travel, forty percent at home.

Because I had the feeling this time for the first time maybe ever, where I enjoyed coming back to Vancouver and going out for a walk, going to the local cafe, seeing some people at the park run that I know, and retelling the stories from those trips to those people. So I enjoyed it, but that doesn't last very long for me. And like I say, three weeks later, I'm back to wanting to go back. But there is a caveat. I do have a trip coming up to French Polynesia in two weeks. So it's not too bad.

but in the eight months after Christmas and to Finland, that was a long gap of not much travel apart from locally and had to get to me. That was way too long. So it's this constant analysing, weighing up of what the happy medium is for me. And I'm sure we all have the post trip blues, whether that happens very quickly, instantly, or it takes a bit of time to come in. And that goes on to my next point,

is that actually

the location and the place or is it mourning your vacation self so your travel self if you like because the routine identity is gone, isn't it?

instead of logging into your laptop at eight thirty AM or go into the building site at eight thirty AM and you're both finishing at the same time, day in, day out, then you have your two days break on the weekend. That goes out of the window on holiday, on vacation, or when you travel. Because suddenly you feel a bit lighter, more spontaneous, and fundamentally I think more alive on the road.

When I'm burdened by our day-to-day reputations and stress. It's the complete opposite, isn't it? It's actually crazy when you think about it. And you can also understand why people go mental on holidays

specifically, right? So travel is a little bit different. If you're going medium-long term and you've got three months of travel, yes, you'll have to hide after a couple of weeks when you first go, but then you settle into the routine of travel. you need to make sure you break that up with different.

experiences, different places and different ways of traveling. So for example, I would go away interrailing for six weeks in Europe and the first two weeks could be go, go, go. But then I get to somewhere in the south of Spain, I think, do you know what? It's really relaxed here. Let's stay here for a week, then move on. You're just changing up a little bit to keep things fresh.

I think that's key when you travel medium to long term. If you're short term travel, like a holiday,

People do go nuts, don't they? They drink a lot, they enjoy themselves to the max because it is a finite time. So then that is a temporary persona.

So do we miss that persona? because in those periods of time, that is potentially your real self. and you have an immense sadness that you can't be yourself like that day to day at work for various reasons.

So isn't just about missing geography or country or culture. I mean it can be for sure. Some countries do hit you like that. But I think it's saying goodbye to a temporary version of yourself that only exists in that motion. And that is a tough thing to analyse as well, isn't it? So yes, I do love Finland. I do love the lakes. I love the footage from the drone flying above the lake and it's so calm and peaceful and there's no one there. That is all true.

But I missed person doing it because I could get up at nine o'clock, dip into the sauna, have a coffee, go outside to cool off, get my drone and fly it. Whereas I can't do that in real life because I have to log on at eight thirty, nine AM.

But there's also something called the fallacy of return. So why going back to the exact same spot rarely works? Because you can book the same hotel, but you can't step in the same river twice, can you? Because the context and you have both changed. So for example, I'm now thinking, I want to go back to the Lakelands in Finland. And that is a hundred percent possible on the cards. Because I loved it. But I'm not going back to that exact same moment in time, am I?

And there is something finite and beautiful about that. But it's hard to accept because the people I travel with, they're in a different time and place. So that will never be recreated exactly how it was. I'll be different maybe next summer, something might happen. I might be in a different place mentally. I could be more excited, I could be less excited, who knows? But that exact moment will never happen again.

And it's interesting, isn't it? Because we look back on those heydays, if you like, of your early twenties, dotting around Southeast Asia. And for me I yearn to be back in that s six months of travel, so it's three months in South East Asia for sure.

And I think I want those experiences again, but I can't return.

fourteen years later and expect the same experience. I'm older, I don't drink as much, probably don't say in as many hostels as back then. And I prefer some comforts when I travel, as opposed to then where we're saying in 10 bed dorms, we're not getting any sleep, no air con, it's hot, we're getting scammed. and actually when I think back, yeah,

lot of that was stressful. But it was fun at the same time. You're learning a lot whilst travelling around.

James Hammond (11:08)

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James Hammond (11:52)

So looping back to your vacation self, your travel self, I think the only way to curb that is to try and take that version of yourself into daily routine life. And that is really hard because you're not doing the same activities. But it's worth thinking about, isn't it?

Then I want to come on to no trip phobia. This is a craze and a thing that I suffer from one hundred percent. And the blank calendar panic. So no trip phobia is the distinct anxious feeling that settles in when your calendar is wide open and you have zero upcoming adventures on the horizon. Is that you? How do you feel?

I don't think I can finish a trip without having something in the books after it.

So for example, even though I've had eight months of having to work full time between January and August, and I had this trip planned in August for three weeks, before I went, I also had French Polynesia planned because I need something booked for when I come back. So French Polynesia in two weeks happens. What's after that? Well, I'm back in UK for Christmas

And have a trip booked to Morocco in January, first week. So they're backpacking for eight days. So that keeps it going, right? And then when I get to that point, I know that we are both going to Newfoundland next summer. So we'll be booking that ahead of time and agreeing some dates and getting some flights booked. And there's Mexico City in between at the minute. So these are things that are on the horizon, and surely you must have this in your calendar, whether that's once a year, so you've done your trip this year.

And you know where you're going or at least putting something in place to book for next year. Because otherwise, how do you not suffer from no trip phobia?

I think it's the biggest problem for me

And most frightening, I think, because I cannot imagine it. And I don't think that'd be good for me mentally. But I think re-watching old clips morphs from fond remembrance into self-torture a little bit. I mean, like I said, when I was watching those video clips of the drone footage, I had that. I also edited my latest video in Tallinn for my roaming with Hammo YouTube vlogging account. And even then I'd text my mate Bambi saying, God.

Great days, get me back. Like we're already yearning to go back a couple of weeks later. So that's a bit like self-torture. And it's like trapping yourself in a loop of living backwards because the present feels too rigid. And that's a problem. I think that's also a mega problem if you don't love your job. Now I know many people don't love their job. They don't even like their job. So it is the key to real life, finding something that you do day to day for money, for work.

Something that you genuinely enjoy because coming back won't seem that bad, right? And maybe the no trip phobia wouldn't be such a problem because day to day is okay.

And for those one or two hours I'm editing the video or even doing the podcast, it's like a digital security blanket, isn't it? For me, where for one or two hours I am somewhere else in time remembering stuff, enjoying it, and I've taken myself away from the day to day grind because I'm editing a trip that I've completed in the summer. it's great for one or two hours, but then obviously after that I'm back into the void and that's a problem.

So the post trip hangover, is it really the place or the way you feel at that time of travelling? So the vacation self, the holiday self, the travel self, which one is it? It can be both, can be one or the other.

No trip phobia. That has to be cured with booking trips in before you get back for sure. And to finish on this post trip hangover and mourning yourself whilst travelling, I think that depends also how much you enjoy a country. for example, I loved Bhutan. And would I go back tomorrow? Yes, in a heartbeat. I love Himalayan culture, I love Buddhism.

I love the way they treat people, the kindness, the activities available, the scenery, everything is incredible. But there is one caveat, it's not very accessible. So whereas tomorrow I could book to go to the Finland Lakelands and go on a road trip, very easy and possible to do. For Bhutan, it's a bit harder, a bit more expensive, gotta get a tour. So they aren't quite the same. But in terms of an actual country and location,

They're both equal because I love them both.

And I think the vacation self I generally think

That is more true for the early travels because I just feel like I was more sprightly, outgoing, relaxed, not as weighed down by responsibilities, or weighed down by the world's problems. Maybe it was a better time to travel in those days, I'm not sure. So I do hut back to those twenty thirteen, fourteen days because I felt like I

probably as free as I've ever been in life to go and travel. But they did not have their problem-free times. There were a lot of problems during those travels, money.

Getting scammed at borders, getting held at gunpoint, et cetera. So I did learn a lot in those times. But it's all part of the learning, isn't it? So how do you break the loop and integrate back into real life? I think there is something really accepting and freeing about seeing a particular trip that's meant for that moment in time. It's finite.

And that

It's beautiful in itself because it cannot be recreated. you made a decision to go then with some people and it will never be recreated. It's for that time. Everyone's in a different place to next year compared to then. Yes, you could travel the same place, but it won't be totally the same, would it? Different experiences, different times. It could be a happier trip next time or not as good a trip next time. And that's a danger of going back to somewhere twice.

Closing their chapter. So you've given

reels, your social media videos, your photos, my travel footage, an actual endpoint. So I think what I'm trying to do with this podcast is wrap up those early travels and get them signed off. And I will mention them occasionally, but that's it for the episodes being dedicated to them. And I think that's also true for current trips. I mean, I did everything I could possibly do for Bhutan I think I did

six or seven YouTube videos, three or four interviews, a huge amount of podcast episodes ranging from pseudo episodes like this and immersive episodes. I have completely closed that chapter on that trip in Bhutan There is nothing else to say. loved it. I've told everything there is, I've not left anything out, and I think that's quite important to move on to your next trip.

But obviously, if you're not a creator, somehow you're gonna have to figure that out in terms of enjoy seeing the memories but not be held by them because

a bit torturous to look back on. There's such a great trip.

That's something you've got work on. Smuggling travel into daily life. Yeah, that's always a good way to try and do it. Go and see a new walking path locally, do some micro curiosities at home. Could be like a new museum.

random conversations, meeting people, different activities, and looking up your own city like a tourist, that does get you by sometimes. And of course curing the no trip phobia is literally booking an adventure into the future. And I could spend hours researching somewhere that I haven't even booked yet. And I'm like, yeah, do you know what? That looks good. I'll write that down.

a great recommendation. I could do this, this and that.

So for me, sometimes I don't even have to book something. I just need to have the idea in my mind and research it before pressing the button to book. That can also be a good way to pass my time if I really need that wonderlust to get me through. And I think reading travel books can also get you through some days. I've got five travel books on my Kindle at the minute that I'm getting through. That'd be great for the rest of the year just for me to hear and read experiences from people on the road.

Get some ideas as well, and also hear some great stories and some funny stories and not be too bogged down by the trips I wish that was on.

So a quick episode there for you. Let me know what you think in regards to the post-trip hangover or post-trip blues, the morning of your travel self and the no trip phobia, what you think about those subjects. That's quite an interesting one to discover. I think essentially all we're trying to do is between trips just trying to get yourself through and enjoy your day today and be present without harking back to previous trips because you just wish time away.

And you don't want to do that when you get older, that's for sure, because time is finite, unfortunately. So thanks for tuning in. Let me know what your thoughts are. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast on any podcast app that you have. Five stars is amazing. A written review is even better. If you'd like to donate to the production costs of this podcast, you can head to buymeacoffee.com forward slash winging it and buy me a coffee for five dollars. Or you can share a podcast word of mouth to your friends and family and hopefully they come back.

For more. I'll see you at the next episode. We've got a few things coming up. I've got notes for Puerto Rico that I did in 2014. Very hazy memories, but I've got some stories there. It's more story driven than that episode. And I've recently been to Hornby Island, which is one of my favourite places in Canada, and definitely up there in BC. So I'll be doing a revisit to travel to Hornby Island in 2026 going into 2027 summer because you need to book well in advance here in Canada.

I'll see you at those episodes. Take care of yourself. Get travelling out there in the world. And don't read too much news. Catch you later. Cheers.

James Hammond (20:22)

Thanks for tuning into the Winging It Travel podcast episode today. I hope you got some great content there and are inspired to go and travel. If you want help to go and travel, there are links on wingingittravelpodcast.com to help you book some travel. These are affiliate links

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