The World Cruise Effect: Getting Over Getting Home

So you’ve spent over a hundreds of days and nights gallivanting around the world in spectacular style. You’ve sailed beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, photographed the statues of Easter Island, sailed a junk boat in Hong Kong, eaten pizza in Naples and sushi in Osaka, seen Rio de Janeiro through the eyes of Christ the Redeemer and waited with baited breath to see the ‘Big 5’ on the plains of South Africa. You’ve dined on the finest fare the world has to offer, both on the ship and off it, and have seen sights that you had only ever read about before you set sail. You’ve spent afternoons in the middle of the ocean and evenings in the most exciting cities in the world. And now you’re home. And it’s raining. And the washing needs doing, the cat needs collecting and the grandkids want to hear all about your adventures (or more importantly, see what you bought in the way of souvenirs!)

Whether you have spent three glorious months circumnavigating the globe on Royal Caribbean’s epic ‘Ultimate World Cruise‘ or disappeared for a shorter while on a sector of a whole world cruise, coming back down to earth can leave you feeling more than a bump. With your wanderlust firmly rooted and your nose already back in the brochures, here are some of our favourite ways to get back into the swing of things once you get back on dry land.

Indulge in your most missed meals

Regardless of how incredible the food on board, we all have that one meal that tells us we’re home. Sunday lunch with all the trimmings, a bacon butty dripping in ketchup, beans on toast with lashings of brown sauce and the illusive British cuppa; just a few of things we miss when we’re at sea. While fillet steak and afternoon tea served by white-gloved waiters is all well and good, sometimes we want a taste of home.

Remember the little things

When you’re used to a nightly turn-down and the services of your dedicated cabin steward, it can be a shock to the system when you return home. Ease yourself in by reminding yourself of the little things that made all the difference before you went away; a hot bath in absolute peace when you have the house to yourself, freshly-washed bedding or even just a catch up of your favourite soaps.

Relive the dream

When you have ventured all around the world, it would be criminal to keep those memories bottled up on memory cards and USB sticks filled with photographs. Print them off, fill albums with them, hang them on walls and let them remind you of every single amazing moment, every single time you look at them.  Some holidays are too big for Facebook albums and mobile phone galleries.

Catch up

Meet friends for coffee and family for lunch. Outshine them with your tan, regale them with tales of your round-the-world adventure and find out what you’ve missed at home. Conversations that start with “oh, you know, same old really” inevitably lead to juicy gossip eventually.

Go away

You may have only just returned from an epic voyage around the world, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t remind yourself of the best bits closer to home. You’ll arrive home just in time for summer – perfect timing for a trip to the coast with the family. It’s not quite French Polynesia but it’ll do.