After living in Australia for almost 2 years, I found myself fearfully clutching my bags as I boarded a plane that was taking me 7,000 miles away. I was headed back home to Los Angeles and mentally prepping myself to deal with what many travel bloggers have written about: reverse culture shock.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready to return to the life I had left behind.
I’ve been back for 2 months now. What’s the verdict? I have never been more in love with my hometown than I am right now. Yes, I had an Australian love affair – but my heart always belonged to LA, and moving back confirmed it for me.
Disclosure: This article is not for those who loathe their hometown. If you do, then it’s very likely we’ll have two completely different experiences. I loved LA, even before I left. So why leave a place you love? Curiosity. Most people I meet in LA aren’t from here. I always envied their bravery to just take off and start a new life, so I decided to do the same and find out what new adventures were waiting for me on the other side of the world.
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Australia was gorgeous! And the work/life balance is a travelers dream come true – especially if you’re American and used to only getting 2 weeks off per year. As much fun as I was having, something always felt a little off. Slowly but surely, I realized that Dorothy was right; “there’s no place like home”.
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The famous saying, “you never know what you have until it’s gone” definitely applied in my case. When I lived in Australia I wanted to see and do as much as humanly possible. But when I lived in LA, I did the same things over and over – I had trapped myself in a hamster wheel, which kept me from appreciating this amazing wonderland of all things random.
My travel blog never had a word of anything LA related because I’ve been so fixated on escaping home, and traveling within my hometown just didn’t feel like “travel” to me. Coming back from Australia caused me to do the exact opposite; I want to explore all of LA, document every step of the way, and share every bit of awesome that I come across for other people to use when planning their getaways. There are a lot of amazing things to see here, and I’m just getting started.
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So, just know that coming home after living abroad doesn’t have to be depressing. I never would’ve guessed this was going to be the outcome when I booked my one-way ticket to Sydney, but here I am. Would I change anything if I could? Not at all, I’d do the exact thing all over again if given the chance.
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On a last note, I will be completely transparent with you and say that the toughest thing about the move was falling in love abroad and having to say goodbye. But that’s a story for another day.
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