Culture Shock When You Get Home – Episode 139 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

May 14, 2019 By Amanda Kendle Leave a Comment

Reverse culture shock, or re-entry shock, or culture shock when you get home – whatever name you give it, it’s often a problem we don’t anticipate and it can hit you harder than you’d expect.

Sure, it’s a true privilege to have experienced other cultures and then return home and find it difficult to settle back in, but nonetheless it’s something that can be pretty distressing. That’s why I like to keep talking about it and this new episode of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast addresses some of the ways you can experience culture shock when you get home.

Show notes: Episode 139 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

Culture Shock When You Get Home

We’re used to expecting culture shock when we travel to a different country but what about when we return home? Sometimes it’s a worse shock than when we travel, and we’re not always prepared for it. This kind of reverse culture shock, or culture shock when you come home, is something my guests in Episode 139 of The Thoughtful Travel Podcast have all experienced.

First up I chat with Talon Windwalker who like me lived abroad for about six years. After two years at home he’s still having trouble settling back, something I can very much relate to as it took me many years to feel like I was happily at home again.

I then talk with Luke Mackin who, as a third culture kid who grew up in the Philippines with American parents, moved to the United States as a teenager and now lives with his family in Indonesia, finds it hard to decide what is home and what is “his” culture, meaning this whole culture shock issue can be really amplified.

Finally I speak with Jo Duggan who spent six months volunteering in a medical setting in rural Thailand. It was an incredibly different experience to her regular life in Australia, but one of the hardest parts, to Jo’s surprise, was actually settling back home.

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