Returning home

Unless your plan is to retire abroad, you will sooner or later come home again.

Prepare

“ One's own house is best, though small it may be,
each man is master at home;
with a bleeding heart will he beg, who must,
his meat at every meal. ”

—Hávamál

Returning home may be nicer if you followed advice in Getting ready to leave.

If you have done a lot of shopping, you might find yourself with more baggage than when you left home. You might even need to bring one bag more, and pay extra for it.

Consider discarding or donating clothes or other equipment if you don't need to bring them home.

You might want to make arrangements for your first day at home, such as ordering groceries to be delivered, so that you don't have to go shopping before having had a good rest.

Get in

See also: Border crossing, Arriving by plane

While immigration check is usually absent or a formality when you arrive in your homeland, customs control can be a hassle. Make sure you know what you can and cannot bring in and declare anything over the legal limits.

Reactivate services

If you have taken steps to avoid getting mail etc. you should not forget to reactivate their normal working. If you made your credit card work abroad you should probably reset the limitations. Get your flowers from the neighbor and your cat from your parents. You did bring a gift for them, didn't you? Check the list you wrote when departing for other things to undo.

Money

Look through your bank account and your bills. Beware of suspect withdrawals which could be scams.

You might have foreign currency that should be exchanged back, saved for use on your next journey or given to a charity collecting foreign currencies (there are often collection boxes at airports). Coins usually cannot be exchanged and even for bills the exchange rate may be unfavorable.

Baggage

Pack out your baggage as soon as you have time.

Some clothes and other equipment might need repairs.

Stay healthy

Jet lag might be a concern when you come home.

Diseases such as diarrhea and sunburn might linger for days or more. If recommended during an infectious disease outbreak, you may need to self-isolate after travel to avoid spreading the germs to anyone else.

Your body, clothes or equipment might be infected by bedbugs or other pests.

Culture shock

If you've been abroad for a long time (months or years) you may experience reverse culture shock (or "re-entry shock") when you come back home and find that the place you're from has changed and you have too. Be patient with yourself and with your country while you make the adjustment, and follow some of the same techniques for dealing with regular culture shock.