When you step off the plane or exit the freeway back to your family home for the holidays, you can’t help but feel overwhelmed by the excitement and anticipation of seeing your fam after weeks or months of being apart. You and your sibling(s) pick up right where you left off, telling stories of the semester’s experiences and uncontrollably laughing at the many inside jokes you share. The time spent with your parent(s) is cherished and appreciated, despite the countless number of times you assure them that you are, in fact, doing okay while you’re away at college. You wouldn’t trade these moments for the world, and the idea that Christmas is around the corner only makes you more excited to spend it at home.
Before you can get comfortable on the couch under a blanket, snuggling the family dog, you have to actually get back home. Whether that be by plane, train or car, the process of traveling home can be exhausting, frustrating, and sometimes boring. Here are the 7 stages of traveling home you experience each holiday season:
1. The Last Exam
The “Twilight Zone” of finals week, the last test is what gets you that much closer to going home. Your doctor would be horrified at how much coffee you’ve consumed in the past week, but you’ve convinced yourself the twitching muscles and questionable heart rhythm is worth getting to see your family.
2. Packing
The struggle of being an over-packer is real when you realize that you will probably have to check your bag at the airline, but know you’re too poor and can’t afford it. Guess I’ll just wear the same thing every day then.
3. Transportation
Those who fly home for the holidays know the struggle of actually getting to the airport. Your friends have either left already and aren’t able to take you to the airport, or you’re left at the hands of the unpredictable public transportation system. You’ll either be super early or nearly miss your flight, and there seems to be no in between. Thank God for Uber, amirite?
4. The Traveling Part
Be it 2 hours or 10, the trip home always takes forever. It doesn’t help that you’re sitting in front of a fussy toddler on the plane or are stuck in traffic on the 405 freeway, and the anticipation of arriving home might as well just kill you now because it’s eating you alive.
5. Being 5 minutes Away from Home
Now is the time where time travel would be much appreciated, thankyouverymuch. You’re exhausted, smell a little gross and are a bit out of it, but who cares? You’ve made it this far, and nothing can touch you now.
6. Walking Through the Front Door
This kind of bliss should be illegal. Talk about a sensory overload, the smells and feels that come with stepping through the front door of your home after a long time is like Disneyland on steroids. It’s kind of like coffee side affects you felt during ‘the last exam’, but different. And in a less “life threatening” way. Now if you’ll just point me toward the fridge, that would be great thanks.
7. Changing into PJs
Let’s be honest, it isn’t ‘going home’ until you slip into your pajamas. Even if it’s in the middle of the afternoon, nobody says “Welcome Home” better than your bed. The last, and arguably best, stage of going home for the holidays is knowing that you are comfortable and happy right in your own bed, and will be spending the Holiday Season with the people you love most.
I hope you enjoy the time with your families, and experience the true meaning of Christmas. Happy (almost) New Year!