Travel

Here's an excerpt from an article in the New York Times that describes exactly how I feel when I first arrive at a new, strange place:

"For any traveler, the first day in a strange place can be stressful. Just like everyone else, I suffer regularly from what I call 24-TDD: 24-hour Temporary Distress and Disorientation. In layman’s terms: the first day in almost every new place usually stinks. You arrive and think you’ve made a terrible mistake: it’s too touristy, it’s not touristy enough, it’s boring, it’s ugly, you didn’t do enough research, your research is terrible. You’re tired, lost, hungry, cold (or hot), feeling woozy.
. . . .

". . . [A]fter a rough 24 hours, things magically turn around. The city starts to seem familiar. The public transit system becomes old hat, a great free map is found, landmarks are recognized, both famous (the Louvre again, just where I knew it would be) and less so (ah, the sandwich shop with the old wooden seats means my hostel is up the next block)."

That's my experience exactly! When I get to a new place, I spend the first few hours convinced that I've made a mistake. I'm disoriented, I'm tired, I can't figure things out, and I start trying to figure out how to endure the days until I can go home. But I've learned that if I just give it some time, things will turn around, and I'll end up loving it. I experienced this the most strongly in Warsaw and Tromsø, but it happens to some degree everywhere I go. In the end, I haven't ever left a place regretting that I'd made the trip.