Homesickness: an unknown emotion
Time to go home
Whenever Charlie travels back home, there are usually tears involved. She already misses all the people she’s met and the places she went to. This time, something was different. She misses everybody, but most people had left weeks before her and those that were left would return home soon too. It was a strange feeling that Charlie wasn’t even able to fully describe. It wasn’t sadness but it wasn’t happiness either. She would certainly miss certain people, but she was also looking forward to being home again like never before in her life.
Homesickness
What was meant to be one month of work and surf in Andalucía had turned out to be almost three months. The month of October had been great, and Charlie had decided to stay a little longer. November had turned out differently and when her flight at the end of the month got cancelled due to COVID-19 Charlie regretted the extension of a trip for the first time in her life.
In November, the government of Andalucía had put on some restrictions that would prohibit visits outside the local area. Charlie and the others were still able to move between the hostel in Conil de la Frontera and the surf school in El Palmar and they could go surfing, but there were no other guests arriving anymore. Bars and pubs had to close at 6 p.m. and there was a curfew from 10 p.m. The place had become very quiet.
With the surf school being closed, there were no transfers to El Palmar anymore and they had to arrange it for themselves to go surfing. That proved to be difficult without a car and without public transport (due to the restrictions).
At the same time the weather had turned, and it was raining most days of the month. At the hostel wasn’t much to do and Charlie started burying herself in more work in lack of a better alternative.
The hostel had also sold the surf skates and was waiting for new ones to arrive. The delivery got delayed further and further. That meant that even on sunny days, there was nothing for Charlie to do apart from work.
At the hostel in Conil, there were 5 people left who had now made this their home until further notice. That co-living situation also caused some conflict from time to time. That is normal, but it caused quite some discomfort for Charlie. For the first time in her life, she couldn’t wait to go home. Homesickness was a strange feeling that she had never experienced before.
Travelling back home
There were no flights back to London until a few days before Christmas. Charlie would have to wait. That was another first-time experience. During previous travels she had always been able to find alternative ways to get to where she wanted. This time was different because of the pandemic and travel restrictions.
When Charlie finally got on an airplane, it was another experience she hadn’t had for a while: She was travelling with friends instead of on her own. Frankie and Sabina were also travelling to London to go home for Christmas and they had all booked the same flight. That made it a lot easier to arrange the trip to the airport. There was no public transport and Marta was so kind to give them a lift to Seville.
It was the last girl’s trip for 2020 and Charlie was happy to share that moment with two fellow surfers she had become close with during her time in Conil de la Frontera.
PS: Sabina, Frankie and Charlie had one last coffee together at Stansted Airport. Once again, Sabina got a coffee on ice instead of the much wanted frappé. As they said their goodbyes, Charlie finally felt that all so familiar sadness and the tears started rolling down her cheeks. Farewells never get any easier.
