Welcome to PCD (Post Contiki Depression) also known as PTD (Post Tour/Trip Depression).
I'd say about 90% of people on go on a Contiki tour suffer from this illness when they return to reality.
Symptoms can include, but are not limited to:
* A 24 hour silence virus on your immediate return, because you realize that anyone who isn't a tourmate, just won't understand.
* When this virus passes you may then be hit with Myxomatosis, also known as the Rabbit Virus, because you'll be rabbiting on about your trip so much people will think you have gone crazy. This time is best spent preparing a group email to your tourmates.
* Hallucinations - when walking around in public you may find yourself seeing tourmates in complete strangers. This symptom can also be grouped with the subconscious idea that you should be keeping an eye out for them, as 'they might be late for the bus and should just only be right around the corner!'
* After a few days of constant storytelling to friends, families, co-workers, anyone who'll listen, you may start ending sentences midway through saying 'oh it doesn't matter, you weren't on the tour, you wouldn't understand'.
These symptoms are usually followed by unwilling acceptance. Depression is the next stage when you realize the life you have come back to and that you'll never see most of your tourmates again. The sense of belonging has gone. But around this time you should start getting the group emails and a flood of memories return. Contiki reunions are marked on calendars.
The best cure is to definitely have a goal, preferably another trip to plan. For some of us the pain is only harder when we find this years travel plans have fallen through and we'll have to wait till next year instead.
It's kinda scary, but this is pretty accurate. It always stinks when you return home from a vacation, but something about Contiki makes it a little worse.
One thing that Contiki has done that I think is really cool is that every tour has a "day song." It's a song that is played every morning and occasionally on special occasions during the trip. It's a song that when you hear it after your tour is supposed to remind you of your trip, and it absolutely works. Here are my day songs:
Around the World by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Hard Rock Hallelujah by Lordi
Rasputin by Boney M
Times Like These by Foo Fighters
I'm considering having a day song for my trip to Hawaii, a song I will play once a day on the trip to get us excited for the day.
