How long do you have to be away from home to be homesick?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I got married on December 26th, left for an extended business trip to Chicago on January 12th, and – outside of a brief four-day sojourn that involved a couple of days back in LA – I’ve been in Chicago ever since. Right now, this trip is projected to last until sometime in March. I miss my wife most of all, of course, but I also miss my bed, and my cats, and my couch, and my car, and even my coworkers. I’m pretty sure this qualifies as being homesick. I feel like it’s really just hit me hardest in the last couple of days.

I know from previous threads that there are an awful lot of Dopers here who travel for work from time to time. And I’m sure there are a number of you who have gone on extended trips for other reasons. So to all of you, I ask this: how long do you have to be away from home before you become homesick? You can define that in whatever way makes sense to you, but I think it’s more than missing a particular person – I think homesick is about missing most things about your home life and routine. What does it take to get you to that point?

2

Wow. That’s a long time: two months on a business trip? The longest I was ever away was for three weeks, and I did that three times (to the far east).

The first time my son was only a year old. He didn’t recognize me for a few seconds when I got back! So, yeah, three weeks was enough for me.

3

I did just shy of three weeks back in the summer of 2010, but I didn’t have the same reaction. I was living alone at the time in a place I really didn’t care for, so I didn’t miss my home at all. My then-girlfriend was able to visit me a couple of times during the trip (and we were already in a long-distance relationship at that point, so my travel to the east coast made it easier for us to see each other). And I was also just working at a different office of my company, so I had coworkers there who were already friends of mine. Other than working a whole hell of a lot, I really didn’t mind being away from home much on that trip.

4

When I moved out of the USA in 2002 (to a place where I could buy health insurance), I did not set foot back in the US for two years… it took about 18 months for me.

5

About five hours.

6

A little homesick- after about a week.

REALLY homesick- less than two weeks.

Edit: married 40+ years. Wife and I almost never travel separately, so that’s not an issue. I miss the same things you mention- my bed, couch, cats. You know- “Home.”

7

I love to travel, but I get homesick the first day. Every night I’m away from home, I daydream about a super fast train that takes me back home. It’s not unusual for me to cut a trip short and head home early.

The longest I’ve ever been away from home is two weeks, and that’s when I was a child. When I was young and healthy, I would “travel” almost every month. Those were usually short trips, though, a weekend or a long weekend. I rarely could take off work for a long trip, but that’s probably just as well.

8

For me it doesn’t take long at all. Sometimes as short as an hour.

9

It is more situational for me, usually around a holiday, or a season. I’ve been away from home for months or even a year at a time, I usually get homesick around the 4th of July and the months of April and May because I really like springtime in DC.