# How long do you have to be away from home to be homesick? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069 "2012-02-07T14:40:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/1 "2012-02-07T14:40:56Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/2 "2012-02-07T14:44:51Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/3 "2012-02-07T14:59:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 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). 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. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/4 "2012-02-07T15:55:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/5 "2012-02-08T00:21:45Z")
About five hours. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/6 "2012-02-08T02:45:44Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > … I miss my wife most of all, of course, but I also miss my bed, and my cats, and my couch, and my car… 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…So to all of you, I ask this: how long do you have to be away from home before you become homesick? 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/7 "2012-02-08T07:03:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/8 "2012-02-08T11:04:01Z")
For me it doesn’t take long at all. Sometimes as short as an hour. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-be-away-from-home-to-be-homesick/612069/9 "2012-02-08T15:43:51Z")
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.