TRNRMOM, I'm glad you're home. Please do everything you can to baby yourself now. Have you considered calling your psychiatrist? Or even your GP?

I'm in my 40s, and international travel is way too stressful for me. The last time I was full blown manic (and even with psychosis) was last May during a trip to Portugal. It was seriously way more than I could handle. And the airports were the absolute worst! London Heathrow on the way home was a nightmare! My international airport in the US was so extremely horrible that I'd call it hell on earth! If I wasn't an American, I'd vow to never visit the United States ever again!

I used to often get manic (or at least hypomanic) when traveling to Europe, and I traveled there a lot since my husband is also a citizen of a European Union country. The stress often brought out the fury aspects of mania. More than once (before my diagnosis) strangers would comment. I'd also often injure myself from recklessness. My worst jet lags were coming home from Asia. I think that coming home, you lack the energy from excitement you have heading to vacations/destinations. The stress energy finally crashes.

My husband and I are east coast US citizens. The only vacation I can kind of handle is our annual trip to Florida. Same time zone and we fly from a small local airport and there is obviously no customs and immigration, and the airport screenings aren't that bad. We mostly sit on the beach, take occasional local car trips, I cook (we always stay in a hotel with a kitchen), and nap when we want.