When planning trips to palm-fronded destinations, veteran travelers usually budget an extra week or two of psychological lag time to accommodate the inescapable effects of island hangover. Any decent vacation is normally followed by a brief hanging-on period. Travelers cling to feelings, sights, smells, sounds - to anything that maintains a connection to their carefree, vacationing selves for as long as possible. But tropical locales, particularly Hawaii and the Caribbean demand more of the returning visitor.
Tropical moods are visceral.
They linger far longer than mountain or big city moods. And it's almost impossible to avoid giving in to them following an extended stay in the islands. Surely you have seen these recent island interlopers. Possibly you have been one yourself and fallen prey to the rhythm of the waves even when planted firmly back on the continental mass. The loud Hawaiian shirts and neon surf shorts don't really go with the gray sidewalks of your home town, but you keep them in your wardrobe rotation for a couple of wash cycles anyway.