[mastazi]

I used to spend weeks outdoors in the wilderness without ever entering a building (I would sleep in a small tent) and I used to have a similar range of sensations when coming back home and/or going into an enclosed building for the first time. This used to last maybe for a couple days.

Two more things that I used to experience, which are not among the phenomena described in the article, is that I was hyper aware of how sound echoed through a room, and I used to be hyper aware of how hard the floor was (carpeted floors are not common where I grew up, most rooms have tiled floors) I guess these two are something specific to the outdoor->indoor change and so they don't apply to astronauts.

[TimedToasts]

My wife informed me that I always comment on the hardness of the floor, regardless of where we are. (I will take off my footwear to stand on novel surfaces with my bare feet. Situationally, ofc.)

Anyways, there's dozens of us!

[sandspar]

Is there much variation in floors? I assume most people think floors are either hard or soft - maybe we're missing a whole facet of experience!

[TimedToasts]

Like the other commenter said, you've got your various hard/soft combinations (there's definitely hard/soft carpeting, for instance). Synthetics and rubber are all over the place.

Outdoors: a wet field is definitely different than a soft field and a frozen field is different from a hard pack. You've also got your various snow amounts.

"Mushy" is almost universally bad, from wetlands to wood to computer lab removable flooring.

Good things I have found to stand on are large natural rocks, fine-grained beaches, and deeply carpeted bedrooms.

[xboxnolifes]

Marble, tile, hardwood, softwood(?), vinyl, stone, smooth concrete, textured concrete, short carpet, long carpet, grass, turf, sand, asphalt, gravel, hay, moss, plastic, foam, rubber. Plus the combination of different subfloors.

Lots of unique floor feels.

[throwaway2037]

    > I used to spend weeks outdoors in the wilderness without ever entering a building

Ok, you nerd sniped me here. Did you ever write (or blog) about these experiences? If not, I would highly encourage it. Example questions that I have: Where/When/Why? What seasons? How did you eat? Toilet? It would be a star submission on HN and would surely generate lots of exciting commentary.

[mastazi]

Ahah you're right I guess it would be interesting to some readers. The long story short is that growing up I used to be involved with the scouting association of my country (Italy), and we learned various outdoor/survival skills during camps and hikes, then later as a young adult I kept hiking as a hobby, I used to hike through mountain trails for extended periods, (between 2 and 6 weeks) in between semesters when I was in university, sometimes in a group and sometimes solo[1]. I haven't done any of that in about two decades, and I'm not sure I have enough mental focus to blog about stuff that happened such a long time ago. If you talk to anyone who is into hiking/bushwalking, they will tell you that it's pretty common to find yourself on a track where you don't cross any human settlement for an extended period, this happens even in densely populated countries like Italy and I guess it's even more common in places like the USA.

[1] I don't recommend solo hiking for extended periods, I was young and careless.