Readjustments

Although I mentioned Time Patrol agents embedding themselves in past ages, they also need a period of readjustment when returning to their home era. In "Star Of The Sea," after witnessing a massacre:

"Everard allowed Floris two days at home for rest and recovery...he too welcomed a respite...He walked the Amsterdam streets for hours on end, bathing in the decency of the twentieth-century Netherlands." (Time Patrol, pp. 520-521)

In "The Year Of The Ransom," Helen Tamberly says:

"'Stephen was only supposed to be gone three days. Six days for him, three days for me. He wanted that much time merely to reaccustom himself to this milieu. He meant to wander about incognito, getting back into Victorian habits, so he wouldn't absent-mindedly do something that would surprise the servants or our local friends." (p. 673)

Keith and Cynthia Denison who lived in New York in the 1950's have to begin new identities in Paris in 1981 so they plan to meet there in 1980, taking a twelve month holiday in order "'...to segue into the manners and mores of a later generation...'" (The Shield Of Time, p. 280)

Although, the jump across time is instantaneous, months are needed to adjust to a new environment in an earlier or later period. Poul Anderson has thought through all the implications of regular time travel.