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When you see a friend who is going to travel, you'd say:

Gute Reise.

What would you say to someone who has arrived from a quite long and exhausting trip?

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Willkommen daheim!, but you may add more context. – Phira May 20 '12 at 17:48
@Phira: More context like what exactly? Origin and destination? I'm not sure if more context would be helpful in this case! – Gigili May 20 '12 at 17:54
No, but my suggestion would be said if someone comes either home to their actual apartment or family or comes home from another country. Compare the difference between "Welcome home" and "Welcome back" in English. – Phira May 20 '12 at 17:56
Well, the one comes from another country for holidays @Phira. – Gigili May 20 '12 at 17:58
so I understand you mean something like a 12 hour flight with 6 hours of bus drive right after... what would you say in English? – Emanuel May 20 '12 at 20:27
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4 Answers

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This answer is based on the assumption that Gigili looks for something to say to someone who has had a long rather exhausting voyage. Having completed such voyage would merit the person something like this:

Alles gut überstanden?

Wie war die Reise/der Flug/die Fahrt?

Ich hoffe, Sie/du hatten/hattest eine angenehme Reise/Fahrt/Flug.

Of course there is more to say... things like:

Du musst mir alles bis ins kleinste Detail erzählen.

or

Man, du siehst echt richtig erschöpft aus.

But this is but stuff to say in situations. Nothing particularly German about it. Let your fantasy soar to get more ;)

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up vote 4 down vote

There are lots of possibilities and they depend on how good you know that person (using "Du" or "Sie" for example). Some examples:

Wie war die Reise?
Hattest Du/Hatten Sie eine angenehme Reise?
Willkommen zurück/daheim!
Schön Dich/Sie wiederzusehen!
Da bist Du ja wieder. Wir hatten Dich vermisst. (That's "We missed you". I added no "Sie"-version, because I wouldn't say that to someone I address with "Sie")
Das ist aber schön, dass Du/Sie wieder da bist/sind!

You also can combine them:

Willkommen daheim! So schön, dass Du wieder da bist. Wie war die Reise?

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Umm, thank you. But the one is not back home as I said in my comments. Assuming it's the first time we meet and I'd use "Du", Do your examples apply? – Gigili May 20 '12 at 19:09
@Gigili: If it is the first time, it would be funny to use "wiedersehen" (seeing you again), because you haven't seen the person before. You also cannot miss the person. So I would go for my first two examples: "Wie war die Reise?" or "Hattest Du eine angenehme Reise." Maybe you should introduce yourself before: "Hallo, ich bin Gigili, schön Dich kennenzulernen. Hattest Du eine angenehme Reise?" – John Smithers May 20 '12 at 19:26
up vote 1 down vote

Greeting:

Herzlich willkommen in [Stadt]!

Personally, I would not ask immediately about the trip, but ask about whether the visitor wants to sit down/drink/maybe even use the shower.

Setz dich mal nieder. Darf ich dir was zu trinken anbieten?

While the visitor rests and drinks, I will then ask about the trip.

Ist die Reise glatt gelaufen? / Alles gut überstanden?

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up vote 0 down vote

Wenn ich jemanden begrüßen kann, klappt's mit dem "Willkommen" fast immer. Wenn's das Ende einer Reise ist, sollte man wieder zu Hause sein:

Willkommen zu Hause!

Dann würde ich mal an das Dringenste denken:

Ruh dich erstmal aus.

oder

Erhol dich erstmal.

Edit: Der Imparativ kann mit oder ohne -e geschrieben werden. Ein Auslassungszeichen (Apostroph) ist nicht erforderlich.

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Ist richtig. Genau genommen ist beim Imperativ der Aprostoph sogar falsch. Ich hab die Beispiele nur nicht als "Aufforderungen" aufgefasst, sondern eher so als "Angebote", wie man einem Gast was zu Trinken anbietet, so bietet man jemandem nach einer langen Reise an, erstmal Platz zu nehmen. Aber man "befiehlt" es ihm nicht. Daher habe ich in den Beispielen den Aprostoph bevorzugt. – Em1 May 24 '12 at 15:04
@Em1: Aber ein Imperativ bleibt's so oder so :-) – Hendrik Vogt May 24 '12 at 20:23

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