I know the feeling.Our little one sleeps well in environments she feels comfortable in (usually), but over Christmas when we were staying with families etc and for the first few days back it was a nightmare. She'd wake up and just shout & shout & shout & shout just because she was tired but would get herself so worked up she couldn't get to sleep and it would be a vicious cycle.
It used to cut right through me, I ended up using ear phones with some music in staring out of the window trying to rock her but at the same time blocking out the ear piercing screams..