Calling it "afterlife" I think was misrepresenting the question, now that I think about it more. I've edited the original post to add:

edit: I think I misled to describe these as "afterlife" realms. That may be what they are, but I think the real nature of the question is why does it seem that certain kintypes (e.g. elves and faery) have fairly easy current access to their "home" realm by spirit travel (there may of course be exceptions), while others (angels, demons) do not? At least, that was so in his observations, and my own mental poll said "hey yeah, I haven't heard people talk about that except as memories, not as a right-now kind of thing."