End Gateway occasionally fails to teleport player to/from the End Islands

After defeating the Ender dragon, i went through one of the gateway portals to explore. When i tried to return via the gateway portal i came through, i kept being teleported to the gateway portal as if i had gone through the one on the main end island. i have tried using ender pearls and flying through with elytra, but nothing works and i am stuck in the end with no way of getting back to the main island and back home!