I feel the same way, I can't see a clear difference between the two.

The only difference I noticed was experiencing vibrations, feeling my astral body, seeing my physical body in bed. Besides those 3 things everything else is dreamlike.

I could open/close doors and turn on/off the light switch. Some say in this state you shouldn't be able to interact with anything just observe.

Also, I have no clue how to get to astral planes. I'm just at my house each time.