January7

Here’s a Question for You: Week 1

By: JoAnna

One of the things I most enjoy about traveling is talking about it. In this new weekly series, I’d like to pose some of the questions I’ve discussed with friends, family and fellow travelers over the years. I invite you to pull up your backpack, grab a handful of the local snack food and chime in with your comments and thoughts. Feel free to respond to others, but remember to play nice!

Here’s a Question for You:

What do you miss most about home when you’re away?

For some people it’s their bed and pillow. Others crave a hot shower or a favorite food they can’t find across the ocean. As for me, I miss my permanent live-in zoo of two cats and two dogs. There’s nothing like a purring ball of fluff curled against my side when I sleep or the wagging tail that greets me when I walk through the door. Regardless of where I am when I’m away from home, I always miss my faithful furry kids.

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Posted in: Here's a Question for You49 comments

Comments

  • Kieron

    Don’t even have to think about the answer to this question!

    We miss family the most. It’s the people you miss the most when you’re away.

    January 6, 2011 at 4:28 amReply

    • JoAnna

      I definitely admit to missing my husband when he’s not with me, but I live so far away from other family that they often don’t even know I’m traveling! I definitely get where you’re coming from, though. I’m guessing you aren’t the only one that feels this way!

      January 6, 2011 at 1:03 pm

  • Laura

    Another vote for pets (sorry family). I always find myself expecting my two cats to hop up on the bed when I’m away and it’s lonely without them around!

    January 6, 2011 at 9:31 amReply

    • JoAnna

      Two cats, too, huh? I have one that sleeps on my head and the other one sleeps under the covers with me. It’s awfully hard to replicate that on the road!

      January 6, 2011 at 1:04 pm

  • Nico

    I miss swift bureaucratic processes. Trying to get official things accomplished in foreign lands makes you want to bang your head against the wall.

    January 6, 2011 at 11:03 amReply

    • JoAnna

      I’ve had my fair share of snafus even in the U.S., but I’ve heard its mind-numbingly frustrating to deal with bureaucracy in other countries. Thanks for your insight!

      January 6, 2011 at 1:04 pm

  • Christine

    I miss my favorite sushi restaurant in my hometown – it’s my favorite place to catch up with family, have a drink with friends and eat my favorite food!

    January 6, 2011 at 1:42 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      I love that you miss a restaurant! I admit that I miss the ease of making a box of mac & cheese, but I don’t miss any one place in particular.

      January 6, 2011 at 7:32 pm

  • Keith

    Pretty easy: my wife.

    January 6, 2011 at 2:43 pmReply

  • Daniel N.

    I don’t really have a place to call ‘home’. So the only thing I miss is hanging out with family and friends (even though it’s easy to keep in touch daily nowadays).

    January 6, 2011 at 7:06 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      I agree completely. I use Skype all the time when I travel. It’s funny, though, because when I served in the Peace Corps, which was about six years ago now, we could only make a few barely audible phone calls and the occasional email when we hit up an internet café. Other than that, it was long, handwritten letters.

      January 6, 2011 at 7:39 pm

  • Abbie

    Eric & the dogs (and now probably the guinea pigs, too)

    January 6, 2011 at 7:27 pmReply

  • Christy @ Ordinary Traveler

    I also don’t live close to family, so not seeing them for a year is normal for me. I think I miss my cat and my bed while I’m away. Obviously by boyfriend, but he is usually with me.

    January 6, 2011 at 7:48 pmReply

  • Marx

    PUPPIES!!!!!!!!! Sometimes they are the only reason I can think of to come back.

    January 7, 2011 at 7:00 amReply

  • Ana

    I miss the clothes I didn’t pack! Although we’ve been travelling a lot, I haven’t got the hang of packing the right stuff for the local weather, or, worse, pack too much or too little. I hope I’ll learn one day…

    January 7, 2011 at 8:10 amReply

    • JoAnna

      Packing is such a tricky thing, isn’t it? I don’t normally miss anything I didn’t pack, but I frequently curse the fact that I packed way too much.

      January 11, 2011 at 3:44 pm

  • Alouise

    If I travelled for longer durations I’d probably say my friends and family. But because of work and school I can usually only get away a couple weeks a year, at the most. Really though I Kia my bed, it’s comfy and warm, and hard to get out if in the mornings. I’m addicted to sleep.

    January 7, 2011 at 1:37 pmReply

  • santafetraveler

    I miss my bed, but most of all, I miss my husband’s home-cooking. After a while, dining out, even at fabulous restaurants gets old.

    January 7, 2011 at 4:52 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      I agree regarding cooking. It can be the most fabulous food in the world, but after awhile, it can be tough to eat out after you’ve been doing it for so long!

      January 11, 2011 at 3:46 pm

  • Cherie @Technomadia

    As full time travelers for nearly 4 years now, we’ve gotten pretty good at making sure we travel with the ‘stuff’ we need to feel at home wherever we’re at. Including our cat.

    And while our travels often gives us more quality time with people we love (friends and family) than we would otherwise have if we were stationary, I often go through periods of longing for a sense of local community. Feeling it now in the USVI after being here two months, but we’re also ramping up a bit of a local social life too. But doesn’t mean we don’t terribly miss all the awesome people we’ve gotten to connect with over the years!

    January 7, 2011 at 5:17 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      Thanks for your comment, Cherie. I’m glad you stopped by because your situation is quite different than many others since you travel with your home. You bring up a good point about a sense of community, though. Though you do get to meet so many people when you travel, I imagine it can be tough to have ever-evolving next door neighbors.

      January 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

  • Nancy D. Brown

    I miss my husband when I’m traveling. However, I’m happy that he’s home with our teenagers and working at his job that provides a roof over our heads and health insurance.

    January 8, 2011 at 5:03 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      Agree 100%, Nancy. If it weren’t for my husband, I wouldn’t be able to pursue my passion, either.

      January 11, 2011 at 3:49 pm

  • Brooke vs. the World

    I miss familiar food, and I miss my bf if he’s not with me.

    January 10, 2011 at 11:19 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      Another vote for familiar food. That can be particularly tough if you’re in a foreign country. I remember yearning for a big, continental type of breakfast with waffles and scrambled eggs when we lived in Kenya, but that’s just not something people eat there.

      January 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm

  • Ana

    I don’t really have a home so at any given point I miss friends and/or family but I do really miss the NYC public library.

    January 11, 2011 at 2:27 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      Thanks for your comment about the library, Ana. No one else has said anything like that. Is there a particular reason why?

      January 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm

  • YardEdge

    Miss the weather in sunny Jamaica as I’m often in cooler climes where you have to wear tons of clothes!

    January 11, 2011 at 2:49 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      How funny! So many people travel to Jamaica for the sun … and you leave it behind for chillier climates. I can definitely appreciate the draw of the warm Jamaican weather!

      January 11, 2011 at 3:53 pm

  • joshywashington

    the banal joy of coming home to my apt. and kicking off my shoes without having to haggle a price or ask to see a better room.

    January 11, 2011 at 9:15 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      I complete agree with you regarding not have to bargain for every little cup of noodles, bottle of water and hostel room. Good call!

      January 13, 2011 at 7:12 am

  • Trisha

    Excellent question JoAnna! I love traveling and am very lucky that most of the time Rod travels with me, so the only thing I really miss from home (depending on where we’re traveling to) is my always-on reliable high-speed internet connection. I’m so spoiled by it that I have to work at letting go of the frustration when I don’t have it.….but I know that it’s good for me to disconnect once in a while! :-)

    January 12, 2011 at 1:47 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      Ahhh … internet connection. I’m always surprised when places I think should have high-speed connection don’t have it at all or it’s so slow its negligible. I often have to remind myself that being connected isn’t a luxury in so many other places and that being unplugged can be a very good thing.

      January 13, 2011 at 7:15 am

  • Angela

    I miss my family and my friends. I promise I’m not being grumpy when I say I don’t miss my country (Italy): I always have a great time when I go home, but I’m so used to living a nomadic life that when I’m asked where I come from, I need to think for a couple of long (embarrassing) seconds ;)

    January 22, 2011 at 3:42 amReply

    • JoAnna

      It’s been interesting to read the responses from people who are generally nomadic. The definition of “home” is a very fluid one.

      January 23, 2011 at 11:45 am

  • Mikeachim

    I miss all the comforts of home that I’m so desperate to wean myself off of. ;)

    The first few days of travel are always a strange kind of habit-detox process (although that suggests getting rid of something really negative — but home isn’t negative, it’s just different). And then there’s the middle bit of travel, where I don’t usually miss anything. I’m too lost in every moment to think about home. And then there’s the point where I’ve had enough of travel for a while, and hanker for all my comforts again.

    I’m presuming the middle bit expands and the beginning and end bits shrink, the more you travel (especially if you find a way to take your comforts with you)…

    February 27, 2011 at 12:03 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      Interesting insight, @Mikeachim. I’m curious to know what kind of things you do start to miss. Is it your family and the routine, or is it a certain type of food or actual items that you can’t carry with you?

      February 28, 2011 at 7:28 am

  • Mikeachim

    It’s usually been the comforts. The hot showers, the comfy chair, the Xbox — the ability to call on friends and fritter away an afternoon at theirs, or at the pub. The lazing with a book in the garden…

    And occasionally the really screwy thing happens where I’m missing the things I couldn’t wait to leave behind, like the walk to work, the queue for the bus, the Saturday mornings where I can’t decide what to do with them before they’re gone. I miss the stupid things. And yet it feels like I’m flushing them out my system in some way. I’m aware of them because they’re starting to leave my brain. :)

    Ever felt anything like that?

    March 1, 2011 at 3:40 pmReply

    • JoAnna

      I do miss strange things sometimes. I miss getting the mail and routines before bed, like feeding the cats and reading. I don’t realize it until I don’t have those things in my life while I’m traveling, though.

      March 10, 2011 at 9:36 am

  • Dan Collins

    Family. Without a doubt!! Friends come a close second… then fast internet comes in 3rd!

    March 19, 2011 at 2:40 pmReply

  • Anton

    Generally, only wifi. And decent food when I travel around Central and South America.

    June 12, 2011 at 1:24 amReply

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