Not long ago I came across this quote, “Travel does not exist without home…if we never return to the place we started, we would just be wandering. Home is a reflecting surface, a place to measure our growth and enrich us after being infused with the outside world.” – Josh Gates
Let me start this by saying that I’ve had this post in my queue for months. I wrote it back in the early Spring but never seemed to feel like I had gotten across quite what I was trying to say. This post isn’t meant to discourage anyone from traveling the world, as I myself have a long standing love affair with travel. But in essence of that, what I’m trying to get across with this post is that having a home is a valuable thing too. I think all too often in the travel blog community we push the idea of travel so hard that we often overlook the value of building a home and a career in a place that you love just as much as travel.
It often seems like every other travel blogger out there is giving up everything they own to travel the world out of a suitcase. It seems in many directions I turn, this is the only option laid out for those of us that want to see the world, that want to experience all that travel has to offer. The thing is, it’s definitely not the only option and I wish that was more promoted in this industry too.
I travel a lot (and love it) and yet it’s that feeling I get when we’re on the plane home that still gives me butterflies. I look forward to coming home to Portland, to my apartment and my kitchen and our memories in photos all over the walls. I look forward to seeing my “regular” people on errands and socializing with friends. I look forward to coming home to my work, to my passions and to my everyday routines. That feeling of love for my home and my home city, is one that is absent from a lot of blogs out there in the travel blog community. You don’t have to pack up your life and leave everything and everyone behind to see the world. It’s possible to have a steady home (wherever that may be) and a career and to travel.
The thing is, seeing the world is great. It’s truly a spectacular experience. Travel will change you. It will open your eyes and your mind and your heart. It will offer experiences that nothing else in the world can. Travel is incredible and I urge everyone and anyone to do it, as often or as little as you can. I am the biggest proponent of travel and I will always push for it, for myself and for others. But the one thing travel can’t teach you is the feeling of a home. It can’t teach you the joy in the everyday things like grocery shopping and cooking in your very own kitchen. It can’t teach you the fulfillment in small projects to improve your home. It can’t teach you the bliss of moments laying on your very own couch next to someone you love and watching stupid tv shows on a Friday night. So at the end of the day traveling the world full time without a home to call your own might be wonderful for some, but without a home you adore to come home to, is it worth it? I’m not entirely sure, but for me, I know it wouldn’t be.
Jenn says
I agree. I would love to travel that way for maybe a year or 6 months, but I love having my own bed to come home to and a space of my own making. We’ve made a home, even in our rental, that we love coming home to.
Casey says
Totally. Being able to come home and feel settled is an incredible feeling!
Emily of Em Busy Living says
I love this! I haven’t been traveling nonstop, but we have lived away from home for several years in places we’ve never intended to be our new “home”. I’m aching for community, friendship, and all of those feelings you’ve described above.
Casey says
That community and all the feelings of home, are a powerful thing. It’s so important to find someplace that you feel that way about at some point in our lives!
House To Laos says
That’s exactly how we felt at the end of our 14 months on the road. Now we are back to a home we love, but now with more travel than ever. One thing – traveling and living a full ‘at home’ life is exhausting! We are still trying to find the balance between how long our ‘sweet spot’ for travel vs for home life is. Cheers 🙂
Casey says
It can definitely be exhausting! I’ve learned that while home, eating at home in the evenings and lounging on weekends when possible can make a big difference to help that balance! And I also try to not schedule more than 1 trip per month if I can to help!
Kristin | Eat. Fly. Love. says
This year, I’ve been on the road one or two weeks every month and while I love it, I also really, really love my home time. That transition, going from the unfamiliar to the familiar and routine, has taught me a lot about how to experiences places when I travel, too, how to soak in the routine and everyday of a place. It’s a different, slower, deeper degree of getting to know somewhere.
Casey says
Totally. I really believe we can soak in the travel experiences better when we fully love being at home as well. That balance is a healthy thing!
Olga says
For me it wouldn’t be either… I love my apartment in London, my friends, my morning coffee at a favourite coffee shop! So I tend to do two weeks of travel to satisfy that insatiable wanderlust, followed by two weeks at home at catch up with my normal life 😀
http://wideseanoanchor.com
Casey says
I do it really similar to that as well and try not to have more than one trip per month as I really love soaking in all my time at home as well!
Macy Volpe says
This post is perfect. It is necessary for me to have time to just exist at my house with my husband. We love traveling, but try to limit it to once or twice a month. December is going to be crazy because we are traveling 3 weekends out of the month, but I am leaning towards staying home for all of January to make up for it. It’s great to have a balance.
Casey says
I completely agree. When we have multiple weekends away in a month, it gets a little too much. Our last couple years have been a bit crazy and we’re getting to the point where we want to slow it down a bit. So having that balance is so important!
Rachel @ STCL says
Agree with all of this! I absolutely love to travel, but at the end of the day, there truly is no place like home!
Casey says
So so true!
Arianna says
Interesting post! Well, I 100% agree with you, but of course it depends on the person. I love having my home, my SO, the bar downstairs and my favorite window; but at the same time getting lost somewhere far away is so incredibly inspiring and wonderful! I realized that just traveling would be way too much for me, but for many others, maybe, building a house on the road (meaning moving and moving and moving and moving) is the only thing keeping them alive and eager to do!
https://pandaonavespa.wordpress.com/
Casey says
Totally, it depends on the person and this is just my personal opinion. There are so many ways to see the world, but for me, I love to travel and have a home base!
Rachel Grove says
I resonate with this so much! I have been living in Spain for four years, and while I have LOVED to the opportunity and all the travel we have done, I always long for home (Iowa). What you said about having butterflies in your stomach upon returning home is so true for me too. We are moving back to the US in August (actually we are moving to Oregon!) and while I am so sad to be leaving Europe, I am also looking forward to setting up a home and continuing to travel but with more of a real home base. Great thoughts!
Casey says
Wow, where in Oregon are you moving? And you’re right, it’s so nice having a home, where ever that may be, to come home to after traveling.
Rachel Grove says
Somewhere in the Portland area. We don’t know yet because I’m not sure where I want to work or where we want to live… it’s hard to figure it out from abroad! But my husband’s job is taking us there, so it will be a new adventure!
Casey says
Nice! Well if you need any info or help from me, just let me know 🙂
Cynthia says
Interesting perspective! I too like having a home and I like being settled waaaay too much to live out of a suitcase for too long! But, what appealed to me in “quitting my job to travel” (what I did for a few months, anyway) was rather that I moved across the world to create my home base closer to where I wanted to travel- something that made sense to me in a logistical point of view. Before, I never had the funds to take a trans-Atlantic flight more than once a year, and this way, I can visit multiple destinations much more easily.
I do agree with you that having a home base (whether at home or in your new base abroad) really allows you to process those thoughts and travel memories in a way not possible with a life on the road. I really enjoy having [a home base] and creating a new community here until the time comes that I go back to my old one.
Casey says
Interesting! And yes you’re right, I don’t necessarily mean that home has to be where you grew up, but to find a home anywhere that works for you like you did. Just that going from one hotel to the next doesn’t appeal to me in a long term sense, but finding somewhere to call home while traveling long term works too!
Раймонд Кузнец says
I think you may find that many travel bloggers actually do have a home to return
to; (albeit they may not actually own it). It’s called mum & dads place
where they know they can rock up at any time and be accepted back into the
routine… (I recall that even Gary Arndt from http://www.everything-everywhere.com has
done that several times) It’s not such a romantic subject so that’s probably
why it doesn’t get mentioned much. This is especially so on travel blogs which
are created primarily to be monetized (Seems like a dime a dozen these
days). After reading so many “About Me” pages I also believe that
many new bloggers are not overly original as most of their spiels read like a
template… Just my two cents worth anyway. However, I do concur that travel is
a fantastic experience and should not be missed (if you are fortunate enough,
financial enough or free enough to be able to do it). Hmm seems like I fell
out of the wrong side of my hammock today. 😉
Casey says
Yes that’s true, but what I was more trying to say was that having a home also means a career and a place of your own, both of which are very rewarding, not necessarily just a place you stay. Does that make sense?
Elizabeth Georgian says
I love having a place to go home to as well. My husband and I moved abroad so that we could grow our careers AND travel more. I’ve done the living out of a suitcase thing but I much prefer having a base where I can do laundry, cook, and linger over a cup of coffee and good book.
Casey says
That’s a great way to do it! And yes, home can be anywhere, but the place that you love and grow your career as well, that’s so rewarding and then to add in living overseas as well, that’s so great!
Isabel @ TheSunnySideofThis says
I agree with you completely. Leaving everything to travel is just not my type of thing, I enjoy the feeling of community way more than traveling everywhere just to collect stamps in my passport. Plus, foreign food sometimes it’s quite tricky and can end up messing up your whole trip!
Casey says
So so true!
Charlotte says
I love this so much. And yes, I agree 100%. As much as I love to fill a suitcase and await new adventures, it’s good to return to the familiar, old friends, and a routine. It also makes me anticipate my next journey, too. Balance in everything, I always think 🙂 XOXO and thanks for this!
Casey says
So true. I love travel and it’s my passion, but coming home to a place I love, that’s amazing too!
Whitney says
I love this. That quote that you refer to is so so true. We just moved to Paris about 2.5 months ago, and though everything outside of our new apartment is still pretty unfamiliar, its nice to have our little safe haven in the middle of it all. It’s slowly starting to feel more like home.
Casey says
That’s such a great way of looking at it! That home is wherever you can create a little piece of comfort, wherever that may be!
Dr. Sus says
So true. I didn’t appreciate home until I moved across the ocean to attend university abroad in the United Kingdom. Now that I am here I realize that my dreams about being a full-time traveler are unrealistic. The best part of every journey, for me at least, is coming home different.
Casey says
Me too. Coming home to a life you’ve built and love is one of the best things about travel!
Emma - Fizzy Cola Travel Blog says
I agree with this sentiment so much. For a long time I was jealous of those on RTW trips or never ending journeys, but I have come to love the life I’ve built at home, in a thriving city full of opportunities. I know it’s not easy for everyone to have the disposable income to travel frequently, but for me the balance between career, social life and travel is an essential algorithm I’m trying hard not the break! After 2 or 3 weeks living out of a backpack or suitcase I start missing my home comforts and the choice it allows, and while you can make amazing friends on the road I start to miss my squad back home too!
Emma
Casey says
Totally! It’s so nice to have a balance and to come home to people you love and places that mean something to you!
Jojo says
I can totally see where you are coming from. I follow so many travel blogs and they all make it seem like traveling 24/7 is perfect. But after beginning to travel more, I realize more and more each time that I always enjoying going home. It makes looking forward to a trip more exciting and going home a great thing.
Casey says
Yes! It’s all about the balance and both are worthwhile, just finding the best of both is the key!