Thursday, February 12, 2015

Home

I now have been traveling about 8 months now. My perception on life have certainly changed in terms of what "home" is.

Home is familiarity


Home is familiarity. When growing up home meant my family. When in college, home meant friends. And when I moved to the city, home meant a location. But now I'm finding home truly means familiarity. This is a more generalized version of home, and as a traveler I can appreciate it more.

In the famous words of Sheldon Cooper, "In an ever-changing world it is a single point of consistency. If my life were expressed as a function on a four-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, that spot, at the moment I first sat on it, would be (0,0,0,0)." Consistency = familiarity.


Consistency = familiarity


Now, I am not saying anyone's definition of home is wrong, I'm justing that home is being defined as a more general term for me as my years progress to allow for "consistency" in my life.

Home means familiarity for me because I no longer feel "comfortable in my skin" in my apartment, in my city, around my friends, or around my family. Home is where you are content with life. It's where you are accepting of your life, or at least some aspect of it.

For travelers home is the road. Hotels, flights, rental cars, bars, restaurants, local attractions, and most importantly, consistency. Staying at similar hotels, flights, cars, and bar and restaurant types is what brings that consistency. For me, home would be defined:


And if I find a live bar with wifi, life is perfect


Then flying united while enjoying the United clubs, resting at Marriotts and Hyatt hotels while running directly after work. For fun going out to local Jazz clubs or country bars. And if I find a live bar with wifi, life is perfect. Then collapsing at my null apartment all weekend in preparation for the next wild week.

This is the traveling life,
I came, I saw, I travel.


Note: This blog is merely defining home for me. In no way does this explain that I do not get happiness from friends and family. I love that part about my life. To be able to see family and friends is a special treat for me as a traveler. They are the reason I keep traveling, to see them all around the US.