We are back in Arizona to visit family for six weeks.
I hesitate to say that we are “back home” because I believe that home is wherever my family is. Whether that is in Denmark, Thailand, Mexico, or Arizona, I make my home wherever we land with our belongings and proceed to live our day-to-day life.
Some people said that at the six-month mark of traveling they wanted to go back to the United States from home-sickness, but I personally didn’t feel that. When my brother-in-law unexpectedly asked me, while we were in the United Kingdom, what I missed the most about the USA, I quickly replied, “nothing” (save for family).
However, I did think it was good for my daughter to come home and see her Nana and her grandma. Long-term travel was harder for her than it was for us parents, though she’s adapting and enjoying it more over time. So, we decided to come back to Arizona, earlier than originally anticipated.
Repacking Bags for Optimal Travel
Turned out I started looking forward to coming to AZ because I’ve learned a lot about what I want to have with me while I’m traveling the world. During the past six months I found that there were things I brought that I did not need, and there were things that I wanted and did not have. So I will take advantage of this time here to restock my backpack before we set out on another world travel adventure. (That’s a future blog post.)
The First Thing I Noticed
When we came back to the U.S., the first thing I noticed was the wide roads and large vehicles everywhere. Coming from Europe where the roads are narrow and most of the vehicles are small, it was an interesting (and obvious) thing to compare.
I’m also noticing how accessible everything is and the number of choices are so plentiful here. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, as I don’t really have a feeling or opinion on it. But I know that if I want to get some ground beef, I have about six stores within 2 miles where I can buy it.
That was not the case in Europe. But you know what? We did just fine with one store – never needed so many choices.
Cheap Steak for My Carnivore Diet
I still eat a carnivore diet – still loving it – skin still glows, tummy still flat, PMS still awesome.
So, I will admit that I am very excited to be back in the land of the cheap ribeye (and T-Bone) steaks because I did miss those a bit.
When we landed, I immediately went to mygrocerydeals.com and searched for the best sales on steaks. I was instantly presented with many options, of course. I didn’t waste any time and went right out and stocked up.
But, I Love
Funny thing, I went about a week or so without my favorite ground beef patties, and when I made them yesterday I realized how badly I missed them – lol – humble ground beef. I’ve been eating carnivore but eating different things such as fish and sausages and steaks the past week. The ground beef was a welcome frugal carnivore option.
In Awe When Landing
When our air plane was landing in Phoenix and we were taxiing on the runway, I had this overwhelming sense come over me of how expanded and resilient I realized I had become in six months of travel.
I no longer look at this area that we flew into as my limited home. I realized my home was as big as the world and it expanded my soul and my mind. The resilience came from realizing that I know how to navigate and find my way around in countries where I know little to none of the language.
Thinking about how we sold our stuff, packed a few bags, and took off to live around the world, where we didn’t know people and we didn’t know all of the languages… wow.
And, we managed.
We did even better than that … we thrived!
We had some challenges, and we grew from them and our souls stretched. My daughter will never be the same. We all learned so much along the way. And, she now has friends from around the world that she stays in touch with her via email and FaceTime. She knows about different foods in different countries. She knows about different customs. She knows about train travel. She learned history that she didn’t have to read in books. She spent a day with kids in a forest school. She learned about many breeds of animals while housesitting in so many places. She’s been repeatedly exposed to the metric system. She worldschooled. The list goes on and on… and that was only with 6 months of travel.
The other day, since arriving back here, I heard Kamea facetiming with her friend from Basingstoke, England. I did a double-take upon hearing her girlfriend’s sweet little British accent (with crisply articulated t’s and all) coming through the speaker. I smiled.
I’m Excited to Leave Again
Suffice it to say, I will relax and enjoy my time here in Arizona and Michigan. It’s great seeing my family. However, we stayed in touch daily with text messaging and we FaceTimed weekly while we traveled. Funny, but coming back it was like no time passed. The only difference was Kamea was a bit taller.
Portugal and Beyond
That said, I’m already eager to explore Portugal where we are headed next in November. We’re renting an apartment there. I was overwhelmed with rental options and wanting to pick a smart area. However, I wasn’t knowledgeable. So, I implemented a digital nomad travel hack. I wrote an email to a few of the co-working spaces in Porto, Portugal and asked if they had apartment recommendations. I got an immediate bite and we booked it. Yay! At least I have a bit of confidence that we’ll be committed and staying in a place that is in a good location for everything we need.
After Portugal we head back to Denmark to do a repeat housesit (over the holidays), then we have a 7 week housesit in the UK, then back to Denmark (repeat housesit – again – they really like us lol). Housesitting has been a great way to travel the world with free accommodations. Read my book to learn more.
After that, it’ll be mid-March and we will either head to Poland for three months or Italy.
Is it a Small World?
The world is so big and yet so small. There are so many places for adventure and exploration yet there are so many things in common in all the areas too. I have to say that I think our travels are gonna last many many more years (shhh, don’t tell my mom yet). I just can’t see myself ever settling down, at least not anytime soon.
It’s time to get on Duolingo and practice Portugese now!