Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[robjstaples]

I'm back from my latest trip and an exchange of emails with a friend prompted me to ask what I really miss when I'm away - friends and family excepted. I don't mean when you're on the road and catch a smell or a hunger pang that reminds you of somewhere else, I mean what don't you have that makes you feel different?

Knowing what time of day or year it is from a look at the sky or sniff of the air perhaps?
A comfortable leather armchair and the remote control?
Not having to listen carefully to understand what's going on around you?
Your favourite chocolate bar?
Being able to browse a bookshop?

[whereshegoes]

I didn't think it until I got home but my own bed with the peace and quiet that comes with it.

More deeply, I would say the feeling of "autopilot" that I can manage when I am at home. I don't know if this is a good thing or bad but when away, there is that need to be "on". At home, you don't generally have to be so alert and aware of everything. Most of the time, I really enjoy the hyperawareness but when I am tired or sick, I miss the stability and familiar.

[mrjoe]

I kind of miss the routine of work and weekends. This is strange since one of my reasons for travelling is get away from it.

I miss British beer. This is also strange since it costs three times what I pay for a bottle at the moment.

[Incrediblelife]

I also miss my bed and the routine of being home; the work week, the weekends (I also am travelling to get away from it though, such a love/hate relationship!). But I also miss my shower - clean, big, hot water, all my necessities already there, not having to be pulled out every day.. oh, and did I mention not having to wear flip flops in the shower to avoid all the grungy miscellaneous hairs.. And I miss being able to quickly and easily communicate my most basic needs in my first language. Oh, one other - being able to just walk to my kitchen to get food whenever a hunger pang hits - it's so easy compared to the big production it can be to find food on the road! hmm... kinda makes you wonder why we travel... haha

[Caro!]

I missed my bed, my milk and nutella in the morning, the daily call of my cousin to tell me the latest gossip in our family, and of course my dog!
Caro!

[kris]

when travelling, i have missed being able to go into a shop and pigging out with purchases that i'm familliar with like salt n vinegar crisps, jaffa cakes and a mars milk.

these items can help me through a hangover and start me off accepting solids again and venture out into daylight.

[ScottWoz]

-Cheese & Onion 'Walkers'
-Chicken or Oxtail Cup-a-Soup's (Batchelors)
-Tinned mackerel fillets in hot chilli oil
-Ilchester Mexicana cheddar
-British bacon

I miss every single one of you..

[eddakath]

I do miss the Aussie Pub scene. I miss great Aussie bands and huge nights out jumping around like crazy. I miss stumbling home and feeling safe whilst doing it.

Boags beer, you are missed too but your price is NOT!

Mostly though, living in China...I MISS 'CLEAN'....clean streets, buildings, clothes, windows, eyes, nose, floors, doors, buses, schools, hospitals, food & drink...EVERYTHING is dirty! I miss the awesomeness of a clean Aussie beach!

I really do miss my Boy and Girl Kats! sniff sniff...

[beardsley]

Edda, I had to laugh when you mentioned China and 'clean' might not be too closely related! I've traveled a bit, I can eat around a bug if the dish is good, but there were times in China when I was just stunned. But on the OP's question, I miss the hugeous variety of cafes in northern Virginia, I can do a greasy spoon breakfast of eggs over easy, done right, with a little ribeye on the side, ethiopian kitfo for lunch, a great snack of banh mi for an afternoon break and finish the day with a central mexican taco feast, lengua and or goat washed down with a cold tamarind drink... I miss waking up in the morning, knowing where I am without having to think about it, and rolling over for an extra 30 minutes of sleep, listening to my neighboring doves call back and forth. I miss my walks up and down the Potomac, the cormorants, ducks and the odd eagle... But I would toss it all in in a moment if I could get back on the road again! Christmas trip, coming up!

[uncle_davros]

I miss not being able to speak the way I speak at home with people - no one knows the slang and I spend a lot of time translating Aussie English for Americans and Canadians - not their fault, but it can become a little tiring after a while - gotta slow it doooowwwwn too

I have lived out of Australia for around ten years. I do know what you are saying, but when you are in a bunch of Americans/Canadians/English, they talk funny and fast in their own dialect as well.

I suppose this is why we travel. We do miss things about our own place but we are all out to experience something different

[andrea]

Peanut butter and Tim Horton´s whole wheat bagels with butter! MMmmmmm!!!!

Andrea

[jamesintheworld]

Waffle House at 2am, mmmmmm….scattered, covered and smothered