ARE THERE THINGS I MISS?
Michelle and I have now been traveling full time for almost 3 years. We started out by traveling from Virginia, to Florida, then slowly making our way back up to Tennessee, Oklahoma, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, California, Arizona and then high-tailing it back to Florida in time to sell our car, secure our dog on a flight, and then get ourselves on a flight to Ecuador.
Since January 4, 2022, we’ve been traveling overseas. We’ve been to Ecuador, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Malaysia, Bali, Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand. Later this year we’ll be adding Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines to that list with no real plan yet of when we will finally settle down. (We have a destination in mind, but we haven’t been there yet so we’re holding judgement!)
Before we first traveled to Asia in February 2020 (as part of our vacation), I’d never considered ever actually living somewhere other than the United States. It was never something that I even thought about because I always felt that there couldn’t be anywhere in the world I’d feel more at home than in the U.S., but I’ve learned a lot in the last few years and it’s opened my eyes a lot. I now know that I could easily live in at least a few of the countries we’ve been to (and one in particular). In my blogs, it may seem that I don’t miss things back in America because I’m always focusing on things where I’m at currently. Part of the reason I do these blogs is to show people back home and abroad that there are options available to those who might be looking for something different, so I tend to highlight the positive and that might lead people to believe that I never miss anything back home. It’s not true! I do miss certain things, and in this blog I thought I’d talk about some of the things that Michelle and I miss about living in America. By doing so, I’ll hopefully be able to answer the question both to you and to myself, “Do you miss those things enough to move back to the U.S”?
I miss my car!
I miss being able to get in my car and go wherever I want it to go. I miss being able to load it up and take it camping, or go on a road trip while listening to great music while going down the highway. I miss the freedom that my car gave me and I miss being able to be with Michelle by my side, Roxy in the rear, and heading towards unknown places as we traveled around America. I miss being able to stop at any place I wanted and I miss going through drive through windows, ordering food and drink and being able to enjoy it right in the comfort of my trusty Toyota Rav-4.
I really miss my car!
I miss camping!
Michelle and I used to go camping quite a bit, and although I have to admit that after I reached my 50th birthday, the thought of sleeping in a tent (especially during rainy, stormy nights) started to lose some of it’s enchantment. Still, there was something so peaceful about waking up in the morning, drinking that first coffee and seeing nature everywhere that made it never totally lose all of its appeal! We used to own everything we needed to go for camping trips. We even owned kayaks which we would put on the river and go fishing, or paddle upstream and have a picnic, and then slowly float back down river to our starting point. One time we did an overnight trip down the Potomac river, stopping at a cozy place to set up our tent on the river bank to spend the night and then going the rest of the way the next day. Those were wonderful times!
I miss camping!
I miss Amazon!
I’ve learned that Amazon is a double-edged sword, but I still miss it! On the one hand, Amazon has stolen the life blood out of American malls and shopping centers. I first realized this when we arrived in Ecuador. There was one fairly large mall in Manta (Mall Del Pacifico) and it was always crowded with shoppers. Every store was open, the food court was thriving and the mall was new and modern. In August, that mall was as crowded as I ever saw one during Christmas time in America! It reminded me of how malls used to be in the USA back in the 1980’s. At first I couldn’t figure out why! But then it hit me. It was because Amazon hadn’t started really delivering in Ecuador yet, so whenever people needed things, they still needed to go to the store to get them!
So I could see that the absence of Amazon meant that malls and stores are still thriving outside of the Western World, yet on the other hand, I still do miss the convenience of being able to buy anything I want with just the click of a button.
Clothes are not always easy to find because of sizing differences outside of America so sometimes it’s hard for Michelle and I to find things that fit. On Amazon, that was never really a problem because someone, somewhere on Amazon was selling the exact clothing item you needed in your size.
Yet, it is nice to go to malls in Ecuador, and especially in Asia because they are so alive and it’s a great place to hang out and people watch. I hope that Amazon never really catches on here. Like I said it’s a double edged sword.
But I still miss it!
We both miss Jersey Mike’s Subs!
Don’t get me wrong. Michelle and I have had delicious food all over the world and we don’t feel like we’re deprived of anything. Yet, there is nothing quite so mouth-watering as a Jersey Mike Sub! If it ever comes to Asia, I feel like my life will be complete!
We both miss Jersey Mike’s Subs!
We miss hiking in America!
One of the best things in America is its National and State Parks, along with thousands of miles of hiking trails…and I miss them!
Other countries have hiking trails, but America’s are cleaner, better maintained, and easier to get to than most of the ones we’ve seen.
We do miss hiking in America!
We miss being able to speak and to understand everything going on around us!
Although we do our best, learning new languages at our ages is really difficult! That’s why we never leave home without our Google Translate App! Even then, most things that are being said around us (and maybe even to us) we simply don’t understand. That can be really isolating! (Though, it can also be an advantage in some cases depending on what is being said).
In any case, we miss being able to speak and hear English everywhere. Don’t get me wrong. We are able to communicate fairly well with the locals and we’ve never been in a situation where the communication barrier has been an absolute show stopper. Between using Google Translate, hand gestures, the locals grasp of English, and the very few words we know in Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese, we’ve been able to navigate through pretty much everything that’s come our way. Still…
It would be nice to be able to converse freely again in English and hear English spoken to us, like back in America. It would be so nice to order in a restaurant in English and to be perfectly understood! We get by here, but sometimes it’s a little draining. It’s our fault because we could put more effort into learning the language, but you’re reading a blog right now from a guy who passed his high school Spanish class only because the teacher was being merciful and graded his final test just high enough to keep him from flunking the course for that year. So there’s that!
We don’t believe that people who live in other countries should have to speak English to us, yet we’re thankful they do!
But we miss being able to speak and to understand everything going on around us!
So What's the Verdict?
So, I go back to the question I mentioned in the opening paragraph. Do I miss these things enough to move back to the USA?
No.
Not yet.
There’s still so much to see out here!
And we’re not ready.
Have a great day everyone and safe travels!