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So, like many others, I thoroughly enjoy international travel and try to get away whenever I can (I don't like going more than two years without visiting a foreign country). I love the experience of traveling, from planning and packing to actual traveling and meeting new people/seeing new sights/eating new foods, etc. Still, when I'm overseas (and this even applies sometimes to my travels within the United States), after a while I start to miss some things about home. While not a complete list and in no particular order, some common things I find myself missing are:
-The food. While food overseas can be great, there's something about the familiar flavors from home that I miss after a while. For instance, when I was in India, though I was in a culinary heaven, I got tired of eating curries, etc. after a while and was soon craving a burger and fries! Unfortunately, it was a pain in the butt to find beef for sale/consumption in India and, where they do sell it, I question its freshness.
On another trip (this time in Sydney), I started to get a massive Chipotle craving after a while (the Mexican food options in Sydney are seriously lacking in my view).
And these examples don't even get into when I've been in countries/cities where the food is nothing to write home about to begin with (i.e. the UK )!
-My bed/the comfort of home. There's nothing like sleeping in your own bed.
-Friends/family. This is all the more of an issue for me as I tend to travel alone these days because my friends/family either aren't as enthusiastic about traveling as I am or are not as financially organized/committed to saving to travel as I am. Yes, things like Skype and Facetime help fill that void, but its just not the same.
What do some of my fellow travelers miss about home when traveling (if anything . . . I know that for some its a blast being away from home and many are in no rush to return)? Your answers can deal with things you miss while overseas or just while traveling in general
Ha! Jezer nailed it with the pillows! Even in luxury hotels in Italy it's hard to get decent pillows. I'd add to that top sheets. It's more common to just get a duvet with a cover. Too hot!
Otherwise I miss my dogs.
I have friends scattered across the world, so don't really miss those at home because I'm spending so much time with the ones I scarcely see.
After a couple weeks in some countries I'm craving "American" comfort food. It's not really a problem in the UK where I can get almost anything I can get at home. Except Mexican. Good, authentic Mexican. It doesn't exist in the UK, and it's difficult to find the ingredients to make it yourself. Easy enough to find a good burger or chicken sandwich or whatever though.
In the UAE, the thing I missed the most was ice. The restaurants never served it unless you asked for it and one time when I asked for some the waitress came over with a glass of ice and tongs and started putting cubes in my drink one by one. After a few stunned moments I told her she could stop but to leave the cup of ice. I was also disappointed that the hotels we stayed in didn't have ice makers on the floors.
In the UAE, the thing I missed the most was ice. The restaurants never served it unless you asked for it and one time when I asked for some the waitress came over with a glass of ice and tongs and started putting cubes in my drink one by one. After a few stunned moments I told her she could stop but to leave the cup of ice. I was also disappointed that the hotels we stayed in didn't have ice makers on the floors.
I love that someone mentioned ice. It's so trivial, but it was one of the first things I thought of. I haven't traveled overseas in a while, except for a short trip to Mexico a couple of years ago, but I was always happy to come home to ice in my water or soft drink!
The thing I miss most when traveling overseas is being able to hop in my car and go somewhere, whether it be the store or just for a drive in the country.
When my husband went to China for 3 weeks on business he said the thing he missed the most was his toilet at home.
Apparently whichever hotel they put him in had rectangular toilets(yep, even the part you sit on) and he was just not having that.
I'm sure he missed me too, but that particular thing was something I heard about every time we talked on Skype.
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