7 Reasons We Are Stoked To Be Home

Coming home after traveling for a while can be tough. The excitement of constantly encountering new experiences suddenly comes to a halt, and the inevitable blues of ending your adventure start to set in. That being said, I don’t think any backpacker can deny that coming home has some serious advantages that you otherwise wouldn’t appreciate. Traveling, especially in developing countries, reminds us of the privileges and comforts we take for granted at home and how lucky we are to have these in our lives.

1) Having Clean Water!!

This is a huge one. Coming from an area of California where we are blessed with the deliciously fresh water of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, I must admit that even I take clean water for granted. Filling up a glass of water at the sink, washing my veggies under the tap and absentmindedly opening my mouth in the shower. I never really stop to think about it. But when we travel, water is such a high priority. Luckily we have our Steripen, which allows us to drink pretty much any water. But drinking sanitized nasty tap water and using environmentally unfriendly water bottles just isn’t the same.

Coming home and being able pour a cold glass of water doesn’t seem like a big deal, but after 10 months without clean water, it’s heavenly. And it’s something we should appreciate considering much of the developing world lacks access to clean water.

{ Glorious tap water! }

2) Being able to sleep in the same bed every night

And not just the same bed, but a comfortable one! My bed is something that I don’t take for granted. (I’ve pimped it out with mattress pads, comfy sheets and a million pillows. I’ve even given it the nickname “The Cloud”.) And there have been times when I’ve really missed it. Like one night when we were settling into bed in a hostel in Nicaragua and I noticed a small brown bug scurry across our pillow. Then we lifted up the sheets to find bed bugs EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I mean everywhere. We are so grateful to be back in the cloud.

3) A car

Nothing makes you more grateful for your own car than having to stand up on a bus for 4 hours with a screaming child wriggling out of his mother’s arms next to you.

4) The supermarket

After spending 10 months eating oats for breakfast, ( I swear I’ll never touch them again) walking into the grocery store feels like a dream. However, the amount of choices can be overwhelming. We spent half an hour at Trader Joe’s before we could finally decide on something to buy. Seriously, is it really necessary to have 10 different types of hummus? (Also, OMG hummus!!!)

{ Our favorite Trader Joe’s hummus. }

5) A private bathroom

We got over not being able to throw toilet paper in the toilet long ago. We adjusted well to not having toilet seats and paying for public bathrooms and could even stand some of the nastier toilet situations in Latin America. But one thing we are really grateful to have back is our own bathroom. Having some privacy while you do your business is priceless.

6) Clothes

After a long period on the road, you kind of just stop worrying about your appearance. Frivolities like make up and deodorant go out the door early. We tried to maintain a certain level of style, but really just ended up wearing the same outfit almost everyday. Needless to say, every single item of clothing we traveled with now has some sort of stain or hole in it. That’s if it even made it back at all. I, for one, am shocked my 5 dollar Target t-shirts haven’t been able to withstand 10 months of everyday use. Ridiculous. Jules and I have been particularly excited about our sweatpants. We’ve basically lived in them since we got back and we don’t plan on changing out of them anytime soon.

{ Autumn leaves in my backyard }

7) Seasons

This one is a bit more abstract, but hear me out. Latin America has basically two seasons: dry season & wet season. We were down there for a bit of both and both get old pretty fast. The dry season is hot & sunny. Everyday, all day. The wet season is either hot in the morning and rainy in the afternoon or rainy all day. Coming back to California in the fall we’ve been very aware of how much we missed real seasons. With the fallen leaves carpeting the ground in autumn, light drizzles followed by sun in the spring and the brisk cold of a winter day. I never thought I’d be so happy to be in cold weather. But, like I said before, sweatpants!

What comforts do you guys appreciate most when you return home? Let us know!

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