Home Sweet Far Away Home

In case you haven’t guessed by now, I love to travel.  It’s a passion that has dictated several moves, many flights and countless bus rides over the years.  So, as a self-proclaimed travel addict, my next statement might seem strange: there’s no place like home (insert eye roll).

Moving to Vietnam has proved to be a good decision.  As a place, Vietnam is enthralling.  Da Nang is lovely.   The people I’ve met have been hands down wonderful.  But it is far from home.

Maybe it’s because there’s only one week to go until I’m back in the USA for Christmas, but suddenly Home is hot on my agenda.  The combination of a twelve hour time difference, a long-distance relationship and customs that are quite, well…foreign have made me hyper aware of all those miles separating me and Home.

There was a moment of confusion as I booked my flight back to Michigan and realized it was the absolute best use of my time and money.  Wait, that’s how I’ve always thought about traveling away from Michigan.  Seeing new, exotic places has always been top priority for vacation time.  Now suddenly all I want to do with my school break is head on back.  What happened?

There’s no way to avoid the cliché so I’ll just say it – absence makes the heart grow fonder.  Of course I miss my family and friends – and have missed them since I chose to move away, but the pang of missing Home as a place hit unexpectedly.  Growing up in the Midwest, Michigan was ordinary.   Now suddenly I find “incredible” to be a more appropriate adjective.  I miss the Great Lakes (and the inland ones).  I miss snow.  I miss Fall colors.  I miss cider mills, pine trees, Kensington Park and the Plymouth fountain.  I miss pointing to my hand to show people where I’m from and hearing wind chimes.  It seems I’ve come to appreciate Michigan as a destination in and of itself.

The key categories I think about when choosing where to travel are: people to meet, interesting things to do, beautiful things to see.  Michigan scores well in each.  Christmas time is an especially great time to be there.  As a cultural experience Michigan decks the halls with obscene amounts of Christmas lights and seem to have a tradition for every day of the Advent calendar.  For beautiful things to see…well, just look around once you get there.  And, although, I might be just a little bit biased, when it comes to meeting new people, we Michiganders (awful name) are pretty much awesome.  Michigan may just prove to be the full package.

With that in mind, it’s time to pack up the skis and ugly pom-pom hats.  Here I come, Home!