This thread is so timely for me. We have just returned from "too much travel". I really didn't think it was possible, but after 2 trips in 3 months, being away for 7 out of 12 weeks, we are soooooo happy to be home.

For me, the best is sleeping in my own bed, not constantly overeating because the food is so delicious, and most of all, having my 2 wonderful kitties with me.

I'm sure within 2 months I'll be hot to trot again.

Scarlett, I like a question that has so many ways of looking at it that it's like peeling the skin off an onion.

"Does travelling make you appreciate home even more?" Yes! I don't like those small refidgerators and washers and dryers that Europeans use. Some things are just better super-sized! Everything else European is fine and dandy with me.

"Or does it make you long to go away again?" I sometimes come home from a trip vaguely dissatisfied. Home seems so...ordinary and boring. It usually takes me a day or two to settle down and fall back in love with home. Because I do love home.

And then, when I feel the need to appreciate home, knowing that familiarity breeds contempt, I angle for a trip somewhere (away from home)!

No matter where I go in the world, the drive home from the Bay Area to Gualala on Highway 1 always reminds me that I live in the most beautiful place in the world.

EnglishOne, I just wanted to let you know we found very friendly, polite people everywhere we went when we were in London two weeks ago. Believe me, there are plenty of rude Americans here at home!

gualalalisa, I live in west Marin, and I have the same thought every time I take the airporter from SFO to Larkspur. We come over the GG Bridge, up the hill looking down on the bay, Sausalito, Tiburon, and I think how lucky I am to live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Last week the evening fog was pouring over the hills from the coast in wispy streams -- like a Chinese landscape painting.

My life at home tends to pretty routine so that is one reason I love to travel, but it is also one reason I love to come home. You know where you are, and it fits like a glove--or an old comfy shoe.

But travel is so mind expanding. I read a lot and it's so much fun to actually see the places I have read about. Sometimes the pictures in my mind are accurate, and sometimes I am wildly off. I like weekend jaunts around Kentucky; I like short trips to surrounding states; I like long trips to other parts of the U.S.; I like to find warm weather in February; but most of all I like going abroad. Nothing is more exciting than getting on that plane to somewhere I have never been before or somewhere I have been that I have fallen in love with. My husband doesn't share my enthusiasm so much, but my daughter does. I trained her well.

I always tell my kids, the best part about travelling is coming home.

Interesting question, since I have been thinking about it for a few months. We have traveled extensively throughout our 40 years together, and I never thought I would get enough. Last year I got enough--at least for a while! I finally just wanted to stay home. Last summer we went to Italy, where I had never been. I was scared to death to go, because I kept thinking, "What if I love it so much that I don't want to come home"? Especially after reading this board for months before we went. It seems that so many people don't really live between their trips there, and only count the days till their next trip. Well, we had a fabulous time, the trip of a lifetime. BUT, it made me really appreciate home, and all we have here. We, too, live in the SF Bay area. Ever since we got home I look across the hills, and can imagine that I could just as easily be in Tuscany. We live in a very diverse area, so within minutes of our home, every kind of food is available----to say nothing of the fabulous wines, and products from all over the world. And we can be sitting on the beach within half an hour of our home, having a glass of wine, eating crab, and watching the boats. I want to visit Italy again, but I will definitely be enjoying my time at home, too!

Thanks, Scarlett, for starting a wonderful thread!

For me, taking a trip is not just mind-expanding but also emotionally a time to fall in love. When I went to Prague, I fell in love with Prague. When I went to Alaska, I fell in love with Wrangell. Every time I return to Vancouver BC or Paris, I fall in love with those cities all over again.

And, of course, it's not just the places, it's also the people - the funny ones, the sad ones, the helpful ones, the not-so-helpful ones - we all have a special place in our hearts where we tuck away those people memories...

BUT

AFter all the exhilerating mind-bending and heart-touching experiences, the best part is coming home and, short of making this sound like a commercial for the SF Bay Area, here's another vote [along with gualalalisa, Marilyn, and chicgeek's votes] for this - one of the most beautiful places on earth to live!

I love the good weather we have, the abundant fruits and vegetables, the gorgeous blue skies, the diversity of the peoples and, last but not least, my large comfy bed.

Now, if only I could get rid of those pesky weeds before my next trip...

I can definately relate to Sneeky...I was born to travel and for me it is like living in a fantasy world while I am gone...Live the culture, eat the food, see the sights, drink the drinks, where nobody knows me and then when I get home, all I do is dream where I will go next...But I do love my bed when I get home, and it is nice to be home, until reality sets in and you get to go back to work, and pay the bills, and figure out that you spent too much on your last vacation, then watch the materialistic neighbours who think that Thailand is a city......Then on to the internet I go, planning our next adventure...But for some strange reason, when we land at home (Canada), we always say "it's nice to be home"...And I think mainly because it is so quiet and clean where we live....

Bathrooms! Bathrooms! Bathrooms! Bathrooms!!!!
We have the best in North America!!!!! I miss a good shower and a bathtub!!! In Europe, I get so pissed off with that stupid hose that they use to shower. It has a mind of its own and gets water all over the floor. Plus the towels in Europe stink! That being said, I'll put up with this daily inconvenience just to be in Europe. But our bathrooms or washrooms(for our Canadian friends) are the bests in the world!!!!