travelwoman

I sure do! Not to say that one place is better than another but after returning from a 5 week stay in San Miguel de Allende, I really missed the openess and friendly ways of the Mexican people. I also missed cafe life that I experienced the 4 summers that I studied in Paris. What I do appreciate about being home are the conveniences that I take for granted.
I also am friendlier when I am on vacation and I strike up conversations easily. I do try to be more open with people when I come home. Its not so easy here in Boston. Also when I meet people from other countries, I trully find it fascinating to hear about their lives and culture. Travel has really changed my life. I plan to do more of it

LoveItaly

Yes, I also miss the abundance of outdoor cafes, the antique buildings, the church bells, the style of eating and whole lifestyle.

But I come home and appreciate all the conviences too. And my own home and bed.

I am a good traveler, I never get homesick. But I also am blessed to live in a community where people are open and friendly so coming home is not a "letdown". But always waiting to take the next trip.

Surfergirl

What always amazes me is how much stuff we have in American supermarkets. I'm still trying to find a decent pub in walking distance from my home in L.A., but when our local neighborhood council started fighting a simple wine bar in the neighborhood, I knew I was sunk.

Another thing -- public transport. Just today I took the kids to a concert at Disney Concerthall in downtown L.A., and decided to take them using our local Metro (that goes virtually nowhere) to Union Station so we could stroll down Olvera Street. There were two ticket machines, no cashier, and no money changer. One of the machines didn't work and the other machine didn't accept bills. I didn't have $5.00 in change, so we had to ride the metro one stop without tickets. I really hated doing that. So I wonder, when they go to all the trouble to construct the Metro, and spend so much money trying to get people to ride it, why do they make it so difficult to pay for it?!?

LoveItaly

Sufergirl, oh yes public transportation, or the lack of it. For sure that is one thing that needs a huge improvement.

nancy

Yes, I do. That you mention San Miguel de Allende brings it home. San Miguel is my favorite city in Mexico, having visited several others. Great days trips from there, too.

And, in Paris, the sidewalk cafes are so cool. It still amazes me that in So. Calif. we mostly have none with our great weather.

And, yes, we can get everything we need at our local supermarkets but you're not likely to need all these basics abroad. I tend to take what I can't expect in foreign markets - no big deal.

I'm still freer to start up conversations in foreign countries than here at home. Seems much easier. I hope I'm always friendly if someone approaches me.

Travel really has changed my life in that I've witnessed/experienced so many other cultures - European, African & Asian.

Travel definitely broadens your horizons. Nancy

cigalechanta

Definately. As we usually stay in small villages, it's so different from our city life. But I also realize all the work involved on their living farms/gardens. And we hardly know neighborhood people here as we did in another part of town, there I see how they interact with the shop keepers on a more intimate level, though I have it here with my butcher and cheese monger but they are rareties here. They are very small places so unlike a supermarket, they know what you may like. I love also the space, here we are so congested. But it's always nice to come home to reality and our dog!

jmw44

I think it gives us a more global (vast overstatement) perspective about a lot of important issues. J.

Wednesday

I am always stunned at how new everything is here, back in the US...the oldest buildings are only a fraction of the age of most European architecture...and even what we do have that's old seems to get torn down and rebuilt into something newer....

jmw44

Wednesday, it breaks your heart, doesn't it. In probably the most historic small town in Louisiana, old houses are regularly torn down and replaced by trailers or parking lots. Sometimes I despair. J.

cmt

Yes, definitely. I love the places I visit when I travel, and I appreciate all the sights and history and foods and material objects and ways of life that I know I'll never find at home. There are many things that I like much better in foreign countries than at home. But, when I travel I seem to enter into some state of heightened aesthetic awareness that carries over for a few weeks AFTER I get home, so I find home intersting, too. Once home, I appreciate the hsitory and architecture and landscapes and skies and vegetation of the cities and towns and rural areas right near my home, and I notice things that I might ordinarily overlook during pre-vacation periods. Yesterday, I found myself looking at the vendors' stuff in a nearby farmers market with the same tourist's "eye" that I had in the Spice Market in Istanbul. And a few days ago, I was noting how genuinely beautiful Princeton is. Even parts of downtown Trenton are quite attractive, with little details of decorative ceramics over the doorways, dating from the days when Trenton was a major center of decorative ceramics work. Even some of the uglier parts of the city are interesting, because there's so much evidence of the city's industrial past. I enjoy driving on back country roads in Pennsylvania right after a trip, and I think a foreign toursist would find some of the landscape and the less spoiled parts of old towns quite lovely. There are good hand-made fine craft objects made locally, too--glass, wood, pottery, jewelry. And while I never really take the views of the Delaware River in Trenton for granted, last week, on some of those crystal clear cool days, the river looked truly beautiful, even tough I was not looking at segments of the river that are known as a scenic attraction. So, for a little while, at least, I see my region as a tourist might, and it's not bad.

degas

cmt, you sure know how to work with the hand that is dealt. Trenton never sounded so darn good!

francophile03

Yes, I do view my hometown differently when I return from a trip to Europe. As Loveitaly pointed out, it's the simple things I miss: architecture, cafes,and the way of life on the whole actually. Surely I don't know all the negative aspects of the cities I visit but I am pretty familiar with the negative aspects of my hometown. So it's a bit of a letdown to come home to face reality.

cigalechanta

Also, for me, if it's Provence or Brittany that I may be visiting, it is the scents, fragrances, aromas, be it from the wild herbs that grow on the garrigue or the ocean breeze blowing in that carries the sea's salty fresh message that lingers with me long after I'm home. Living in a grey city, it's the blue shutters of Normandy, the striped cottons of the Basque country the beautiful ochre walls of Provence, and not forget the colorful fabrics. The many bridges throughout France dripping with flowers. Too many things in the keleidoscope of my mind.

travelwoman

Cingalecanta- beautifully written. Ive never been to Provence but it is a dream of mine.

ira

Hi all,

There was a time when returning from Europe seemed to diminish my small town in Georgia.

However, I can now drive up to Watkinsville and great real gelato.

Italy doesn't seem so exotic.

LoveItaly

Ira, I have never never seen anyone so happy to be able to buy gelato as you are. Well actually I have never seen your happiness but sure feel it. Enjoy every delicious bite!

ira

Hi Love,

When you have lived in a small GA town, where you have to drive 150 miles RT to get a decent bagle, real gelato is like going to heaven.

PS, I bake my own bread.

tuscanlifeedit

Sadly, I do. I live in a somewhat depressed area in the US, and I start to notice unpleasant things the minute I hit the airport. Really obese folks in sloppy clothing, lots of outdated facial hair, mullet type haircuts, men in sleeveless t-shirts in the summer.

I really am not much of a snob, but I always feel so sad when I see these people after landing at the local airport.

To me, it is a relection of the corporate culture, the Walmart way of thinking, being, shopping, eating, dressing, etc, that I don't enjoy or appreciate.

We pass several chain restaurants on our way home from the airport, which also bums me out (not to show my age or anything). ;-O

Scarlett

Oh La~ ira, fresh baked bread! Pretty soon I will be driving all the way to Georgia to buy bread from you!

I always miss the cafes and the way people in other countries linger over their coffee or drinks. No eat and run there!
I miss the walking and having so much to look at..of course, I had this in NYC but now I don't so I am missing it doubly.

travelwoman, we are thinking of going to San Miguel this spring. We were supposed to go this past year, but decided to move from the NE to Florida.
Where do you stay? If you like, email me and we can chat about it

LoveItaly

tuscanlifeedit, I am sorry! That is a downer. Wish you could be in surrondings that were more pleasant. People in USA have sure become very very casual, and in some cases more than casual.

Ira, you bake your own bread!! I use to do that but haven't in years. There is nothing like homebaked bread. I grew up on it.

Now tell me, do you use a breadmachine or do you make it by hand? Asking because I have thought of buying a bread machine but have no idea what to buy.

And I truly am so very happy that you have your gelato! Everyone needs a special joy in their life.