Taipei, August 2024
Roam vs Home
While you’re out there living your best life abroad, marveling at the Sydney Opera House or admiring the Tokyo Skytree, it hits you: while you’re here, you’re inevitably missing out on being somewhere else.
Rest assured that in your absence your cat back home is plotting revenge (and probably redecorating your curtains into avant-garde shreds), your plants are wilting in silent protest, and your friends are having inside jokes you’ll never quite get.
As depressing as that may sound, c’est la vie. The world spins on without you, and that’s the unspoken contract you sign when you sell your stuff and board that plane.
Embrace the FOMO. It’s the price of admission for the incredible experiences you’re having.
Besides, you don’t really miss home until you’re gone, right? Maybe that’s what travel is: getting away for a while so you can endure another wave of the mundane crashing onto your castle’s shores.
The Traveller's Paradox
Fragments from my recent solo-trip:
It’s late lunch and you’re sitting in a quaint family-restaurant in the Japanese Alps, savouring a melt-in-your-mouth slice of Hida beef, its marbling so perfect it could be mistaken for abstract art. The rich, buttery flavour dances on your tongue – a culinary experience you simply can’t replicate back home.
As you take another bite, you think: “This is why I travel.”
But then, as the clock ticks towards coffee o’clock, a pang of longing hits you. You suddenly miss the comforting aroma of your favourite café back home, where the barista knows your order by heart and instinctively reaches for that slightly stale croissant to go along with your flat white.
The familiarity, the inside jokes, the sense of belonging – it’s a different kind of richness that no amount of Wagyu can replace. (Although, let’s be honest, that Wagyu is making a pretty compelling argument.)
In that moment, you’re caught in the traveller’s paradox: You’re simultaneously grateful for the new and nostalgic for the comforts of the familiar.
You can’t teleport to have your regular breakfast and then zip back to Japan for more beef. That’s the trade-off.
This dilemma is the constant tug-of-war between the excitement of new discoveries and the warmth of the familiar. It’s the realization that to gain one experience, you must temporarily let go of another.
Personal Reflections
As someone with a dual cultural background, I’m perhaps more susceptible to this paradox than most. The ability to see the world through multiple lenses is a unique perk. What’s it like to live in such a state of supreme enlightenment, you ask?
Well, hearing life in stereo (Dolby Atmos 5.1 to be precise) also comes with its burdens. It means being forever caught between worlds, always feeling like I left the stove on in two different countries simultaneously.
For better or worse, at least it may confuse some government bureaucrat about my tax residency status. Teflon Don, they call me. Ah, the perks of being a worldly citizen – above you peasants with your single passports and uncomplicated lives. (Just kidding. Mostly.)
Parting Thoughts
So, the next time you’re torn between roaming or homeing (yes, I’m verbing that noun), remember: whichever you choose, you’re inevitably missing out on something else.
And there’s beauty in that. In a world of infinite possibilities, we’re forced to choose our own adventure.
The allure of the road calls, but so does the comfort of home. It’s a constant tension. Finding equilibrium is key.
Remember, whether you’re scaling mountains or binge-watching Netflix on your couch, you’re always exactly where you’re supposed to be.
“Home” is less about a place and more about a feeling. Or maybe home is just where you keep your stuff. Philosophers are still debating this one.
In the end, whether you roam or stay home, the most important thing is to be present.
Life’s too short to spend it wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. The grass is greenest where you water it – even if that watering can is a plastic bottle from a 7-Eleven in some far-flung corner of the world.
Roam if you must, or nest if you need. “Wherever you are, there you are.” It’s the most obvious sentence in the world, and yet somehow we keep forgetting it.
Wanna time travel? Check out the next issue below! ⬇️
CHOICES...the sense of belonging is a really interesting topic. I was able to make peace with it that in the end its the people that surround you that make your home :) Greetings to Irene :P