Dealing with the idea of “home” when you travel long-term

Being on the road for an extended period of time, be it traveling/living/working abroad, can often leave you not knowing where to call home.

When I was 3, we moved to the UK; at 10 we went back to India. I did my highschool from India, then my folks moved to Dubai. After a year of being in Dubai, I moved to Australia for university; 3-years later I moved back to Dubai. About 5-years later, I moved to Valencia (Spain) for 6-months, and now am in Madrid — I have been here for the last 10-months. Where is home? Hmmm…I’m not so sure.

It used to bother me. If all plans crash — where would I go back to rebuild my life?

I still can’t answer that question, but it doesn’t bother me anymore. Right now, Madrid is my home and I love it here. I have a good life, job, roof over my head, and dear friends. The only thing I don’t have close by is family.

Although definitely Indian by heart, I have no strong roots leading back to my ‘Motherland’.

“How can you live like that — with no solid place to go back to, with no one place to belong to?” I often get asked. I normally don’t get into a discussion about it, but I often think to myself that in the life I want to live right now, having a permanent home is just not fathomable.

Frugal Traveler Matt Gross just written a great piece for World Hum where he talks about what it feels like not to have a fixed home. He has not spent more than 6-weeks in once place over the last 3-years.

One of my favourite lines from the article:

“…I’ve tried to embrace homelessness. If I can’t be a Virginian or a Saigonnese, then I’ll be a wanderer. Who needs home? If my life is constant motion, then trains, planes and buses will be my homes. I will be a wave, not a particle…”

Home is where you lay your hat. I drink to that!