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Me and my Australian dog
I’ve only recently been introduced to Unbrave Girl, a snarky personal commentary on long-term world meandering, and this post actually rang a few bells for me.
People keep asking me, “Where do you live?” and I’m not really sure why, since if I’ve been in a place for a year or so, doesn’t that mean I live THERE? But here in Perth, Australians are always asking me that, and I guess there’s some kind of assumption that someday I’ll be “going home” — that I’ll shake off this traveling thing and go back to…where? My mom’s house? Some mythical sublet apartment? I don’t know where they think I’m going, but *I* think I’m probably going to New Zealand next, because they let you have a working holiday visa until you’re 35 if you’re a Canadian citizen. (I knew having multiple passports would be useful for something other than being an INTERNATIONAL SUPERSPY! Darn it, I blew my own cover.)
So I’m planning this whole life-travel thing and getting really excited about mostly things like trying snack foods in different countries, and I have these friends, mostly on Facebook, who keep telling me how inspirational I am, that I make them want to leave it all behind and quit their jobs and go be a travel blogger or something. And I think, “Uh oh.” Because what I’m doing? I’m generally sitting on my butt with friends typing on our computers and going to dog play dates…I don’t do any of that sky-diver-y, swim-with-dolphins-y, volunteer-with-orphans-y stuff (though sometimes I wish I did). And Unbrave Girl seems equally baffled by this whole “You’re my inspiration” thing, because, just like me, she’s mostly living for herself.
The whole point of this post is that, as vagabonders, we’re LIVING abroad. And living doesn’t necessarily mean always being in a “travel” mindset. It means settling down, being comfortable, signing a lease and getting a dog if that’s what you want. It’s not what happens in those commercials for Sweden or cruise lines you see on TV, where everyone is spending pots of money on things they do on vacation, like wearing a bikini all day or getting your hair braided in Bali. We’re not on vacation.
We live here.
What is the best part of living abroad, do you think?
PS Unbrave Girl is totally awesome. You should read everything else she writes.
February 1st, 2011 at 1:05 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by vagablogging and Bob Martin, Andrew Stoffman. Andrew Stoffman said: Unbrave girl is not an inspiration: I’ve only recently been introduced to Unbrave Girl, a snarky personal commen… http://bit.ly/gewKXD [...]
February 1st, 2011 at 1:06 am
I love dogs!a d I want to travel!
February 1st, 2011 at 2:27 am
Wowza. I don’t remember paying you for this shout-out, but I really SHOULD have. Thanks so much for the awesome words of praise!
February 1st, 2011 at 3:00 am
Ugh… I’ve lived in the US for 10 years while the rest of my family is still in Indonesia. So technically, I’m living abroad right now… but I only visit my family once a year, so can I even call Indonesia home? Maybe when I’m there I’m ‘abroad’. I’m getting headache thinking about it.
I guess in short, for me personally I realized it took me living ‘abroad’ to stop taking having a place to call home for granted. That’s the best part of living abroad.
February 1st, 2011 at 3:14 am
The best part of living abroad is making it home by blending your own culture and traditions with the local customs. In Malaysia, I completely embraced the street food culture and it drives my passion for food to this day. Living in the USA, I plunged deep into baseball, Halloween and Thanksgiving became great family times and Christmas actually felt like a Christmas movie because it was cold instead of sweltering hot days of summer. Next is Europe, and I look forward to adding to our own personal diversity while we are there.
February 1st, 2011 at 6:06 am
Yes! Even if you’re not *living* somewhere…I’ve been traveling [with my longest stay in any one city being five weeks and most stays just a few days each] since the beginning of April 2010, and people constantly tell me, “Wow, amazing, I wish I could do the same, I bet you’re doing so many incredible things.” And, well, yeah, I’ve done a few incredible things. But there have also been plenty of days when I’ve had to spend all day in my hotel room or in a café working, or I’ve gotten a bit travel weary and don’t really do much all day long, or…
And if I go out with friends, old or new, and get tired and go home early, they say, “But you’re on vacation! You can sleep later!” I can’t be on vacation for ten months straight – I need to sleep at some point *during* those ten months!
And on your thoughts on “going home” and so on: before I went on this trip, I was living in Germany [where my life also wasn't necessarily ADVENTURE EVERY DAY!!!]. Now I’m trying to move to Portugal. When I told people I was leaving Germany, they’d say, “Oh, so you’re going back to the US?” No! I don’t really get why people assume it’s a choice between “this one ‘foreign’ country where I live now” and “the country I’m originally from.” Why can’t I go on to the next “foreign” country and make *that* my next home?
I agree, it’s weird being an “inspiration” when really, our lives tend to be a lot like they would be in our country of origin, just in a different language or climate. I always try to tell people, “Really, it’s not as exciting as it looks on paper,” but I don’t think they really believe me…
Thanks for the post!
February 2nd, 2011 at 9:00 am
i think that traveling for most people is going to be more along the a lines of staying is their own areas. Doing thing like camping and may be short road trips.I obs and staying
close to home
February 6th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Her blog appears to have been hacked by black jaguar. Anybody have an cached archive link?