A Little Reflection on “Home”
As promised, this was my least traveled year in recent memory. In cutting back time (and funds) in traveling, it allowed me to slow down and spend more time on the behind-the-scenes of travel blogging. I realized at the end of 2023 how many goals I had for this space, and I knew the planning deserved my attention in a way that required me to significantly decrease on the actual travel part. I’m thrilled to see my visions come to life in 2025 and to take you all along with me! In the meantime, you can read all about my first solo trip + first time to Nantucket here, and the adventures through Washington’s 3 National Parks (North Cascades, Mt. Rainier, and Olympic) with my sisters here. Both trips were so special and meaningful to me, and I hope that reflecting on both will inspire your future travel plans!
Truthfully, I’ve been thinking about Nantucket quite a bit since I left in July. It gave me a feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on until recently. Of all the places I’ve visited, only a few have felt like home to me. Since I traveled here alone, I did heavy research on how to get around, navigating areas where I had reservations, beaches, etc. so I felt like I really knew the island by the end of it all. Nantucket is not that large, so it felt really good to nail things down quickly and not rely too much on my phone. People that I struck up conversations with were so warm and I saw just how tight-knit of a community they all were. Being there solo showed me this whole new layer of confidence in myself, and for that, it will always be a special place to me.
I believe that as we travel and move throughout the world, we uncover new, little pieces of who we are from each place we visit. Oftentimes it’s so subtle that it can be hard to know if seeing or experiencing something new has done anything at all. Only until someone mentions that beautiful painting in that museum you visited, or that to-die-for pastry from that tiny bakery, or finding that quirky trinket from that one spot a local mentioned. These little moments of connection to a certain place at a specific time in our lives shape us as humans and it’s what keeps me yearning for the next place. It’s what made Nantucket feel so much like home. It was a string of soul-satisfying moments for me that put teeny, tiny roots in their cobblestone streets.
I’m missing it terribly right now, but I’m making do in the meantime.
If you haven’t already, I hope you find somewhere that feels like home away from home to you this year. If not in the place itself, then in the people you come across there. Or even in a painting or a pastry.
