Home to me is very debatable. I’m from Chicago, I live in San Diego, most of my family lives in Florida, and I’m moving to New York. Never before have I felt that my home is just America, but I do now.
It’s funny how traveling away to foreign lands makes you appreciate the subtleties of home - even though these foreign lands sometimes look like home. Like when you discover that Seven-11’s are more prevalent in Thailand and Japan than McDonalds. They’re everywhere! Or when you realize after you go into an unknown fast-food restaurant in Australia that it actually is a Burger King (The name Burger King was already taken before “Burger King” made it down under). But it isn’t until you look closely or are starving for some Doritos that you realize the Seven-11’s are quite different as is the rest. Instead of normal chips, they have hotdog bisque flavored chips or cheddar and prawns or #>~*). They do have Big Gulps, but don’t understand you when you say “Big Gulps huh? See ya later”. I know I’m supposed to go away to get away, but isn’t just being there enough?
I mean, we scuba’d the Great Barrier Reef! They don’t have that in America. I walked next to the hunky Russell Crow for 5 minutes. How cool is that? I kissed (and licked) Sydney’s opera house! Everyone has seen pictures of it from the Olympics but what they don’t know is that there are 3 foot bats that fly above it every night - or that it is infested with pet rats. I feel so fortunate to be able to take this time in our lives to go get $3 massages everyday (talked down from $4) – to rent scooters for $5 a day and go exploring or to meet awesome people and talk about their views of America.
While traveling abroad I felt like I was either 20 years in the future or 100 years in the past. Everything in Australia and Japan was so new and clean. Australia had problems, but they were problems you’d expect us to have in 50 years or so. For instance, the number one political topic for the upcoming election was where the country is going to get drinking water. Drinking water! Not war or welfare or the economy. Drinking water! Talk about an issue.
Tokyo – You have to go there to have a clue what I’m talking about, but it’s basically like the Las Vegas Strip meets 25 Times Square’s meets what ever image you have of some back alley flea market in Vietnam. It’s crazy. Katrina asked me where they were going to go from here (in terms of growth) and I have no clue. It’s already so built up and so crowded with so many people. Rush hour on the subway is always. These people must work 15 hours a day because we’d be going to a bar at 10:00PM and the subway would be packed with people in suits.
Thailand – Despite it’s natural beauty outside the cities, Thailand is so backwards. The streets are lined with row after row of broken down huts. It seems to me that they have lost their proud tradition and heritage and exploit the temples and religion for tourist dollars. The islands are another thing. They are still very poor and backwards, but are also very peaceful and fun. You might think that riding around on a scooter with no helmets on a street that’s not a street might be unwise, but when in Rome I guess. Despite the poverty, Thailand is a great place. You can find the smartest dogs in the world, a perfectly made banana crepe at 3:00AM and some really nice people.
Which brings me back to America. I’m always going to have a desire to explore this world and the unknown. I’ve always been interested in seeing things first hand and meeting new people, but when I took my seat on this plane to come back home, to come to a place that is familiar and known, I realized that I frickin love America!
