Vacationing at Home: What Our Visitors Teach Us About Ourselves

Since moving to Europe, I’ve had a handful of people visiting as houseguests. And come to think of it, I had a few after moving to Vancouver from the Toronto area too.

During one friend’s recent visit, I realized how spending time with people on vacation is like a little window into their lifestyle and how they experience the world.

This all stemmed from a friend who mostly came to visit us, as he strangely didn’t have much that he really wanted to see while he was in Dublin.

Part of that was because he was fairly relaxed with the whole trip, but it was curious that he let us and ChatGPT take the lead on what he should see.

Another friend was here for business, and outside of seeing us, spent a lot of time with her co-worker hitting up all of the tourist spots.

A friend who stayed with us in Spain was happy to explore the city by foot, tag along with our daily walks, retreat to her room to read, or just hang out with us in the living room.

Another friend had solo day trips planned while she stayed with us in Spain.

Each of their visits was a little different.

Our experience with them was different.

And so was their experience of where we were.

When I think of how we travel, it’s always a mix of exploring the city, finding local restaurants and pubs, and a sprinkling of day trips.

Our vacations and our day-to-day lives have somehow become the same, with our trips being mini versions of how we live.

In the past 2 years, we’ve lived in a few cities long enough that we’re not tourists… but not long enough that others who have relocated will take us seriously has having moved there.

I wonder what this time in our lives will look like when we look back in 5 or 10 years.

Will it be a transitional period?

Will we find another longish-term place to live (like Vancouver, where we were for nearly 10 years)?

Or will it be the beginning of us being göçebe for good?