Before travelling to a new place, excitement is usually extremely high. Perhaps, the best part about travelling actually when you’re planning for such an adventure. You may be excited about shopping for clothes, shoes, and bags for the trip. It’s the anticipation of the holiday that is the real thrill, sometimes even more so than the doing.
You may also be excited about booking a first-class flight, 5-star hotel, and researching activities to engage in. There’s just so much to choose from and the possibilities are endless. As they say, the world is your oyster.
Yet what happens when you arrive at your highly anticipated destination and all of a sudden, nothing feels quite right. Sure, everything you had planned for has fallen into place accordingly. But why does it feel like something important is missing? What is it that is stopping you from letting your hair down and enjoying your new experience?
What you are missing is the lack of a ‘homely feel’. Once you have travelled to a foreign place, it can be quite challenging to feel at home because everything you are seeing, doing, and even eating is so new and unknown. Fortunately, here are some tips to help you feel at home wherever you travel in the world.
Invest in a Home Away from Home
If you are a frequent traveller, you may want to consider investing in a new home you can reside in whenever you travel. This can be a vacation home which you can also rent out to other travellers at certain times of the year to supplement your income.
You can invest in a condo, a beach house, city townhouse, or even a lakeside retreat. You can then decorate the house according to your liking to make it feel like home whenever you fancy visiting.
This is a long-term investment, and could stand you in good stead financially later down the line, as property is often a good way to earn money. Make sure you know the area that you’re considering purchasing your new property in well, so that you know you’ll feel comfortable in the community, and can make it your second home.
Find a Favourite Spot
Everyone has a favourite place where they can go to relax and find peace. Be it a restaurant, beach, or park, this is the place that can help you really connect with your inner self. Whenever you travel, make it a habit to find a new favourite place to visit. It can be heaps of fun testing out new spots until you find that all-important happy place, and you never know what experiences you’ll have along the way.
Whether you are staying in a hotel or apartment, you can walk around and explore the neighbourhood. Find restaurants, libraries or riversides where you can have some time to yourself and relax. Or if you’re staying in a rural area, think about hiking up into the mountains or deep into hidden valleys that are sure to be so much more peaceful than down in the towns and cities. Take a picnic or just a book to read, and you’ll soon be able to relax and enjoy the experience.
Also, whilst you are at it, familiarise yourself with other infrastructure such as public transportation systems which can come in handy when moving from one place to another. Start to move and act like a local, doing the everyday things that they do, so you will start to fit in and be comfortable and confident when you’re out and about.
Learn the Local Language
If you want to truly feel at home when you travel, you should consider learning the local language before setting foot in your new destination. Not knowing how to communicate with the locals can make you feel out of place and not welcomed. Even if you aren’t fluent, just knowing a few important everyday words and phrases will work wonders with your relationships with new neighbours and people in the community because it shows you are making an effort to blend in.
When you learn the local language of the place you plan on travelling to, you can feel at home as you will be able to connect and interact with other people seamlessly. This can be in hotels, while using public transport, or any other outdoor activity.
Although it’s good to start the learning process at home, you’ll find it much easier to pick up when you’re actually in the new destination and interacting with local people in real situations. You’ll soon find that you know more than you realise, and just like that, you’ll feel genuinely welcome in your new community.
Make New Friends
Lastly, to feel at home when travelling, you should consider making new friends as you move around different areas. Failure to interact and connect with other people can keep you in a ‘travellers bubble’, which may hinder you from feeling at home.
Therefore, get out of your comfort zone and start a conversation with a random stranger, whether they are other travellers like yourself, or locals with a shared interest. Discuss the culture of the country or any other thing that might be of mutual curiosity. Such a connection goes a long way to making you feel at home.
There is nothing worse than feeling out of place when you travel, but by following the above tips there’s no reason you shouldn’t feel part of your adopted community in no time.
