"What do you miss most about home?"

In addition to "What do you do for a living that lets you travel for a year?", "Where have you been?", and "What's the deal with your Congress?", questions about what I miss after a year travel is one of the most common. Truth be told, modern globalism means there isn't much available in Washington DC that I can't get in any major metropolitan area anywhere in the world, so I haven't been without most foods, music, TV, etc. for long enough to really rise to the level of making me "homesick". As I miss some things, I can find them in the next airport or capital city, and spending nearly a month recently in London certainly caught me up on a lot of the foods and drinks I'd been doing without.

However, there are certainly a lot of experiences or comforts I've been lacking most of the time, and as things have occurred to me over the last couple of months, I've been noting them down, so I can remember what to appreciate when I'm back in DC. Don't think that these can't be found in other countries, just that if you spend most of your time with backpackers in hostels, you're likely to feel the same way after a while.

• Good drinks with old friends - I don't just mean high-quality beer, wine, and alcohol. I mean having good drinks with good friends who I've known for years. I've actually come to enjoy meeting new people and going out for drinks with them, but there is something so relaxing and cozy about having a happy hour or brunch with someone you know well enough that you don't have to try at being social... AND I mean high-quality beer, wine, and alcohol. Most of the countries I've visited think "micro-brewed" means Amstel or Coors. 
• Speedy wi-fi - Ridiculous, I know, given that I've found very few places that don't have access at all, but there's nothing entertaining about going back to dial-up speeds. So I'm attached to my internet... again, sue me.
• Clean clothes - I've never felt as consistently grubby as I have this year, and I never thought I would actually think "yay!" after getting a bundle of laundry back. I'm more comfortable with wearing dirty clothes now than I used to be (I won't tell you how many days I've been wearing this same outfit now), but I just like having clean clothes to put on.
• Having more than 3 sets of clothes - Seeing a pattern? 
• Hot water showers, and a soft towel after - Pure luxury.
• Not feeling like there are bugs on me - No, I'm not infested with bedbugs, but I have been spending a lot of time in tropical countries. First, you spend all of your time swatting the flies, gnats, and mosquitoes away. Then, you just give up because it's too hot and too much trouble. And finally, you begin to feel them even when they're not there. That usually starts the cycle over again for me.
• Feeling like I belong - I wrote about "the panda factor" and feeling like everyone is staring at me where ever I go in India, southeast Asia, and South America, but it does get old. Of course, I've noticed that I start to get antsy in places I blend in too, so I don't know what to do about that...
• Beds that are longer than 5 feet, 10 inches - Outside western Europe, I'm usually taller than the locals, and the length of the beds can be a challenge. Stubbing your toes when stretching out doesn't make for sound sleep.
• Unsweetened and/or freshly brewed iced tea - One thing that no country besides the US, Japan, and the Philippines seems to understand, even the ones that adore hot tea. It's refreshing, people!!
• Not feeling like it's time to re-apply mosquito repellent, or sunscreen, or both - I hate them both so much. Only slightly less than I hate sunburns, skin cancer, and malaria.
• Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting - it's my favorite, and a rarity to find it done well outside the States.

That's honestly about it. Almost all of them could be taken care of by staying in "higher class" (i.e. more expensive) accommodation, which I've found means losing a lot of the local experience and social connections with fellow travelers. So instead of feeling deprived of any of my usual creature comforts, I prefer to think of as being enriched with new friends... and sometimes dirt, bugs, and sunburns.

Happy Anniversary to me (part 2)

At 5am this morning, I was getting on a boat in Malapascua, Philippines, heading out to SCUBA dive with thresher sharks when I realized that exactly one year ago (adjusting for the time change), I was getting on a plane at National Airport, heading for an unplanned overnight in Newark before going to Oslo. I had told work I wouldn't be back for 13 months and was taking a last look at the city where I had spent most of the last 18 years. I can honestly say the main thought running through my head was some variation of "Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself?" And I can honestly say I didn't - and still don't. One of the major reasons I love traveling so much, especially longer-term travel, is that it removes a lot of the preconceptions about what I'm going to be doing this afternoon, or tomorrow, or next week; it's all a bit of a present waiting to be unwrapped.

The reason I came to Malapascua: the Oceanic thresher shark

Almost every morning, if you're willing to get up before 6am and sink 100 feet down, you can see them coming in to get cleaned of parasites by other fish. Otherwise, they spend all of their time 200-300 feet down in the middle of the ocean

Now before all of you friends of mine with a more optimistic bent of mind start saying "But that's true everyday! Even when you're at home!", let me say that yes, I agree with that affirmation... in concept. The problem is that after a few years doing the same job, in the same place, with the same people, I forget that I don't really know what's actually going to happen every day, and when something unexpected pops up, I don't pay enough attention to appreciate the moment. It's much easier to live in the moment and pay attention to what's going on around me when I don't know where I'm sleeping tomorrow night, or even what city I'll be in. Not to mention when there's a spectacular island sunset, or I'm 100 feet underwater watching sharks swim by, or trying unidentified street food in Bangkok.

So I'm lazy at living the moment... sue me.

The beach at El Nido, Philippines

If you look carefully, you might see the smallest clownfish I've ever seen hiding in the anemone

I love ribbon eels, and not just because of those silly flaps on their nose. But it's a big part of why.

Anyway, my point (if I had one) was that I had some anxiety a year ago about not having a major theme, or a purpose, or a reason, or some guiding principle in my traveling. Now that I'm approaching my return to the States, I'm glad that I didn't, or didn't try to hard to make one. I had some set down an itinerary and some "guidelines", but for anyone paying attention, you can see that the longer I journeyed, the more and more I deviated from them. In fact, if I have any regrets from the past year, it's that I planned too much. Most of the best memories I have came from those moments when I took an unexpected turn, made a spontaneous decision, and let the wind push me on a different path. Rest assured, if (when) I ever get the chance to do this sort of traveling again, I will be leaving with substantially less of everything I took with me last July: less luggage, less planning, less money, less anxiety, and less uncertainty.

Seahorse!

Another sea horse! (Look closely)

A not-very-friendly cuttlefish

A much friendlier banded shrimp

Last post, I said I was going to answer one of the most common questions I've gotten this year - "What do you miss most?" But it looks like I've rambled a little long already, so I think I'll save that one for a couple of days. I know I'm posting more in this month that I have in the three before it, but there's a very good reason for it - I'm on a tiny tropical island with nothing but a beach, SCUBA diving, and good food, and I need something to keep me busy in between books. There are worse problems to have, I suppose.

My current hostel, on Malapascua island

Where you can find me most afternoons

The Malapascua shipyards