My favorite travel destination is home. Some could argue that home can’t really be a vacation since that’s the destination you leave in order to go on a trip, but as a college student who divides their time between campus and summer jobs, home has become my favorite vacation.
When I say home, it doesn’t necessarily mean with family. While I do consider my family home, not everyone has that dynamic, and I’ve also found comfort in places beyond my relatives. My parents couldn’t wait to move out of my hometown after I graduated high school, and, since then,“home” has represented both people and places.
Being back with family always brings me to a place of familiarity that I had as a child. They are the people who quite literally shaped me into the person I am today and being back in the embrace of their comfort allows me to revert to that role. Through the monotony of life’s responsibilities and the stress of work, it feels nice to be taken care of. There are flavors I only taste at home with my mom’s cooking and smells that only come from the collections of quilts my parents have and the trees they planted in their garden. That’s not to say home doesn’t come with headaches. The downside of making a trip out of your visit home is that you now have carved out multiple days spending constant time with family — with no breaks.
My hometown is only a few BART stops away from campus, so I have the luxury of visiting home easily. While my parents no longer live there, I have my chosen family there. My friends’ families have practically become my surrogate families as I stay the night at their places, eat dinner with them, and stay in to play a board game or watch a movie with them. While we may not share blood, we do share a bond that can be just as fulfilling as family. I even find comfort in the physical place. I know the town like the back of my hand. I can stop by my favorite restaurants and pass my old schools or houses on the way. There seem to be memories everywhere.
Returning home, wherever that may be, is always bittersweet as things change from the time you last left them. I go back to my parents’ place, and my dog has more grey hairs than when I left. In my hometown, the lot that used to house the library is now a housing development, and the vacant corner store is now occupied. Just because you are traveling somewhere you have been before doesn’t mean it won’t be a new experience.