Musings, Travel

What’s your concept of Home?

Suzanne

For us, “It’s a feeling, not a place.”

It’s now nearing the time for this blogger and her squire to be heading downunder.  No, not Australia, you know, that small island below Australia that makes up for its size by significantly impacting the world in more ways than one.  Yes, that’s right, I am talking about New Zealand or Aotearoa, which is translated as “The Land of the Long White Cloud”.  Which means it does have unpredictable weather!  Though there is so much more to like than dislike.  If you had not guessed, we are very proud to call ourselves New Zealanders.

With our yearly return, the whole concept of home has got me thinking. My idea of  “what and where home is” has changed and evolved over my life as our world has slowly expanded. This is more so now that the Squire and I change “homes” quite regularly.  Nowadays, we pack up our things for a new country continuously, and each time, we feel at home, a new home of sorts.

For us now, the image of “home” means so many different things.

Such as:

  • Have a cuppa and chat with family or friends wherever they may live.
  • Strolling down a beach in various locations in New Zealand.
  • It’s housesitting for three months in a small commune in Northern France.
  • Visiting a local Devon cafe for a scone and clotted cream.
  • Walking a dog called Fudge down a cobbled lane or just sitting down, enjoying the sun in Aubonne.
  • The opportunity to capture a beautiful sunset in North Yorkshire.
  • It’s listening to the regular ezan chants that echo through the streets in Daylan.
  • Have a walk through the Dales in Northern Yorkshire or enjoy the sun with these two adorable dogs.
  • Venturing to the local pub [never far away] for a pint somewhere in the UK.
  • It’s cleaning out a natural swimming pool in the countryside near Norwich, which we housesat during the early summer of 2016.
  • Carefully driving down the narrow lanes of Devon and Cornwall.
  • It’s sitting in the sunny Brittany countryside with Ria, the dog.
  • It can be going to the local boulangerie for a croissant or baguette.
  • It’s walking around the city of Wiesbaden in Germany listening to street music and where we had a housesit in 2016.
  • It’s sitting in a beautiful part of Scotland in 2016.

Put simply, it’s in an area where we are housesitting together, and our suitcases are opened [ruling out airport lounges], which is where we have called home.  Just for a short while.  A temporary period.

And now?  We are enjoying housesitting in Portugal; this and the situations above are considered “home”, albeit temporary.  Though New Zealand has something, the other places do not.

It’s where our story began.

Published by Suzanne

Travel and Life Musings from New Zealand and Beyond. . . . . . .

92 thoughts on “What’s your concept of Home?”

    1. Lots and lots of time consuming emails and organisation regarding travel that’s how we do it 🙂 Yes, we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet people and their animal family in different communities, we love it! Nearly booked up until the end the end of May 2018.

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  2. Having been something of a Gypsy for the last 20 years and not by choice I warm wholly to this post. Wherever I lay my hat, says the song, that’s my home. But there is a special corner of my heart that is devoted to Oxford (UK) because that is where I hail from … more accurately a village nearby but Oxford has that bit of my heart eternally. Being rootless has it’s huge bonuses but acknowledging the fact that we have a start point is crucial to the process, I think.

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    1. osyth, you are totally right when you wrote that the start point needs to be acknowledged, and, for us, that is New Zealand with the Bay of Plenty the region we have both lived the longest. Oxford is so beautiful even if the weather isn’t it! We still enjoy exploring the UK! In the meantime, we are loving being rootless kiwis 🙂

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      1. That’s the key – to be a natural explorer and inquisitive and embrace whatever comes your way (including the British weather 😉) …. if you can do that then being rootless is really rather liberating!

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        1. Absolutely Osyth! 🙂 Funnily enough we are looking forward to some wet weather, and I am going to go for a long walk and get my feet wet!!

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  4. Great post, Suz. And, once again, very relatable. Except than for your country of origin, which is one we have warm feeling for as well. 🙂 I LOVE the fact that we can call so many different houses and places home. It is a very varied lifestyle that never bores. Still having a home country is also pleasing, for all those factors that we miss at our other “homes”, like friends, family and familiarity.

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    1. That is another thing, we don’t have to ‘think so much’ when in NZ. Which is a major reason for doing what we do, to be stimulated more and our comfort zones pushed out even further! Yes, I thought you would understand and relate to this post 😉

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  5. I love this post and can really relate to it.

    I feel like any place that has my husband and my cat feels like home. But then, it is really cool to have more than one home. I feel like I’m going home when I visit Nara, or my village in the UK, or London…and now our flat in Canada feels like home too.

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    1. Yes, you would be able to relate to this too Josy. Once lived in a place and felt comfortable and at home, it will always be special. That is what I believe. You will also have a more different insight into the cultures due to working in the various countries. I loved reading about your home in Japan!

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  6. Home is truly where the heart is… and I can see that you have wrapped your heart around many of the places you’ve stayed. But that special place, your One True North (which, I guess for you would be south 🙂 ), will always be drawing you back… for even just a little while. Have fun!

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  11. A lovely snapshot of your travels. We did some housesitting on our travels around Australia. It was a great way of getting both a pet, and garden fix. Our very best house sit was on a 120 acre hobby farm in Grafton, NSW. Their dogs were amazing.

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    1. Thanks, Clare, yes leaving a bit of ourselves in different places! Revisiting is on the agenda for a month 🙂 Though we love our wandering lifestyle we are very much looking forward to returning to NZ for a visit.

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  16. Everything you say is spot on, so true. Home is just where the heart is and as long as you’re together then that is home. This housesitting lark enables you to meet so many wonderful people doesn’t it? And so many of them become good friends. So pleased you’re loving life as much as we are.

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    1. Thanks Jonno, I did reply to your comment just on a different comment! Half asleep not enough coffee 🙂 Yes we have met some very kind lovely people who we have kept in touch with which is brilliant. Hopefully we can do it with travelling bloggers 😀

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    1. Talking of transport! My parents cat at night is too lazy to walk to their bedroom so gets a ride on Mum’s wheelchair 🙂 You sound happy and content which many never achieve!

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      1. Ha, that’s brilliant! I love how lazy a cat can be. Mostly mine are just on the floor stretched out and in my way. I swear I’d squish them if I wasn’t paying attention. They are oblivious to the dangers of my powered wheelchair 😃

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        1. Thanks Ritu for being such a wonderful supportive blogger 🙂 Though don’t forget to put yourself first a few times!

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  22. Oh this is lovely, such a wonderful way to see the world. I’d head out more often if the journey didn’t seem so stressful, airport lounges and long haul flights do take their toll. Which island of New Zealand do you return to? Or is it both?

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    1. Thanks Rosie, and yes it is stressful doing longhaul flights, unfortunately we have no option coming from NZ. We are from the North Island and that is where we are heading. The journey back in Nov is worth it to do more housesitting and see more of Europe and the UK 🙂

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    1. Thanks Sue, yes we have very fond memories of many of the housesits we have done, we are very fortunate to be able to be invited into people’s homes and care for their pets. It is a big privilege. Thanks for commenting.

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  25. I definitely think that home is a feeling. Where I live right now has been ‘home’ for 10 years but it doesn’t feel like home. We went on holiday to Suffolk a couple of years ago and have been back a few times since because, for some reason, that feels like ‘home’. Something draws me to it and my current ‘home’ doesn’t have that effect. I hope one day to move there 🙂

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    1. I know what you mean. Hope you get to move to where you feel more connected. Funny we are currently visiting family on the East Coast, where I was born and it will always be special, though not a place we would live fulltime.

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    1. Thanks Lorelle, for us it’s where we both want to be and at the moment it is where our suitcases are open. We could live in a few places and be very happy 🙂

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    1. Thanks for your lovely comment ☺ No we don’t get paid and definitely not millionaires!. Just an easy way to do slow travel.

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      1. That is so wonderful you had a fun time while travelling around NZ. I do believe more local people are opening up their homes to visitors. Which enables their travel experience to be on a more personal level. It happens to us while we are travelling and we love staying with local people.

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          1. Yes, there is always an end to many activities as we get older. No, we won’t be here for Christmas we will be in Spain.

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  34. Pingback: A Travellers concept of HOME – Global Housesitter x2

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