musings on wanderlust: chasing a feeling

i started writing the following post on one of my last days in hong kong, but i didn't finish it before leaving... so here it is now: 

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i've been in hong kong for a month now, but as of yesterday afternoon (7/31) everyone who was here with me has left... gone home or traveling somewhere else.  the alone time has given me some time to think, not only about my experience here but about international travel in general.

after a month here, i am more than ready to be home.  i miss granger, my family, sadie. i miss my friends. i miss my apartment and the simplicity of life-at-home: not having to figure out what/where/when you're going to eat, making coffee just the way you like it, etc... it's the small stuff like that that makes a place home. but now that my time in asia is nearly over, i can't escape this feeling of sadness.  or nostalgia, maybe?  i'm not sure how to describe it, really.  it's the sadness of leaving a place.  this feeling is familiar to me; i feel it each time i leave a place. the more i think about it, though, the more i wonder why: why do i feel nostalgic about a place i've known for only 1 month? or in some cases, only 1 week.  what is it about a place (and with the exception of hawaii, they're always outside-of-the-US places) that makes me start to miss it before i even leave?

to start, this place-that-is-not-my-home has been my home for a month now.  and i don't mean my hotel room.  i mean the city itself.  i've become comfortable here.  i know my way around.  i know a bit about the history, the people, the food, the customs.  i'm nowhere near an expert, but i'm not a novice anymore either.  this city, like all the foreign places i visit, is no longer a mystery to me.  it's no longer a place i only know from pictures, stories, or descriptions.  i've been here.  i've seen it, heard it, felt it, tasted it.  i know it.

for me, that is the allure of travel.  not being able to say that i have been to this country or that city.  it's not about seeing the famous sights or buying tchotchkes that will collect dust on my shelf at home later on.  it's about getting to know a place.  really getting a feel for it.  navigating side streets.  getting lost.  finding local restaurants, cafes, markets.  in the month that i've been here in hong kong, i have started this getting-to-know-it process.  and when i go home, i won't be able to see it anymore. or hear it, feel it, taste it.  i think that is where this nostalgia, this sadness, comes from.  i'm already starting to miss this city that i'm just starting to explore.

the beauty of traveling, especially when you can really get to know a place, is that years later you could be walking down the streets of your hometown and you experience something that instantly takes you back to... somewhere.  whatever it is you experience - a sight, a sound, a smell - suddenly you're not walking down the streets of dc, you're in zambia, spain, brazil. it is this kind of deep connection to a new place that i seek every time i step off a plane.  it's the reason i purchase the airplane tickets, reserve the hotel rooms, endure the long flights, fumble through customs, and suffer through jet lag.  i want to see it, hear it, feel it, taste it, know it.  i want to understand it.  and when i have to leave, i will miss it.