10 Things We Miss While Traveling
| by Jason | 30 Comments » | Reflections
Volcano El Hoyo Trek Campsite in Nicaragua
It’s been just 3 three months since we began our round the world journey and we now find ourselves ecstatic over the idea of a hot shower. That leads me to write a follow-up to the original post of “What Will I Miss” written by Aracely before we began our trip. This list excludes family and friends, which we always miss.
1. Hot Showers
This is the top dog of things we miss. Maybe we miss it so much because we are teased with 1 hot shower about once every 6 weeks. Yes, it is very hot in Central America and most of South America, but if you spent most of your life with hot showers, you never forget them. We are usually spoiled with hot showers when we travel to high elevations where the weather is much cooler.
Atop Volcano Santa Ana in El Salvador
2. My Own Bed
Isn’t it always the greatest feeling to come home after traveling and lay down in your own comfortable bed. Now, imagine forgetting what your own bed feels like. That is where we are now. Also, staying in hostels usually does not afford you a comfortable substitute.
3. More Clothes
Everyone has their favorite clothes they wear often; this holds true even when you only have 4 outfits. Clothes take up room, so you travel with very little. Ever notice how we have the same shirts on throughout most of our pictures? Take a look around.
4. Quality High-Speed Internet
We do require good internet in order to run our travel blog, network with our followers, and upload lots of videos and photos. It’s typically not difficult finding internet, but it’s a challenge to find high bandwidth, non-intermittent access. We were spoiled at home.
Volcano San Pedro at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala
5. Favorite TV Shows
We love comedy, therefor we miss “The Office” and “Family Guy,” our two favorite shows. Hulu.com does not work outside of the United States, but TVShack.net does. It still takes up to 4 hours to load before we can watch it. We have given up on “Family Guy,” but we do our best to stay abreast with “The Office.”
6. Familiar Restaurants, Delis and Bars
It was so easy to walk down the street in Hoboken to La Isla Restaurant for Cuban food, Filippo’s On First for pizza, Luca Brasis’s Deli for an Italian Hoagie or Maru for sushi. You can get a beer anywhere in Latin America, which is aa big plus, but I miss Philadelphia sports being played in Mulligan’s Bar with familiar faces.
Jason Entering Panama at the Border Crossing
7. Fully Stocked Kitchen
In order to save some cash we often buy some groceries and cook in the hostel. We have seen some sketchy kitchens. When we find a fully stocked kitchen where we can prepare a nice meal, we look a little too excited. A flat plan that sits level on a stove stop is success.
8. Favorite Foods
We love to experiment with the local street foods in Latin America, although most are not very healthy. Latin America = fried food. People always exclaim how lucky we are to try all these great foods. We agree, we are lucky, but we must be honest and explain that we do miss our favorites. Aracely misses soy chips, cottage cheese and spring mix salads. I miss hoagies, cheesesteaks, and good beef. We both miss sushi.
A Day at the Office for Aracely
9. Availability of all Consumer Items
Never thought we would be saying this, but where’s a Best Buy, B&H Camera or REI when you need one? It’s tough traveling in less developed countries and wanting to upgrade your camera, computer software or camping/traveling gear. We have been to the most developed and consumer driven areas in Central America with no success finding a decent selection of camera lenses or a backpack rain cover. Don’t lose your travel towel, you might not find another one.
10. Driving
We didn’t drive often while living in Hoboken since we relied on public transportation. However, whenever we visited family in South Jersey, went big grocery shopping or on a trip, we could easily hop in our car and drive ourselves. We haven’t driven in over 3 months and we now actually miss it. It’s not just the feeling of driving, but also the ability to easily get somewhere if you needed to.
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Written by Jason
Co-founder of TwoBackpackers.com. Jason has been traveling, writing, taking photos and creating adventure videos since 2024, when he departed on his first year long travel backpacking journey. Jason is a full-time blogger and social marketing guru trying to find the way. Visit my website
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In one week, it will be 3 months since we left and I love the idea of writing a post on what we miss. I am totally with you on a bunch o these because the three things we miss the most are our puppies, super-fast Internet, and our comfortable bed. We also miss our kitchen, groceries, and favorite TV shows. We have ended up watching a lot more DVDs than we expected.
.-= Akila´s last blog ..three foodie travel secrets =-.
The kitchen is important, we are very limited in what we can cook. We don’t want to go buying all sorts of spices and add-ins for our meals, so they remain basic. At home, we would already have all the extras to use at any time.
Ironically enough, the thing I usually miss the most is routines – the exact same thing I find myself running from sometimes. I especially miss cooking when we’re out on the road!
Lol, I don’t miss routines at all. But, I do find ourselves getting into them, even on the road. It’s hard to escape.
After almost 5 months of travel the desire for my own bed is almost painful. I miss specific food too…fruit smoothies and homemade cookies. The other day I saw our car, same make, model and colour, drive by and I said out loud “I miss Ginger”. I miss my MacBook. And like you I miss convenience. Traveling has made me appreciate what I had at home so much more, esp. my friends & family!
.-= corina´s last blog ..so hk was nice. really nice! =-.
Hey Corina, it’s been so long since we got together in NYC.
We have been good with smoothies in Latin America. We get them almost every other day and have had access to them in every country. Of course we must always ask for “sin azucar.” Sugar is in everything! I have my Macbook with me, but its heavy.
Agree with you 100% about the warm shower, but what I miss most are my four four-legged fuzzy kids.
I think everyone with pets seems to miss them incredibly. We had no pets, so its just our bed and hot shower. lol.
I think the word clean would encapsulate what I missed. By the end of my trip, I missed just about everything on your list…but mostly because of the clean factor. Hot showers where I didn’t have to wear shower shoes, a clean and bed-bug free bed, really and truly clean clothes, not hand-washed and questionable!
We agree Shannon! Clean can be associated to many things that we miss. Getting your laundry cleaned on the road is like getting a great birthday present. And I mean really cleaned, not the sketchy clean.
Now I am no expert traveler, especially compared to you two but what I missed and have heard from other travelers is deodorant. I’m not picky about many things but I like my deodorant and different people in different parts of the world, well they sweat differently. Next extended trip I take outside the U.S. I will be sure to pack plenty.
Cornelius, there is some countries around the world where it’s difficult to buy deodorant and some other personal hygiene goods, however you won’t have that problem in Latin America.
You forget to mention you missed your mother. She is not going to be happy.
She is before #1, more like 0.5. I might have to edit this post.
Hey we miss you at Mulligan’s too. Hopefully you can somehow catch Eagles/Giants this Sunday night.
If not, then hope to see you next season for some Phillies games…
Hey Sean, good to hear from another Hobokenite. At the least the NFL East is keeping things interesting. I struggle to watch football games, sometimes I can only follow ESPN Gamecast. I did get lucky with the Phillies, many Central American countries love baseball. So I assume you are keeping Mulligans crowded with the Eagles games. Big game this weekend… E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!
The great thing about travel is you will appreciate all these things MORE when you get back. The cliche on “taking things for granted” is cliche for a reason: because it is true.
.-= brian´s last blog ..Best Travel News and Deals – December 8, 2024 – Dubai, Chinese Rapping Pig, 10 Best Airports, Crime in Paradise, The Reality of Travel Writing =-.
I couldn’t agree more!
Aah, the things we miss when abroad. I often find that when I come back to the U.S. I am so happy for some of the conveniences we often take for granted. And then I find I’m missing travel again! Just a part of the process for those of us who love to travel, I think. I just found your site on Twitter – you have a new follower in me. I just got back from Peru and have lived in South America so will be spending time on your site to catch up and see your discoveries!
.-= Laura Cococcia´s last blog ..Why I Love Dr. Seuss =-.
I assume it will be the same for us when we get back home. We have never traveled long term, so coming home will be a first. Glad you found us! We have just arrived in South America.
I miss a lot of things…..mostly good sushi and reeses peanut butter cups
.-= Nomadic Matt´s last blog ..Bangkok’s Khao San Road (HD Video) =-.
I remember food and clean bathrooms being on the top of my list! and oh, the smell of nice, clean laundry – fresh clean clothes!
.-= Adriana´s last blog ..in Lebanon, reminiscing Israel – my mental jigsaw puzzle =-.
we Miss YOU Merry Christmas Hot Showers too. Heard A’s mom and brother are comming
Have an adventure for me
Lol, we are getting lucky with hot showers lately since we are in cool climates. We wish you all Happy Holidays and we will miss you too! Enjoy the white Christmas.
After ten months of movement through Latin America, we’re renting an apartment in Buenos Aires for a month to be still, relax and catch up on work. It’s really nice to not have to think about where the next meal will come from or where we’ll sleep that night or whether we’ll have a hot shower. Kind of like a vacation from our trip
But, I still miss not having an REI or Best Buy here! It just takes so much longer (and is usually much more expensive) trying to find replacement clothes/electronics and upgrade.
I’m not sure if you’re planning to go to Lima (many people skip it), but I highly recommend visiting for a culinary treat. We were so fed up with fried foods and the same thing on the menu each day, so we were like kids in a candy store in Lima. In addition to incredible local food – ceviche, tiradito, causa, and more- we found an awesome sushi place and there are places with great salads and sandwiches (real ones, not the crappy ones you usually get in Latin America). Let us know if you’re heading that way and we’ll send you our favorite places. It’s reasonably priced, too.
.-= Audrey´s last blog ..Wandering the Zeroes: Reflections on a Decade of Travel =-.
Audrey, we are definitely headed to Lima and looking forward to the Sushi! We will be renting an apartment and settling down soon too, but the location is undetermined. REI and Best Buy, that would be my dream! I still haven’t been able to find a good rain/wind jacket to replace my old one. And upgrading, replacing or repairing equipment on the road in Latin America is almost impossible. We will be looking for suggestions in Lima, thanks for the offer!
Just came across this and I can definitely vouch for many of the above! In fact, I wrote a poem on my blog about the things I miss: http://solange.posterous.com/poem-time-a-few-things-i-miss
I’m traveling with my partner too, and right now we’re in Cusco. Look forward to keeping up with your travels.
so true! sharing this…
I agree with everything you miss while traveling EXCEPT driving. I haven’t driven in almost 5 years, since moving to New York City, and I NEVER miss it at all. Having a fully stocked kitchen, though, is a dream and luckily, I’m house-sitting for a friend at the moment in Hong Kong and have access to *gasp* an oven! I’m baking up a storm over here!
Nice post. Unf, TV Shack has been shut down
I traveled for 2+ years and strangely, I did not miss my bed at all. I thought I would , but found most okay and think my overall mindset was just different. There was always this course of adrenaline pumping through my veins that kept me at this overall excited, yet relaxed level. It’s a feeling I don’t get doing anything else.
I’m in Colombia right now and experiencing the cold shower routine in Cargtaena.
Very true about electronics. I love B&H and their free shipping/no tax when i order. My laptop battery just bit it and i am going to try to find one in Medellin.