“Our homes are not defined by geography or one particular location, but by memories, events, people, and places that span the globe.”

—Marilyn Gardner

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020, traveling behavior has changed for most of us. Even though a year and a half into the pandemic, some cautious travels are possible again in some regions of the world, it is not as easy and carefree as before. And while I hope that there will be a way for sustainable and safe travel again in the future, I also noticed that it is possible to bring some of the things, attitudes, and mindsets that impressed us abroad back to our home, no matter where we live.

The love for traveling
and what we can learn from it

For some of us, our passion for traveling and for exploring other countries and cultures awakens once we take our first step abroad. Traveling stimulates our senses in a particular way as we leave our comfort zones and are often confronted with completely new ways of thinking and living. We might encounter situations we had never experienced before. We might discover customs, faiths, and belief systems that are very different from those we know. And while this can sometimes be challenging, it is also very rewarding as it opens up new perspectives on life. The beautiful thing is that by getting to know different ways of life, we can then choose those parts that resonate with us and actively integrate them into our own lives —no matter where in the world we live.

I was introduced to traveling at a young age by my parents. My father used to travel a lot for business, and I was always mesmerized when he brought back little souvenirs from far-away countries. Over time, I’ve had the chance to visit about fifty countries across the world and to live in nine of them. And each country and its people taught me something beautiful. Of course, I also had a good number of moments when I was struggling or just wanted to hide under my bedsheets for an entire day. But, generally speaking, there were lots of things I learned and appreciated—sometimes with some retrospective—and that I wished to integrate in one way or another in my life, also once I left the country. So, I came up with a system to capture some of the particularities that I had enjoyed in a particular country, culture, or when observing people in the country dealing with everyday situations. And this is what I’d love to share with you so that you can also use the experiences you have had abroad and integrate those lessons into your daily life.

How to bring your travel adventures and the things you appreciated abroad back to your home

If you feel nostalgic for a country you love or for something in the country that you appreciate, there are many ways that can help you bring parts of the country back to your daily life.

1. Sit down and reflect on the countries you have already visited or lived in or on the ones you would like to visit

What is it that fascinates you so much about this country? Is it the people, the history, some values that you found to be omnipresent among people in the country, the food, the music, or some particular behavior of people? It could be the hospitality, the way people live their faith in everyday life, how people approach problems or challenges, or social support systems in society or the family.

For me, I was, for example, mesmerized by the sense of friendliness and hospitality that I encountered while living in Mexico and India. In both countries, I was also impressed by the role that faith and spirituality played in everyday life. In the U.S., I was fascinated by the way in which challenges are regarded as opportunities and how people learn to dream and think big. In France and Switzerland, I learned about the art of living well or savoir vivre. In the Netherlands, I learned about the art of not taking things too personally and of including physical movement naturally into your everyday life. In China and Japan, I learned about beautiful concepts that can help to find more balance in life, reflect on one’s life purpose, and keep growing personally and professionally. And also my home country, Germany, taught me lots of beautiful things.

Writing down a list or drawing a mind map of the various attributes that you really enjoyed in a country can be a first great step.

2. Think about how you could integrate some of the
attributes into your daily life

The second step involves thinking about ways to integrate whatever you really appreciated abroad into your life. If you enjoyed the happy atmosphere brought about by music in a country, you could create a playlist of some of your favorite songs of this country. If you crave a particular dish, you could find a country-specific grocery store (sometimes even going into such stores makes you travel!) and cook a country-themed dish at home. And if you enjoyed a particular behavioral attitude, it can be great to set your intention to integrate more of this attitude into your life— be it to be more hospitable, flexible, spontaneous, or to smile more if that is something that you appreciated abroad. It can also be wonderful to dive deeper into some country aspects that you enjoyed by digging into books, documentaries or movies about them. I learned a lot about the Japanese ikigai concept and the Chinese concept of yin and yang by reading about them and following people specialized in explaining these concepts and giving great ideas on how to apply them to your life.

3. Make a visible list of the things you want to bring back home and put it somewhere where you can see it frequently

The third step is to make a list of the top things that you would love to include in your daily life and to create it in a way that makes you feel joyful when looking at it. Pictures collages from the places you loved, highlighting some of the attributes you appreciated, can also be beautiful for this purpose.

The important thing is to make it visible so that you are reminded of it. And I’m sure that, little by little, you will feel that you are bringing the beauty of the most diverse places in the world back to your own home!

If you are interested in this topic, you might enjoy my book Inspirations from Abroad for a Happier Life at Home, in which I did this exercise myself for the nine countries where I’ve lived, extracting the beautiful lessons learned from each country.

You can also get a free workbook with similar prompts at: