It is no secret that I love to travel. Each adventure changes me. I believe it makes me more empathetic and allows me to think more broadly than my otherwise limited experience would. I now have a great sympathy for visitors who struggle to understand our customs and strange ways of being.

Even the simple things can be a challenge. This past fall, I mastered a wood stove and cast iron stove tops while in Ireland. I learned that if electricity isn’t working you need to flip an individual switch on each outlet. I learned to drive on the opposite side of the road and found out the hard way that ramp actually means a speed bump.

This winter in Portugal, I have tried to master the eco friendly washer and drier. After watching an almost 4 hour wash cycle, learning to properly drain the machine and going through four drying cycles only to be left with steaming wet towels…. I can only say I tried. On the bright side, I now also know how to switch on the master fuse that controls the electricity to the house. And I have a new appreciation for a good old fashioned clothesline.

In each new place, I struggle to learn local phrases and basic communication. How fortunate am I that strangers who speak English come to my rescue, usually within minutes. I wish I could say that visitors to the U.S. were so nicely accommodated. After visiting cosmopolitan cities where languages flow like water, it jarring to re-enter the U.S. Here, it is most common to hear a visitor approach with a question and be answered in increasingly loud English without any attempt to understand what they actually needed to know. Americans simply don’t feel they need to know another language and we are poorer for it.

Another notable difference is the abundance of quality public transportation across the world. When traveling abroad, I can choose trains, metro trains, buses, trams, trolleys, funiculars, ferries and ride inexpensively wherever I want to go. Even cabs are cheaper than in the U.S., although gas is more expensive abroad. I can fly between cities for less than I can take a cab from downtown Chicago to the zoo. It is puzzling why Americans are so resistant to public transportation.

Perhaps because of our hard core self reliance and love of automobiles, Americans are blessed with an abundance of way finding tools that are noticeably absent in other parts of the world. Road signs, maps, and general directions are hard to come by. Street signs, if they exist at all, may be faded or on the side of a building at an angle that can’t be read, or so small it can’t be seen from a vehicle. Maps are hard to come by and may not include the many side roads and dead ends you are likely to encounter. Thank goodness for google maps.

Travel can be confusing, confounding, and glorious. I may get tired of eating salty pork and wish I could find more “American” cuisine, but then I find a banafee pie or a “bunny chow”. Finding vegetables can be as challenging as finding a good cup of coffee. But it is really just a question of what you have gotten used to. Later when I am back in the land of meat and potatoes, I will think fondly of my culinary adventures. I will find myself missing soda bread or wishing I had a bottle of H&P sauce.

At home in the Mid-west, I will drive to the grocery store to do the weekend shopping and fill my large refrigerator. I will do my laundry with ease within a few hours and a few loads. I will be a little more thankful for the normalcy and comforts I enjoy that aren’t the norm elsewhere in the world. I will also look at some framed photos of our travels and dream about the next adventure. I wonder where we will have our next “Not in Kansas anymore” moment? The anticipation is half the fun.