Over the past years of full time travel, a frequent question we’re asked is: “What’s your favorite place so far?” It’s become our least favorite question to be asked, and we’ve had to get creative in how we answer it.
I’ve always hated being asked to name my favorite of anything – colors, food, climates, movies, books, cars. Choosing just one as an ultimate favorite is painful. There’s generally always something to appreciate and take away from everything, and my favorite will vary depending upon the context.
When you’re traveling through somewhere – whether staying for a few hours or a few months – you learn that you don’t have to evaluate a place on what it doesn’t offer, but instead – what it does. A place doesn’t have to meet all of your criteria for what makes a place ideal – climate, scenery, culture, community, history, traffic, public transit and pace of life. You begin to look at places differently, to find their hidden gems, what makes them unique and you seek out the beautiful in everything you encounter.
Being nomadic has given us the freedom to not have to choose a favorite place. For if we had a singular favorite place, we’d likely just live there.
No, our life is constructed for variety and we’re not looking for a singular place to eventually call home. Different places speak to us in different ways – we love Utah for the dramatic changes in scenery, San Francisco for our diverse community and liberal culture, Black Rock City for it’s temporary nature, St. Louis for family & the unexpected, Austin for its Texas weirdness and great TexMex, Southern California for the people we know, etc, etc.
Why choose when you can have it all? Why look at things as ‘or’ when you can really have ‘and’?
So I think the next time I’m asked what my favorite place is so far, I’ll answer:
“Where ever I happen to be”
I do not think in terms of “favorite places”…but more in terms of “favorite moments”. But, I recognize that are places that, somehow, are more prone to produce great memorable moments.
We call them “Girona Moments”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adolfo_isassi/3886221886/
.-= Adolfo Isassi´s last blog ..Keep it fresh… =-.
I can’t pick favorites either. I have a favorite husband, a favorite son, and a favorite daughter. Ha! Too bad I’ll miss you in STL. We’re visiting there middle July. Boo! We’ll be on the road soon enough and surely see you at a NuRVers event.
My father calls me ‘Favorite Daughter’ all the time. Of course, I’m also the only daughter 🙂 I’m sure our paths will cross at some point.
I get the same question from passengers on the ship, and my answer is invariably (and truthfully), “This one.” This is usually met with some variation of the response, “You’re just saying that for the Company’s benefit.”
*sigh*
It is difficult to convey the concepts that: a) This is me, all grown up; and b) I don’t get homesick because this (points to where my hat is hung) is my home.
As a lighting designer, I am also loathe to choose a favorite color. 🙂
.-= Marcus´s last blog ..The Great Green. =-.
We’re in Wentzville, MO for the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire and the City Museum is ALWAYS on our agenda when we’re in this part of the country, as well as Bailey’s Chocolate Bar and the annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival.
Thought you’d like to know!
And our answer to the question you posed is generally “where we’re going next”. 🙂
.-= Charon´s last blog ..Gearing Up For Spring =-.
Chris’ family lives in St. Louis – so we are through there often. Love the City Museum! We’re on our way there in a couple weeks to attend Gateway Burn, the area’s regional Burning Man event. If you guys are still around, you should join us! We’ll be hosting ‘Camp Nomadia’ there and have some other awesome nomadic folks joining us.
We probably asked you that too. But your explanation makes the most sense, and why we’re looking to move more. The grass is always greener, but for different things. And we have fun no matter where we are or what we’re doing. It’s no fun not to 🙂
.-= James Schipper´s last blog ..Apple’s iPad: Can it Work for Digital Nomads and Teleworkers? =-.
That’s the key .. have fun regardless 🙂
Perhaps a similar but more appropriately worded question would be, “What are some of the places that you’ve enjoyed the most?”
If you find that question more to your liking, then maybe you should answer the “favorite place” question as if it were asked this way. If you answer “wherever I happen to be,” well, that’s a real conversation stopper. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – sometimes that’s exactly the effect you’re going for, but otherwise, just mention some places you’ve enjoyed, and why.
That is generally how we answer it actually.. pretty much verbatim how I wrote this posting. Explaining why we have no one single place we love, and listing off the places mentioned here for the various reasons we love them.
In our lives, there’s really no conversation stoppers… just openings to new conversations. And that’s exactly what our response tends to do.