Love or Loathe: A Taste Of Home When Abroad

So ‘travelling solo’ won last month’s poll by a margin, but as some of you pointed out, find the right person to travel with, and your time away can be an enjoyable one. Perhaps!

When you’re travelling, though, do you find pleasure in escaping all traces of your home land, or would stumbling across a restaurant that serves your all-time favourite (but definitely home-grown) dish see you reserving yourself a table?

Now I may be a proud English girl that loves the country I was born in, but when I’m in another country, that’s where I want to feel as if I am, not as if I’m still at home but with different scenery and a different language. English pubs are a perfect example of this. They seem to crop up all over the world, each one offering their own unique version of what they presumably think to be a classic English venue. I do my best to avoid them, not only because they’re usually pretty dingy, but because I don’t want to be surrounded by my fellow countrymen when I’m exploring a new country. Fortunately there’s little chance of you stumbling across the threshold of one of these places by accident, even if you are a bit sozzled, as more often than not there is either a great big neon Union Jack flag emblazoned across the side of the building, or the chalk boards outside will loudly inform you that they have Sky Sports channels and beer on tap, a clear indication of what lies within.

264[1] — An English pub in Agadir, Morocco. Photo courtesy of www.madeinmedina.com

That being said, perhaps if you’re not having much fun on your travels, going to a place that could offer you a comforting reminder of home may have its merits? Admittedly there has been the odd occasion when I’ve been overseas and craved a real taste of home, and so perhaps if I could have walked into an English pub and downed a pint of ale or scoffed a plate of fish and chips, I might have done it?

So what about you? Do you love to travel but equally love to find those little tasters of home while you’re away, or do you avoid all reminders of home like the plague? It only takes a second to vote, so visit our Facebook poll now and let us know what you think.

Love it – when you’re miles from home, a taste of something familiar can be a real comfort

Loathe it – when I’m off on my travels, a reminder of home is the last thing I want!

Kate Blanchard

Kate is an English woman currently living in rural Morocco with her husband, Ben, and their mischievous mongrel, Douglas. They moved out there three years ago after Ben was offered employment as the manager of a large fruit farm, and although life can often be challenging for them both with cultural differences and language barriers, they see this as more of a reason to stay, than a reason to admit defeat and leave. Kate tries to find humour wherever possible in life, and finds herself blessed (or as her husband would say, ‘cursed’) with an irrepressible desire to see the beauty and the positivity in what others may see to be ugly and negative. Most of all though, she has a zest for travel and exploration and finds it incredibly satisfying to share her stories of adventure with others, even if it does nothing more than transport the reader to a distant land for a few minutes.