This week, I am in Texas.
Loving it: “Would you like a Mustang? It’s included in your rental car class,” asked the lady behind the Dallas airport counter.
The Mustang was beautiful. I named her Beatrice.
My dream car in high school was a Mustang. Instead, my practical parents crushed my frivolous ideals with a four-door Mercury sedan. Now, here I was living my 16-year-old fantasy at 33. I finally had my very own brand-new Mustang — for a week!
After a mini-photo shoot, Beatrice and I headed south to Austin, which had been my home base before my South American adventure, to prepare for a big interview for a university teaching job.
Living it: The hardest part of traveling is always coming home. The first few days (and sometimes, weeks) are bliss. They are filled with an overindulgence of the things I missed — bagels, hot showers with consistent water pressure and driving around with the windows down, singing horribly loud to the radio.
The reverse culture shock is a constant struggle. I always forget about sales tax and end up arguing with the Walgreens clerk about why my $1.99 mints aren’t really $1.99.
The trick to readjusting is to learn how to take advantage of America’s virtues without falling victim to her vices. It is a daily balancing act. Plastic grocery bags remind me of polluted fields in parts of Bolivia and India. However, every time I brush my teeth, I am grateful for the privilege of safe, drinkable tap water after months of filtering my own.
Defining home is even more difficult. Where is home? It’s a simple question with a complicated answer. In the past 10 years, I have lived in five states and five countries.
Home to me is many things: an overnight train through an Asian jungle, my best friend from high school picking me up at the arrivals hall at the Charlotte airport, and a sunset bike ride with my nephew on my parent’s farm.
Home is meeting an old friend for a beer in a foreign city.
Above all, home is the road. I would not have it any other way.
Dreaming it: I reluctantly said goodbye to Beatrice the day after the interview and flew to South Carolina to visit my parents. The job offer came two days later. Even though I wanted to keep traveling, I really missed teaching. I agreed to teach photojournalism classes for the fall and worked out a flexible schedule with long weekends for traveling.
I packed up my car (a cute and reliable Kia named Betty) for my road trip back to Texas. My first stop was Birmingham, Ala., my former home of five years.
The one thing that makes my traveling life easier is my ability to pick up where I left off with people as if no time has passed. There’s no better place to do that than Birmingham. I will dedicate a chapter of my autobiography to the city; it launched my career and supported my travels. There’s no better way to spend a week than eating at my favorite restaurants and picnicking with old friends at Railroad Park, my favorite outdoor space in Birmingham. It’s good to be home for a little bit while I plan my next big adventure.
Anna Mazurek has been traveling the world and working (as an English teacher, photographer, bartender — whatever keeps her moving) as she goes since 2008. She has visited 43 countries and lived in five. In this monthly feature, she files dispatches on the challenges and rewards of being a full-time traveler. Follow Anna at .
