I’ve always heard people who don’t live in California talk about it as if it’s paradise. It’s the Golden State, after all. But we all know how easy it is to take the familiar for granted. When you grow up in one place, it’s natural to feel like you have to go somewhere far away to see something amazing. I have traveled far and seen things that are amazing and unlike anything else in the world. But the truth is, there are some pretty amazing things here that are unlike anything else in the world. And somehow, in a way, leaving home made me realize that. They say you learn a lot about yourself when you travel, and that’s true. But I never expected to gain a new perspective on my condition.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t like discovering new places. I always want to travel abroad and some of my favorite places on earth are outside the country. However, as I reflected on my experiences, I realized that these experiences changed my perspective on my most familiar surroundings in ways I did not expect.
I actually find it ironic that my travels have made me look at home. Many places I’ve been have made me think, “This place is so much better, more beautiful, or more than California…whatever.” If that happens, it will be almost difficult to go home and get back to “normal.” But then something happened. I started appreciating things in my home that didn’t seem to affect me before. I have visited lush tropical landscapes that made me never want to go to the suburbs again. But then my eyes suddenly seemed to be focused on the tree. Even the small green areas in the city caught my attention and made me smile, not to mention the magnificent forests like Muir Woods and Sequoia National Park. I was even more proud of it and obsessed with it.
Related content
Growing up near the coast, I was always a beach baby. it’s my happy place. My international travels have taken me to some of the most beautiful and pristine beaches in the world, with breathtaking blue waters, incredible coastlines, and majestic rock formations, all of which have inspired me to go to the beach. It made me yearn for it even more.
As I returned home, the California coastline began to look like nothing I had ever seen before. No, our water looks nothing like the photo on my bedroom wall, but one day as I was driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, the water looked turquoise and sapphire, and through the crashing waves I saw The shining light changes the color of the water as follows. The crystal-like aqua green gave me a new appreciation for the Pacific Ocean.
Related content
Been to Catalina Island? The gorgeous turquoise water is very similar to those beaches that make me want to travel. Malibu’s spectacular rock formations and carved cliffs along the Central Coast rival anything I’ve marveled at overseas.
Even connecting with people from other countries was able to change my perspective. A friend I made in Singapore came to stay at my house and said he wanted to visit a national park like Yosemite. Of course, I always wanted to go, but I never made it a priority until she got here. Seeing it for the first time with someone as awed as I was was something I’ll never forget. It was as unique and thrilling an experience as I’ve had beyond California. It’s just a few hours drive from my house. That’s another thing I value about where I live. It’s the wide variety of sights, landscapes, and experiences that exist within such a relatively small geographical space.
There is also the issue of food and culture. Travel opens your figurative eyes, and literal sense of taste, in many different ways. Growing up in the Los Angeles area, cultural diversity was always a reality for me, and I have to say that the availability of a wide variety of ethnic cuisines was a no-brainer for me. This is where I fell in love with Indian and Middle Eastern food, where my Russian grandmother and friends from all over the world cooked and took me on culinary adventures at home. It’s a place. I tried authentic cuisine from places I had never been, like Morocco and Ethiopia.
Still, even in this area, my travels have increased my appreciation for Southern California. For example, when I returned from living in Indonesia, I felt very nostalgic. I quickly found an Indonesian restaurant that made some of my favorite dishes, and there was a store next door where I purchased some of my favorite staples. I thought, wow, we really have everything here! Golden State itself helped fill a little bit of a void and make me feel a little less homesick.
I have come to appreciate the weather even more. Everyone says it never rains in sunny Southern California, but of course that’s not true. Sure, there’s plenty of snow in the mountains for skiing and snowboarding, although there are heavy rains and even floods. I was on the other end of the spectrum, growing up in a place where summers were consistently triple-digit temperatures. I didn’t like it. Again, I’ve never lived in the East, where snow shoveling and tire chains are part of life every year, or in the humid South, so I didn’t have much to compare our weather to. .
I visited New York once when Niagara Falls was frozen (I had never felt so cold in my life), spent two hot, sticky summer weeks in North Carolina, and then actually drove along the equator. I traveled and lived there, but I only experienced two hot seasons there. High humidity and heat due to heavy rain. I finally understand why everyone thinks Southern California’s weather is perfect. So, while it’s not really perfect (though it’s pretty close in some parts of the state!), we’re pretty spoiled here.
There’s so much I could say, but at the end of the day, I’m so grateful. I am grateful for the amazing things I have seen and experienced in other parts of the world, grateful for the changes they have made me, and grateful to live in the beautiful state of California. what about you? How has traveling to a neighboring city or a faraway country changed your perspective? We’d love to hear from you.
Get the latest updates and news
Thank you for subscribing!
