Maybe we just weren’t gone long enough? Maybe we just heard too many warnings. But our first time back to the US after six months of nomadic travel was… not strange at all. It felt like we’d just been on vacation.
We left the US on May 1, 2025 not to return for six months. The longest we’d ever been gone before that was two weeks and three days. During our six months abroad we visited eight countries and circumnavigated the globe, but when we got back to Saint Louis, it felt very normal. Our favorite dance events were still going strong. The town had a few small changes, but nothing dramatic. It was great to see our friends. Great to hear about how their lives have been. But no real reverse culture shock.
I’d say that the biggest shock for us was how much time is spend in cars to get *anywhere*. That got old so fast. Groceries, car. Church, car. Dance, car. See anyone, car!! It felt like everything took 20-30 minutes. 20-30 minutes of sitting… I guess I’ve really grown to appreciate being able to walk to stuff. I know that there are pockets of the US where walking and public transit are the thing, but our people are all in the midwest. And in the midwest, you drive.
In the years of planning to transition to this new way of living, fully nomadically, we considered lots of different ways to do it. Keep our house in Saint Louis, sell our house in Saint Louis and buy something in a more natural environment, sell the house and visit annually… what we ended up settling on was to visit the US once every 6 months or so. But that led to the next question, how long? How long should we stay in the US? Is a month too long? Not long enough? What we ended up doing on this first go was to spend the full month of November in the US. We spent a week in a cabin to enjoy some fall foliage and hiking, three weeks in Saint Louis, a few days visiting family in Kansas over the thanksgiving holiday and even squeezed in a visit with my little brother and his family to celebrate his 50th birthday.
We had a great time visiting everyone and I think that the length of time felt pretty good. The other consideration in spending time in the U.S. is the cost. The U.S. is expensive. Food is expensive, and the fact that the places that we want to be pretty much require a car adds on even more cost. And obviously, Airbnb’s are expensive in the U.S. and, um STL is dangerous! So you kinda wanna be careful where you’re staying!
We’ll be back in the US in a few months. We’ll be there in May of 2026. The plan is to visit friends, some family and hopefully manage to avoid any tornados! We’ll be there for about three and a half weeks this next time.
But for now, we’re in Southeast Asia, Thailand to be specific. It’s a little warm (even it’s the coolest time of year for them) but it is quite nice to be sitting outside writing this in shorts and a tee shirt.
