Going Back to a Place is a Different Kind of Travel

Not every trip is about landmarks and bucket lists. When you stop chasing highlights and ditch the vacation mindset, travel can become something else entirely.

Not every journey is about outward exploration and discovery. Returning to familiar ground can take you further than constantly chasing somewhere new. Photo credit: Miranda Miller, 2026.

There’s something deeply underrated about traveling back to a place you’ve already been.

You don’t feel that pressure to optimize every day, to get the most out of your plane ticket purchase. You’re not scanning Google Maps at breakfast trying to squeeze in one more landmark. If you stay in and write instead of chasing the view, it doesn’t feel like you’re wasting anything.

That changes the whole experience.

I used to think fun, “worthwhile” travel meant maximizing every day… squeezing in experiences, earning the plane ticket. But the vacation pace of racing around from “must-see” to “must-do” isn’t sustainable for digital nomads or even expats who travel often.

This is real life, and I’m learning that the richest trips aren’t always about discovery. Sometimes they’re about depth. I find myself having to dig deep on this one, so a layer of familiarity is a great comfort.

I’m about 46,000 words into a memoir manuscript, aiming for 80,000 before I leave at the end of the month. I don’t know if it’s something I’ll ever publish. Right now, it just needs to exist outside of my head.

It’s been surprisingly cathartic getting it down on paper, but also a lot heavier than I expected.

Writing honestly about your own life rearranges you a little, especially when you’re trying to do it on top of an already full dance card of work and life commitments. I’ve been writing for others for 20 years and am still not sure you’re ever quite “ready” for something like this.

Yet as unprepared as I feel, I know I’m in the right place for it.

Before we get into the travel updates, here’s what else you may have missed recently on the blog:

Your First Offer Doesn’t Have to Be Brilliant, It Just Needs to Exist

How to Work When You’d Rather Wander: Let's Go There

Julia Child Followed a Spark of Curiosity. What If You Did, Too?

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