"...I've learned that home isn't a place. It's a feeling." -- Cecelia Ahern

 I am lucky enough to have had several homes, at least in terms of where I've been comfortable and feel welcome upon return. But they don't always remain home. I evolve or they evolve or both. While I am a Texas native and official resident, spent nearly 20 years in FL raising my kids and almost a decade in New Orleans, none feel like much of home anymore. It's not like I'm adrift because I am not. But anymore I view home as where we are and making do at the moment. It's as comfortable as I can be these days and I delight in it.

Our ten months Out Here sees us in our fifth "home," with three more to go until we have to make some decisions after the first of the year. Each stop has been different and educational on various levels We have been blessed, screwed, perplexed, amazed and bamboozled along the way. Each place we go, I try to put myself in the place of the Airbnb host, who has had to put up with tenants of widely varying quality in terms of cleanliness, demands and challenge. I have several friends who have hosted and I have been a landlord myself, so I get it. But y'all. Seriously.....

The biggest thing I have learned is small touches of civility are everything. My photo is of a dish rack I bought today. I also bought two bowls and two small plates because this apartment is pretty much barren (except a nice balcony) of anything to make staying over two days a bearable experience. We have a decent corkscrew, a functional (if small) refrigerator and a stovetop. Plus a microwave the landlord assumed would substitute for the non-functioning real oven shown on the Website. If I see an oven, I expect it to work -- the same way I expect the toilet in the bathroom photo to actually function. I'm picky like that.

Our first stop in Vienna was actually an okay place in a Cold War-era high-rise typical of that part of the city, which suffered plenty of bomb damage during WWII. There was a tiny elevator to our 3rd floor flat, which was filthy when we arrived. The owner was Chinese and spent most of his time in Asia, relying on a couple of local minions to manage the unit. The place clearly had not been entered for months, leaving a layer of dust everywhere, a fallen window curtain (we had to hang a bed sheet) and a full-size built-in refrigerator that had not been adequately cleaned after it had stopped functioning some years before. In short, the whole place was a failed time capsule that took three days for us to clean. But, to the owner's credit, he replaced the clothes washer and the TV on demand.

Liverpool was a third-floor walkup in a house over 100 years old. Plumbing was decrepit and water pressure anemic enough until a freeze brought catastrophic failure to the entire neighborhood's 1918-era plumbing. This was not the landlord's fault, but he broke his nuts trying to make things as right as he could. I will forever appreciate that, even though there wasn't much he could do. I consider him a lifelong friend and the neighborhood itself is magnificent.  Despite the British rain and cold (it was Labor Day through Christmas), I will always have a soft spot.

The move to Martinique was the polar opposite. A gorgeous deck view of the Caribbean and every day is 84 degrees with a 20% chance of rain year-round. Our apartment was beautifully appointed and equipped by our landlords, who are two of the nicest people imaginable. They invited us on their local excursions to Mardi Gras and up into the mountains and gave us free rein to their pool and the herbs in their garden. They brought us bananas and plantains (their business). Again -- lifelong friends.

Paris was a change to a highly urban spot in a another 3rd-floor walkup in an old building. Ideally located near a Metro stop and an easy walk from, well, everything Parisian, we'd go back in a heartbeat. If they'd get rid of that awful "oven" -- a contraption that promises to do everything from a microwave to a grill to actually baking but does none of them well, even if you can figure it out. But we made it work for a month.

....so now we're here and figuring out a new spot until returning to North America in late June. At least we'll be back to a whole house to ourselves instead of apartments and there will be (hopefully) adequate kitchens so I can resume what I do.

Staying someplace for three months isn't the same as three days or a week. Part of what allows us to do all this is being able to cook at home and that demands certain things we thought would be provided by a place that invites "long-term" stays. But clearly that's a nebulous term, so a few observations if you plan on doing it yourself....

Being within an easy walk to grocery and public transportation is everything.

You will have to buy certain things like brooms, a Swiffer, some kitchen utensils and some hand tools to just make daily life work. You will leave them behind but it's more than worth it. Just think of it as making things easier on the next tenant and earning a little goodwill from the landlord. If they care. Fortunately, ours have appreciated.

Be close to a green space. Being able to walk outside and watch the neighborhood is important and meeting the neighbors brings a host of benefits. Even though we froze in December in Liverpool, we were outside and had some wonderful conversations. 

Language is a barrier when discussing metaphysics, politics and science. Pretty much everything else can be figured out with facial expressions or switching to a third language. More folks are reasonably literate in various languages than you'd expect.

That said, do all you can to speak the local tongue. You might suck at it, but the effort is always appreciated. Americans have a reputation for being overly proud and insisting their way is the best. But you have to remember virtually every other country in the world has been doing it way longer than our measly 250 years so shut up and sit down John Hancock.

So much more to say as we go along. Probably back to food later in the week. But seeing video of the demonstrations in Paris and watching the news from the US means a busy mind. Then there's the upcoming coronation in the UK (insert eyeroll here). And it's only midweek.

"...I've always been crazy. It keeps me from going insane..." -- Waylon Jennings