Living Abroad at Home
If you ask people what the worst thing about Covid is, I am sure most of them will say that it’s the inability to travel freely. Not surprisingly, the travel restrictions have made me want to explore other places even more, while also making me realize how important travel is to our personal growth and overall well-being. And it’s no secret that the places we have visited in the past continue to influence our lives long after we arrive home. The experiences we have while traveling expand our view of the world as well as enrich our everyday lives. They show up in our homes, activities, meals, and even our wardrobes in dynamic ways.
Now more than ever, I am building my travels into my daily life and personal surroundings. This new ritual has been essential to maintaining my peace of mind during the pandemic and has provided me with a daily escape from our currently limiting realities. Honestly, with everything going on, I need that escape right now more than ever.
So, how do you creatively integrate your travel experiences into your day-to-day?
Here are a few easy ideas:
In Your Home - Quirky coffee table books are not only fun to put on display for others to enjoy, but also to provide us with a quick and accessible reading break at home. Another way to bring your travels into your home is to celebrate the places you love through art and pictures. After stumbling upon a photography store in Paris, Robby and I took home three small vintage black and white prints that we made into a custom focal piece for our living room. Plates, mugs, cups, and other kitchen type utensils can also serve as regular reminders of other places while offering utility in your living space. The same goes for cookware and kitchen gadgets that can be left out on display to enjoy while not in use, like Le Creuset pots, decorative Japanese tea kettles, and Moroccan tagines. In fact, tea cups and small plates can serve double duty as decorative catch-alls for jewelry and other objects. (As an aside, I seem to have developed a penchant for collecting vintage ashtrays and using them as decorative dishes around my house). For unique pieces that can serve as eye catching decorations around your home, try browsing local markets, concept stores, or home good shops when traveling.
In Your Meals - I have found it’s surprisingly exciting to adopt practices that aren’t generally followed in the US when it comes to meals, snacks, and other customs that typically bring people together or make us slow down to enjoy the present. While I know most of us have been taking full advantage of wine or cocktail hour these days, weaving other traditions like a morning french pressed coffee, afternoon tea time, and charcuterie board for dinner with your glass of wine can offer additional breaks from the norm throughout the week. With most of us spending more time at home these days, we also have an opportunity to learn new recipes for different cuisines that can quickly transport us back to the places we love most. There is nothing like food to evoke a feeling or sense of place. Having this extra time has finally allowed my husband and I to get back to cooking meals together and exploring new recipes for the types of cuisine we love most (French, Italian, Greek, etc.). For his birthday, I made a full French dinner, complete with homemade mayo and a stunning fig clafoutis. If cooking is not your thing, going out to restaurants that specialize in certain types of cuisine will allow you to get your fix while also supporting local businesses. When you are traveling, don’t overlook bringing transportable foods and goods home to enjoy, like tea, coffee, jarred goods, and fun spices that can’t be easily found in the States.
In Your Wardrobe (Obviously) - Who doesn’t love shopping while you’re on vacation? (Isn’t this every woman’s dream scenario?). Easy to bring back from your travels, jewelry is one of the best ways to recreate a look and carry another place with you, quite literally. I try to find a special piece of jewelry from a local jewelry maker, vintage market, or small concept store as a memoir from each place that I visit. For example, Florence is known for their unique filigree gold work and you can find stunning silver and turquoise jewelry in the American southwest. Small accessories such as scarves, pins, sashes/belts, leather goods, and even shoes often have a special connection to local artisans and cultures. I always purchase a scarf from Diwali, one of my favorite stores in Paris (lucky for us, they now have an online store too), made of wool and silk in beautiful patterns that you just can’t find in the US. If you prefer a more sensory experience, another great item to pick up while traveling is perfume. Perfumes made abroad offer unique scents that often provide a familiarity with the locations where they are produced. I love perfumes from Europe because, aside from their generally higher quality, they always smell like the stores and hotels we have frequented and it’s special to revisit those memories when wearing them. Lastly, the most obvious option to amp up your wardrobe is by purchasing a few pieces of clothing from stores in the places you visit. Even mainstream companies like H&M have a completely different selection of styles in the European market, among others. A happy accident I had in France was buying boots on the spot after the flats I had brought with me totally destroyed my feet. Not only were the boots made in Spain, but they were of high quality with wooden soles and suede. These boots quickly became a workhorse in my wardrobe and I have been wearing them for 10 years now! Don’t forget to dip into smaller shops and lesser known brand stores to find special shoes and labels that are only sold outside the US. Acquiring clothing or accessories that are tied to a specific culture, like silk kimonos, Indian paisley patterned tunics, and fist fulls of silver braided bangles from Southeast Asia, are also a great way to make your look more dynamic while making a statement about where you have traveled. Check out my post, “The Way You Make Me Feel” to read more about collecting clothing items that deliver those vacation vibes each time you take them out for a spin.
Whether in your kitchen or in your closet, collecting special items from your travels will not only bring you joy on a regular basis, but also tell a story about who you are to other people than come into your space. These items will make your home and your look more personal and diverse, setting them apart from the mass produced styles that we often find at West Elm, CB2, Nordstrom, and other mainstream stores. Aside from tangible memoirs, consider adopting practices from the places you’ve visited into your own lifestyle. Use these special items or rituals to build an environment that’s unique, uplifting, and, above all, transports you where you want to go - even when you can’t physically be there.
Keep scrolling for more inspiration!
“The essence of interior design will always be about people and how they live. It is about the realities of what makes for an attractive, civilized, meaningful environment, not about fashion or what’s in or what’s out.”
The best example I have seen of bringing your travels home - at Hillwood Estate in DC, Marjorie Merriweather Post curated a beautiful collection of antiques from furniture to fine china from France, Russia, and other countries during her time living overseas. I have never seen such a beautiful collection of items, complete with these chairs from Versailles!
Tea time has always been a favorite for me. On the weekends I like to break out this English tea set from my grandmother for a slow, peaceful morning.
“An interior is the natural projection of the soul.”
The focal piece I mentioned above. Robby and I stumbled on this photography shop in the Marais of Paris and I couldn’t resist going in. We found a ton of old vintage prints that caught our eye and I wished we could bring them all home. Don’t hesitate to follow your gut when you want to explore on vacation!
Antique French plates from the company Gien, which at one time supplied goods to French royalty. It’s such a cool concept to own part of history. These plates are from a major French marketplace in the upper part of Paris near Montmartre, but Paris is known in general for its flea market magic.
“The best rooms have something to say about the people who live in them.”
One tradition the French make sure to keep at almost every meal - fresh bread. I love how something so simple can transport me back to Paris, where you can find the best bread and pastries in the world. This picture was taken at the renown Polaine, one of Ina Garten’s favorites.
For many people, coffee is a ritual. But instead of drip coffee, why not go for an espresso maker, french press, or pour over to shake things up? I think my husband and I visited Coutume, an Australian founded coffee shop on the left bank, at least once a day. Coutume was one of the first places to establish true coffee culture in Paris, and it’s no surprise you can learn a ton about the varieties of beans they offer at their cafes.
“Food is everything we are. It’s the extention of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.”
One of the best places to find new foods and home trinkets, small local markets are a must. When traveling, always ask a local for times and locations. When you return home, continue to browse your own local farmers market or flea markets to keep up the tradition. This picture was taken in Vienna, Austria at a market where I found some of the best food we ate in the City.
We are serious about charcuterie boards in this house. I am always happy to pull one of these together with a glass of wine instead of making a full meal.
It’s been so long since I made a from-scratch fig claufouti, but this was the finale to Robby’s birthday in August!
It’s no surprise I found the tea vendor. I love loose leaf tea, or really any kind of artisan tea from other places, which creates a little bit of luxury for the weekend mornings. When I travel, I usually try to bring tea or espresso home so I can enjoy these foreign flavors long after the trip is over. This picture was taken in Nice, France.
“I am a passionate traveler, and from the time I was a child, travel formed me as much as my formal education. In order to appreciate cultures of another nation, one needs to go there, know the people and mingle with the culture of that country. One way to do that, if one is lucky enough, is to buy things from those cultures.”
Ahhhh, Chapon. Chocolate is one of the best things you can bring home with you, to enjoy yourself or give away as gifts. But make sure to eat it sooner than later, as it won’t keep for more than two to three weeks. By the end of our week in Paris, we were considered regulars by the shop workers (probably one of the best titles you can earn in French culture). I have to admit that we cleared the shelves of orangettes more than once.
Wine! One of the harder things to bring back from your travels, but so worth it (maybe? I don’t tend to volunteer my suitcase, just saying). Wine is a great option to buy on vacation because it keeps for a very long time, you can find different varietals from producers that just don’t distribute their bottles widely, never mind that it’s often cheaper to buy it from the source. For example, when we went to Louis Jadot in Burgundy, they had a ton of bottles that will never make it to the US. I snatched up a few that we decided to open for special occasions.
“To me, clothing is a form of self-expression - there are hints about who you are in what you wear.”
A local shoe store in Paris. I think the feeling of floating on a cloud when shopping on vacation is pretty accurate.
Browsing scarves at Diwali is a must! Scarves can be a great gift for friends and family, or a functional yet stylish addition to your closet.
A scene from the department store Bon Marche in Paris. Lots of perfume to choose from, and so much more! While frequenting a department store on vacation may not sound thrilling, you can find so many unique items and forgo the import tax we pay in the US. In fact, if you spend over $300 total during your trip to Europe, you can get the European tax or VAT refunded before you go home. How’s that for a sale?
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. ”
Didier Ludot is one of the vintage fashion meccas in Paris. The store made an appearance on the Rachel Zoe show on more than one occasion. I was so excited to stumble upon the shop myself when I was walking through the Palais Royale. Although I did not buy anything, the experience of browsing the shop itself was thrilling!