Have you ever been away from home at the most wonderful time of the year? Well this was our third Christmas away from home and it gets a little harder each time. I wanted to just put everything down into one blog about my experience of Christmas away from home.

First Christmas away

Our first time away we spent Christmas in Australia, a hot Christmas is completely different to what we are use to back in the UK. We spent the day on Bondi beach drinking stubbies and topping up our tans. Although we had the most amazing time with friends we couldn’t help but let our minds wonder to the celebrations going on at home at it is tough when you are already missing family.

The second Christmas away

Our second Christmas away we was India. India is a very different and sometimes difficult country to be in so we definitely felt homesick during this time. We decided to stay in Kolkata as we had heard that it’s one of the cities that does celebrate Christmas.

Kolkata is a modern city and they decorate the streets with Christmas lights, music in the park and a walking parade on Christmas day with everyone walking down the street wearing their Christmas hats which did help to get us into the festive spirit.

Third Christmas away

Our third Christmas was spent in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We had a nice apartment and managed to buy some food from the supermarket to cook an almost Christmas dinner (minus the pigs in blankets!).

Before arriving in Quito we had been in the Galapagos Islands where we met a local couple that lived in the city. They invited us to their house for Christmas eve.

Ecuador has a slightly different tradition than back home in which they celebrate Christmas more on Christmas eve.

Our New Friends

We visited their house in the evening and their family (all 20 odd of them) started arriving at 8PM and we all sat down to eat the delicious meal they had cooked at 10pm. They have a traditional turkey but it is served with rice, salad, ham. The food was really tasty and the turkey was probably the best we’ve ever eaten!

It was such a lovely gesture of them to invite two essentially strangers to their house for Christmas and meet their family but we really loved the experience, it was our little Christmas day away from home.

Home Sick

Spending time away from family at this of the year feels difficult when you are use to a tradition of being with loved ones, opening presents, eating and drinking lots of lovely foods. The thing that makes it worse is scrolling through social media and seeing everyone posting photos of their Christmas trees, decorations, presents etc.

Having said all of this and missing home would we give up all our travels for one day at home? 100% No!. Our amazing adventures far outweigh one day back home. No matter how much we miss family, friends and celebrations we are so privileged to experience this magical time in other countries and with other people.

Amazing memories

It doesn’t feel like it at the time but when I look back at the Christmas times I spent away from home or abroad I will always remember those times as some of the most unique experiences that I have had. However it does make you realise that the expensive presents and the hundreds spent on food really doesn’t matter and family and friends are the only important thing.

So there you go, this was my experience of christmas away from home, again. How do you guys deal with christmas away from from home ?

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