What is Home?

I was in a conversation recently with someone about what is home? What is a nomad? What is a geo nomad? And what is the difference between hippy, hobo, nomad, adventurer and traveler? This is merely my opinion but it comes from much reading, thought and discussion.

What is a home? Home is defined by Meriam Webster as "ones place of residence." Home isn't defined as a house or a physical location. Home is where the heart is is perhaps closer to the truth. So whether you live in a house with your family, and then go on vacation somewhere. Your home is where you currently are, the home you own or the hotel you rent.

A nomad is someone that travels and doesn't ask for hand outs, bums do that. Now I am saying that one is better than the other as we never no the circumstances that lends a person to ask for help. "An individual who roams about," is the actual definition of a nomad. Nomad was the term used for our ancestors, for the Bedouins of today and many native peoples the world over. Its simply traveling but for a long term. There is no guidelines that state how long a nomad stays in one place but they do move about more regularly than the average joe.


A geo nomad is one that travels within a specific area for a longer period of time. People without a fixed address who work in a specific area but stay/park in different areas each night could fill this genre. Or people who may have a fixed address but wander about for work or pleasure not always staying in the same place. Some might call this exploring as well. I am a geo nomad. I have 2 jobs, a sort of apartment, a van and a bike. All used to take me to varying places for different adventures or to take care of a variety of wants and needs. My things are mobile and I take the same bed from my apartment to my van or when staying with someone else. The sleeping bag on top of my bed goes on the bike or on foot. My food, cell phone, bare bone toiletries and 2 changes of clothes are with me at all times in case I get stranded. Life is an adventure and working to change that which we can and accepting that which we cannot is what makes our glass half full or half empty. Food for thought...


Hippies were partiers, hobos rode trains but worked where they stopped, nomad is a simply a wonderer, and an adventurer is someone who takes their condition in life and makes it into something educational and fun. Afterall, adventures are educational, fun and don't have a pre-determined purpose. 


So what are you? We don't realize it but the nomad is still active and strong in us humans. We move for jobs, we take vacations, we stay various places to handle various needs ie closer to a job, exploring getting a new job, seeing if a neighborhood is good for our family, ect. The only thing is society has created a wall that tries to kill this in all of us. Mortgages that eat all our money, consumerism that takes our money. Money is something everyone wants but doesn't bring happiness. The next time you want to take a trip, think about saving coins and in the end of a week, see how much you have saved and think about how many hours you worked just for that and multiply that over a year. I gave up pop this week (tried caffeine but not there yet) and have saved 7 dollars. I simply pocket the money every time I would have bought a pop. Great way to stop other vices in life as well.