I really like reading articles from people who grew up as missionary or military kids, or any kids who had to move around the country or world. But I’ve noticed that in most of these articles there are no disclaimers to remind us that their struggles don’t necessarily affect only travelers. So travelers, I’ve written one for you! Here are three things that non-travelers may deal with that travelers sometimes forget.

Some of us struggle with the “Where are you from?” question too.

Many travelers talk about the struggles of being asked “Where are you from?” and it’s pretty easy to understand why it would be hard for them. However, this question may be even more tricky for non-travelers with the same strong lack of geographical attachment because on top of that feeling we don’t have the excuse of being a missionary/military/traveling kid to explain it to people. The few of us who relate to this without being travelling kids mostly just get weird silences from people when we try to explain it.

We did not all grow up in a close community or with the same set of family, friends or close relationships.

Travelers often have to deal with relationships that are pulled apart for a long time, sometimes forever. But that doesn’t mean all of the rest of us grew up in the same places with the same people. Some of us grew up in neighborhoods of people that never talked to each other, or we didn’t make close friends until high school or college.

Some of us didn't have good parents to miss in the first place because they were dangerous, or our parents left a lot and we grew up mostly without them, or we moved around a few times--just enough to mess up what could have become long-term relationships, but not enough to be considered travelers. Basically, some of us had to deal with missing or pulled apart relationships too and did not grow up in the same safe, stable, familiar environment.

Not all of us grew up with only an understanding of the American culture/way of life.

This article is supposed to be from the perspective of Americans (sorry non-Americans) so with that in mind, it’s not only traveling kids that have authentic experiences with other cultures and/or legitimately care about them. This is a moderately strong stereotype for Americans.

But some of us Americans were still born into a culture that isn't common in America, or went to schools/lived in communities of people from other cultures, or otherwise gained more cultural experience than usual. We may not have been blessed with the levels of cultural knowledge traveling kids get to enjoy, but that doesn't mean we’re all comfortable with being ignorant about other cultures or that we're all only interested in the “fun” parts of other cultures.

So, those are three examples of things travelers often deal with that sometimes non-travelers deal with too. I hope that whether you're a traveler or not that you found it interesting.

By the way, not all travelers have the experiences I mentioned here, so here’s my disclaimer!