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So thanks to the Kellermans (LA), Fieldmans (Vegas), Rabbi Lipner (San Francisco), Rivkins (New Orleans), Makowskys (Memphis), Rosenwassers (Chicago), Hoffmans (New York and Baltimore), Schmidts (Silver Spring), Youngs (Toronto), Moyals, Whitmans and Davidovitches (Montreal), Katlers (Boston), Yogi and friends, and the Dwecks (New York), Rabeeyas (Philadelphia), Brodkeys (Arlington), Weiszes (Amsterdam), Allals (Paris), Jack S (London), Lindsay and Spencer, and the Shaws (Manchester), Levys (London), Atlases, Sukeniks, Marshalls and Chobotaros (Israel)!!!

The variety of people here is astounding, and how I found my way to their home varies in each case. Some were friends I had met in Australia. Others I found after desperately contacting a synagogue in town in hope that they would be able to hook me up (sometimes at very short notice). After being staying with one family in Memphis, they put me onto another in Chicago. Still more were friends of my family members, or friends from McGill, or friends of friends, or, in Israel, family itself. One was an 85 year old man who Naomi had stayed with in London, the friend of her mother’s friend’s mother… All I can say is that the support of local Jewish communities for visitors is generally phenomenal, and while I somewhat feel ashamed to have this ethnic advantage, it has made for amazing opportunities.

In some ways it needs to: there are many difficulties in travelling when young and Jewish and observant. In some places, it can be very hard to find kosher food, and staying in hostels or hotels can be very difficult on shabbat, and can even be quite uncomfortable each morning when I go to wrap leather around my arm. Where I only had somewhere to stay for shabbat, the rest of the week I would have a staple of bagels and avocado, fruit, etc., along with the often lacking kosher restaurants in the area. Shabbat always gave me an opportunity to revive in the company of new friends.

And that brings the social aspect. When travelling alone, it can be hard to make social attachments, although they’re necessary, because without the lone traveller can fall into boredom. It can be unsettling, also, to live around people who themselves are unsettled, as you often get in the hostel. Once a person opens their home to you, you grow a family, and get to know it—its children, its pets—much closer than other people met along the way. You enter what is already built as a comfortable environment and it immediately brings warmth.

You also enter the world of a local. Apart from the wonderful generosity of the hosts, I also had the opportunity to experience some resident culture of the places I visited by sharing a house with some residents, and by sharing their conversations at meals. So the host becomes not only a personal experience, but also a wonderful cultural experience.

There are, of course, also disadvantages to staying with households. The locals don’t tend to live where the tourists want to be, so it can often be a shlep to get to somewhere more useful to see the more typical city. This was a good reason to spend a few days in hostels even when I had hosts waiting. And then there’s the problem of not enough keys to house doors, which can limit freedom… But it’s all worth it in the end.

Finally, it has been strange being a guest for a whole year. Being served, and not serving or cleaning up most of the time (”No, you’re the guest, I insist!”). Maybe also not composting and recycling like I would at home. Of course this has been a nice luxury (and may have made me a little lazy). Nonetheless, I feel ashamed to constantly served, and miss being able to do things my own way. So at least now at home I have the wonderful chance to cook a little more, clean a little more… haha.

In the end, I would really like to be able to host people too. We have from time to time: recently immigrated families, or guests from out of town needing holiday dinners… But I think I’ll have to wait till I have my own house and my own table before I start welcoming all these lost and lonely travellers.