TOP TEN LIST | FAVORITE PLACES

My Ten Favorite Places in The World — The Homebody Edition

It’s where the heart is

Credit: EA Games & the Author

:)I’m not much of a traveler. I have never been out of the United States, in fact, I’ve never been beyond the Mid-Atlantic States, except once when I was two years old and I went to New England, but I don’t remember that. Accepting a writing prompt where you list your 10 favorite places in the world might not seem like a good idea for someone like me, but I jumped on it, probably because I wanted to illustrate that “places” can mean more than just locations on a map.

1. Home — Seriously, this is my number one, champion of all time place I like to be. My home now has not always been my home; I’ve had three or four (or five depending on how you look at it) in my life, but whatever is my home at any given time is where I want to be as often as possible. There is a meme I’ve seen that says, “People who say ‘Go Big or Go Home’ seriously underestimate my desire to go home.” Yep. That’s me.
2. Inside My Own Head — I live there. No talking, no interruption except maybe the sound of the TV, just me inside my head with my thoughts. Which can range from memories to fantasies, ideas, plans (that will probably never be realized, but that’s okay), analysis of the last movie I watched, writing ideas. There is a lot that goes on there, it’s a city that (almost) never sleeps.
3. New York, New York — The actual city that never sleeps, where I can go in less than three hours by bus. Which is why it’s the only important place I’ve ever been. I do day trips. I never want to go when the morning comes for the trip, but when I get there, I love it, and I always want to go back immediately when I leave. But I only did that once, because generally, I don’t like to go anywhere (see #1 above.)
4. Online — This is like “home” but different. I was born for the internet. Being with people without actually being with people, all the information on earth at your fingertips; I don’t know how I lived without the internet as long as I did.
5. Walmart (or other retail shopping locations) — I don’t know why, but next to home, being in a store is my favorite place to be. This might be why I absolutely adore movies or TV shows that have scenes set in a supermarket or big box store. These places, particularly national chain stores, are basically the same everywhere. When you see the familiar aisles and products in a store in a movie, it might as well be your local store. So it’s almost as if you were seeing your own house in a movie; a total freak-out experience.
6. My Room — In my home, which is my #1 favorite place, my Happy Place is my room, aka my office. (Easter Egg: You can find a simulated picture of it on this page.)
7. My Other Room — The bedroom. This is the end-of-the-day escape. Despite being said that you shouldn’t do this, I usually go there for the whole evening to lounge around, watch TV, and play on my phone. Daytime: office, Nighttime: bedroom. Works for me.
8. Where the Cats Are — See 6. and 7. above, and also, my local cat cafe. This is relatively new. It’s the only one around my area, and it opened in the spring of 2021. It’s fantastic to be surrounded by cats, and the coffee is great. They do a great job of getting the cats adopted out, and they have one residence cat for consistency of cuddles.
9. Near People I Love, but in a Different Room — Another popular meme I love is the one that says something like, “I want to find someone to spend my life with who will basically leave me alone most of the time.” I personally found that someone many years ago, though I still have to remind him about the “leave me alone” part from time to time.
10. The land of Nod — It’s odd when people say they love sleep because we’re unconscious when we’re doing it, so we can’t really enjoy it, and yet, we do. I think it’s those moments when you wake up in the middle of the night or on a day off when you don’t have to get up anytime soon, and you are just conscious enough to realize that, and appreciate the fact that you’re all warm and cozy in bed. That’s the part we love.