You know you're an expat/traveler/backpacker when...
- toilet paper is a luxury item.
- you wonder why Czech's say "Ahoj" when they are landlocked.
- you go back to an English speaking country and it drives you crazy that you can understand EVERYONE!
- You know the layout of the airports, subway and metro systems better overseas than the way to the nearest video store back home.
- You have to fight the urge to say thank you and please in at least 2 different languages when you are speaking to a store clerk/waiter.
- There are young children in your family/friends that you've never met because they were born while you've been overseas.
- You remember your passport number but you forgot your home phone number.
- It takes you a few moments to realize that you DO understand the language people are speaking as they walk along the sidewalk...
- you're a little disappointed that you can understand the language people are speaking as they walk along the sidewalk.
- you drive down the road and have to look at license plates and roadsigns to remember which state/country you're in.
- you think "tourist" is a four-letter word.
- you feel at home everywhere... but you feel like an alien in your own town
- you can't figure out how much something costs without thinking about the exchange rate
- you compare the price to about 3 other currencies to see if you're getting a good deal.
- all you can think about is leaving, and your last trip and how to get back out.
- you almost get run over because you don't know which way to look when you cross the street.
- at a party where people are listing off their accomplishments (i.e. I have an MBA, a Ph.D, a BA in ____) and you're listing off viruses and natural disasters you've survived, places you've hurt yourself and the amount of times you've gotten lost.
- you have over AU$200 in four different currencies in your wallet and you can't even buy a Coke during a layover in a random airport. (this happened to me in Singapore *sigh*)
- you get excited about the concept of rolling luggage.
- You go to a chain restaurant at home and you still feel like a sell-out for not finding a good local place to eat.
- You make more room for guidebooks in your luggage than you do for clothes.
- your first aid and toiletry kits double as your medicine cabinet when you're at home.
- you tell someone about an up coming trip and their response is, "are you nuts?"
- you listen to someone talk their latest tourist trap vacation, complete with 5 star accommodation, gourmet restaurants, first class transportation, and all you can think is "What a waste of money!".
- your "home" is occupied by people other than you and all you're worldly possessions fit into your backpack (and what little that doesn't is gathering dust in a box in your parents attic or some random shipping container in someone's backyard)
- your parents give your bedroom away because you are on the road more than you are at home.
- you truly don't mind being completely bagged down, too hot (or too cold) and have to walk an extra two miles to go to the guest house/nature place/restaurant/club that you REALLY want to go to.
- You come home and your friends are married.
- You've mastered 'the squat'.
- Your first question when taking a new job is how much you get paid so you can start planning for your next trip and how much time off you get.
- you know what time is being referred to when the ticket reads "2330".
- Someone explains the concepts of websites like BNA, hospitality club, couch surfing and rideshare and you join up to them thinking they are fantastic ideas and wish you had thought of them first!....You then explain these to friends and family and they all think you are completely nuts to be meeting up with, staying with and driving with complete strangers that you talk to over the Internet.
