Thailand, saw lots of old white or grey haired british/australian/American men with younger Thai girls/ladyboys.

Your “home” will depend on the way you were raised and what cultures you are familiar with. For example:

Mine would be Taiwan. Speaking as an American, born and raised.

I’m American. But my heritage is Taiwanese. I was raised by my grandparents whom literally immigrated the whole family to the US from Taiwan. My grandparents cooked me local Taiwanese dishes and bought me toys that are famous/prevalent in taiwan.

I’m currently on my first trip to taiwan and I realized how much my grandparents taught me about our cultural heritage without me understanding or knowing as a kid. I get nostalgic walking around taiwan and seeing toys and foods that my grandparents made for me.

This is the first country where I felt very connected to.

The second would be Japan/China since those cultures are heavily ingrained in Taiwanese culture due to Japanese colonization and cultural influences in the population (majority of people have Han Chinese heritage).

On the flip side, I’m still American. So I felt comfortable in the UK. I’m assuming that Ireland would be very comfortable too.

Cultural bubbles are real. Similar cultures vibe with similar cultures–we find comfort in familiarity. Things that remind you of your home country or good memories or good people. There needs to be triggers for those good memories and it’ll bring out the best feelings at the moment.

Throwing in Athens. Grafitti (not the pretty murals kind, random tags and words everywhere on storefronts and public spaces), trash around the street and such. And it’s so dark on the streets, it was the first time that I felt worried walking alone as a woman in Europe.

I was warned several times by friends that I would not like Athens. I told them that my favorite places to visit are the cities (not nature)…they were right.