Introducing blogettes! I’ve decided to share some smaller stories of expat life in between regular blog updates. This first one is a bit of a reflection on decided to forego some traditional Greek food one afternoon in Athens for a traditionally American chain restaurant, something some “true” wanderlusters might turn their noses up at.

My friend Kaitlin and I giggled to each other as we kindly turned down the Greek waiters inviting us to their restaurants and turned directly into… Hard Rock Cafe. 

Minutes later we were happily sharing a giant pulled pork sandwich and French fries with ranch dressing! I smiled like a Cheshire Cat over my sandwich at her. I feel like “THAT American.” And she smiled knowingly too. We look like those tourists. The ones who can’t possibly eat the food of the country we are in, but instead seek refuge in the iconic American restaurant that touts fruity cocktails, burgers, nachos, and other very American dishes. All, of course, served in huge portions. Oh man so we miss America sometimes. 

But you see dear people watching the giggling American girls visit Hard rock. We are thousands of miles from home and even when we fly “Home,” we’re still thousands of miles from our roots. We may be American girls, but we’ve been transplanted by our husbands to England. And while we love living there, every once in a while, we are truly in search of a taste of home. In Hard Rock, for a little while we weren’t jet setting friends rapidly touring Athens in the warm spring sunshine. We were just two friends missing home a little less as we relished in our meal.