There’s no place like home.

I live in Canada and right now the birds singing outside my bedroom are delightfull. Wine is available in all our grocery stores across Ontario. maybe BC is different.I use a kettle everyday, walk on the footpath outside my house and regularly buy small packs of groceries. Buildings going back to the late 1800s are about as old as they get.
I would agree with all the positives apart from cheap restaurants ,eating out here has become very expensive now.I am happy to hear you had a great vacation, Canada is indeed a wonderfull country.I have spent half my life here, the other half was in N.Ireland. When I go back to visit I can’t wait to shop in Marks food hall, now that I really miss.🤣

I loved Canada when I was there and could have stayed longer. We were away for almost a month.
I didn't miss anything apart from a cup of tea in the morning.
It was good to get home though as what sago says is true. No place like home.

In the US, I missed:
Realistic portion sizes in restaurants (I was always given enough for 3 people, such a terrible waste).
Having to walk for miles, even in a city, to find a food shop within reasonable distance of where I was staying. (Low- grade fast food was available everywhere, of course.)
Being able to walk outside without being started at with suspicion. (Americans drive everywhere - I even met one woman who drove her kids to the school bus stop 100 yards from her home!)
The British sense of humour (you have to be SO careful what you say to most Americans because they just don't get ironic wit).

What I loved about the US:
Striking up conversations with strangers without being looked at as though I was a madwoman. (I had to get used to being called ma'am by every man I met!)
I loved the range of different foods that I can't get here in the UK (grits, strange popcorn & chocolate flavours, Nehi drinks).
I also loved the fact that they offer fruit in the self-serve salad bars.
In one particular pizza place, I particularly loved the jukebox which exclusively played bebop - some of those discs must have been there since the 1950s -- heaven for a jazz freak like me.
The cleanliness was stunning -- streets, Metro stations, shopping malls -- street sweepers worked non-stop all day.

In Iceland, I missed the variety of foods we have here - at the hotel, I was served a mysterious "white soup" every day, and the main meals were always some kind of meat with minimal vegetables (I'm a vegetarian, so a bonus of that trip was that I lost half a stone in ten days!)
I both loved and hated the quietness- no songbirds because there were no trees -- but the silence had a quality I've never experienced anywhere else.
I loved the smell of wild thyme underfoot and the icy, crystal-clear streams - also the fluffy-headed quaking grass that grew beside them.

In Paris, I miss courteous shop assistants and good plumbing.
On the other hand, I love French people, the smells, the morning bread delivery carts, the water running through the gutters (washing away the detritus of the day, which British cities would do well to copy) and the whole ambience of the city.

The dog, my coffee machine, and my garden - I worry about it being too wet, too dry or too windy for my special ones. I don’t really miss the things you mention, as I like the new, and discovering how other people live, the environment and the food, so I don’t wish I was at home when I’m not. I might if I had an uncomfortable bed though.

Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home! As I get older I appreciate both my own home and country more and more.
There are aspects of other countries that we would do well to copy tho, good service in shops and restaurants, cleaner streets and better manners to all around us.

When l lived abroad I craved pork pies and Branston pickle. I had rarely eaten either before moving abroad, or since returning.

CarrotTop Did you know that when you walk into a local shop, doctor’s surgery, etc., always greet everyone with ‘Bonjour, Mesdames Messieurs’ clearly. Also, when asking an assistant for something, whether in a small shop or a big store ‘Bonjour’ is always well appreciated before asking any question.
I miss this nicety when I shop in small shops in England, the assistants look as if I have gone mad because I have forgotten where I was., although it is in English.
When we leave a small shop in France we say ‘Au revoir’ followed by ‘Merci’ even if we haven’t bought anything, it’s just being polite, in France. 🇫🇷

I loved Canada, we went in the summer, but I couldn't put up with their winters. Even in temperate Vancouver, one of the waitresses we were chatting to told us the preceding year it rained every day from September solidly for 3 months. That North American Pacific coast is quite gloomy and dreary at it's worst, Seattle is well known for that. I did have one of the best steaks ever when my cousin took us to a restaurant in Calgary, not that I'm mad about steaks. Their weather in the winter is dire. Heavy snowfall starts in September and goes on until April or May. Stuff that! Generally both in the US and Canada, eating out is all a bit ubiquitous. We haven't been to either for a while now, I gather from family members food has got really expensive compared to here, it used to be the other way round.

We were away for a few days last week only in England, but I'm like others here now, it's good to be back to everything that's familiar.