An Exploration of "Hoaming"
What does it mean to travel from home?
As a child and now into my early twenties, I’ve always been taken with idea of traversing the galaxy in a spaceship, living in an airship floating across the geography of a vast and diverse continent, or, perhaps more realistically, traveling cross-continent in an RV or decked-out camper van. This was, and still is, a nice daydream and produces one of those feelings of intense longing in the bottom of your stomach for something you know is outside the realm of reality (except for the RV of course).
I’ve come to the conclusion, after a bit of thought, that what links all of these situations is the ability to travel from home. This phenomenon can also be described using the neologism I crafted combining the words home and roaming into the term “Hoaming”. My sense of the term Hoaming is so beautifully depicted in so many different forms of media and culture, and exploring these examples will help illustrate exactly what I mean by it.
In the animated film Howl’s Moving Castle, the titular castle not only has doorways to different places throughout the fictional world, but also travels across land on unbelieveably spindly legs. The hodgepodge dwelling doesn’t seem like much from the outside, but the interior has everything that one might want in a house, from a full bath and several bedrooms to a fire spirit trapped in the hearth that cooks food and keeps the inside toasty.
I watched this movie, a children’s film, just last year, and I was still in awe of the castle and its ability to move while still being a fully functional home to Howl and Sophie, the main characters. The castle takes them away from danger, to beautiful places, and acts as the moving base of operations for Howl’s magical enterprising. This idea of being able to live in your own house while moving around, going from place to place, is just amazing to me as a way of life.
Another great example of this can be found in the animated series Cowboy Bebop, in which the protagonists, some down-on-their-luck bounty hunters, chase criminals across the galaxy in their spacecraft The Bebop that also serves as their home.
The ship allows them to travel the universe from the comfort of their own home, visiting different planets and space stations, tracking criminals to the ends of space.
This idea of ‘Hoaming’ touches on both one's urges for a nomadic lifestyle but also one’s desire for a stable and secure home, where you feel comfortable. I myself have always been torn between the desire to never put down roots, to wander the Earth and live my life on the road, and the need for a stable and secure place, somewhere I can come home to. This idea is quite popular in media as a magical or futuristic vision, not really something that can be achieved today.
The interesting part in the exploration of this idea is why it is so appealing to at least some people, appearing as it does in so many forms of media. Paul Theroux, the famed travel writer, wrote that an integral part of travel is “otherness” and experiencing isolation as a stranger in a new place. Theroux’s outlook on travel is that by experiencing isolation and strangeness, you learn about yourself. Separating yourself from the context of a hometown or familiar culture means that you are isolated, other, and that you are able to look inward and find out who you are.
The pull of a nomadic lifestyle is in large part the freedom of such a path. In Walt Whitman’s Song of the Open Road, the narrator states: “From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, Going where I list, my own master total and absolute…”. To live life on the move is to control your fate, control your surroundings, per Whitman.
Whitman views travel as taking control, grasping the reins of your life and leading it wherever you desire. Theroux views travel as letting go of control, submitting yourself to the otherness and isolation that cannot be conquered, only experienced and learned from.
Hoaming embodies this idea of being in control, having your own space, while still traveling and experiencing the innate otherness that come with being a stranger in a new place. It inhabits a space between Whitman and Theroux’s different ideas of travel and how it is to be approached. Having never tried it myself, I remain intrigued by the unique experience of travelling from home, or Hoaming. One day I hope the technology (or magic) will exist to afford humans the ability to live life comfortably on the road. Though some might say, the point of living on the road is the discomfort. Travel means different things to different people, and a nomadic lifestyle can take many forms. I hope one day to try out this one.
Citations
Theroux, Paul. Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings, 1985-2000. Mariner Books, 2001.
Whitman, Walt. “Song of the Open Road.” Leaves of Grass, 1856.