Welcome to Welcoming and Wandering
A space to talk about how travel and hospitality enrich our lives
Two things I love:
1. Welcoming: practicing hospitality by welcoming both friends and strangers to our home, for a night, a week, or even several months.
2. Wandering: experiencing and receiving hospitality by traveling
By hospitality I do not mean entertaining, though I enjoy that as well. Hospitality is not about the perfectly set table, or carefully curated charcuterie. For our family, hospitality has meant opening our home, seeing it as a resource to be stewarded, not an asset to be controlled or a status symbol to leverage for social capital.
(You’re receiving this because you’ve subscribed to other content from me. Don’t worry, I’m still writing the other stuff. It’s totally up to you if you want to read this or not!)
I’m Keri. I’ve written a bunch of books, and I have another Substack, the Powerful Story Newsletter, about writing and publishing. You can learn about me and read some blog posts at www.keriwyattkent.com I write a lot about writing, but also about spiritual practices, connecting faith with our busy lives. This new publication focuses on hospitality (not the industry but the practice) and travel (again, not the industry but the transformational practice), and how each of those make our lives richer and more meaningful.
A community for the curious
If you’re curious about solo travel, opening your home, hospitality as a spiritual practice—stop by to read and comment. I’d love this space to be welcoming to you—so bring your questions, observations, experiences. Please invite others who share your interest to join us here—subscriptions are free.
The inexorable link between welcoming and wandering intrigues me. I am both a welcomer and a wanderer, and each role enhances the other. Because I have been welcomed (by strangers, by friends, by God himself), I can extend welcome. I’ve been welcoming people to my home for three decades and traveling for my whole life. A lot of folks are curious about our lifestyle and so I wanted to create a newsletter to talk about it.
When I open my door to strangers or friends, I ask myself—what will make them feel safe, and comforted? How can I feed their body and soul? The food on the table, and the conversation around it, provide an opportunity to love. When I welcome others, my preparations focus on their needs. And those who are welcomed must trust that I will provide care and sustenance.
Who we’ve been welcoming
For the past several years, we’ve had strangers living with us—one or two at a time. A young man from Colombia, working at a friend’s company as an intern. A college student, also an intern for the summer at our church. Another intern, a young woman from Peru, who is still living with us now.
We’ve also, over the last two decades or so, welcomed people from around the world for a week or two at a time. That practice shaped my family and I in profound ways.
I’ll be writing in future newsletters about how we’ve opened up our home to both long-term and short-term guests, and the things we’ve learned and experienced along the way.
Where I’ve been wandering
I recently took a solo trip to Chamonix, France, to hike the Alps. (I’ll be sharing more about that trip on my Instagram, and in this newsletter, and occasionally on my blog.)
As I prepared for my trip, whether by running, hiking, reading guidebooks, or making lists, I realized: in wandering, I welcome myself. What will I need to feel safe and welcomed on my travels? I can hope that my Airbnb host will be helpful and accommodating. But much is up to me. I can prepare physically and mentally, much as I would when welcoming someone to my home.
I want to wander, to travel solo, to seek adventure, because I believe those experiences strengthen me and broaden my perspective. They make me a better citizen of the world. They lift my head.
But what if travel, especially solo travel, informs and equips my practice of hospitality? I want to find out. You are welcome here, as we explore this connection, and talk about how the practices of welcoming and wandering connect us with ourselves, each other, and God.
I love the idea of this newsletter. My husband and I have hosted many people from various countries over the forty years of our marriage. What a very interesting topic. My husband, a German from Uruguay, is very social and I'm more of an introvert. I've never thought about writing about our experiences and how it has grown me as a person. I'll have to give it a thought!