When we travel, we become children again — every experience is box-fresh with a new-car smell.
Public transportation?
A magic train ride to awesome.
Grocery stores?
An Aladdin’s cave of unfamiliar vegetables and hilarious brand names.
Back home, we have our security filters on high alert.
That friendly stranger must be a lecher, lunatic or bore.
A carnival parade is a sequined traffic disruption and street performers are bell-ringing pariahs.
But on vacation, we let ourselves be open.
We’ll taste that testicle souffle, we’ll sample that snake-venom liqueur.
And when our stomachs rebel later that night, we’ll still be glad we tried.
We’ve chosen 18 things we love when we’re on the road but hate when we’re back home.
Click through the gallery above to see what we came up with.
Got your own ideas?
Share them via the hashtag #CNNTravel.
