ABSTRACT
Travel and home are usually regarded as opposites, travel being associated with movement in space, home being related to settling in a particular place, when travel has ended. For many West Indians, however, obtaining and sustaining a 'proper home' has been dependent upon their willingness to travel from their native island and to stay for prolonged periods of time in far-away destinations. Such absence naturally leads West Indians to develop different notions of home, depending on their particular situation. Some continue to regard themselves as temporary sojourners in a foreign place, displaced from their 'real' home, whereas others gradually create a home away from home which may eventually supersede the original home in importance. Nevertheless, even these more settled people usually maintain strong emotional ties with the West Indies.
