History Main / TheresNoPlaceLikeHome

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' has aspects of this.
* This is the driving force and main conflict for the Genesect Army in ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened.'' Unfortunately, they were [[FishOutOfTemporalWater resurrected from 300 million year-old fossils]] and thus can [[YouCantGoHomeAgain never really go home.]]

* This was the entire ''raison d'etre'' of the Creator/DCComics villain Superboy-Prime - to return to his homeworld of Earth-Prime (aka ''our'' earth), where super-beings only exist in comic books. (Of course, once he gets there, he discovers that his parents and girlfriend have been following his exploits in those comic books - including the tortures, mutilations, and twelve-digit body-count that he racked up. Not exactly a hugs-and-happiness homecoming.)
* [[InvokedTrope Quoted word-for-word]] in ''ComicBook/GothamCitySirens''; Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Catwoman have all gone their separate ways for Christmas, going back to the only places that could even tenuously be called "home" for any of them (Ivy to the rainforest, Catwoman to Wayne Manor, and Harley to her actual birth-home, complete with biological family). They each view these places with different levels of fondness, Ivy loves the forest, Catwoman tenderly reminisces about who used to live in the Manor, and Harley is completely and finally fed up with her family, but they all leave these places and return to their shared apartment to spend the rest of the holiday together since "there's no place like home."

* Very much the case for the four in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. While they (mostly) love [[TouchedByVorlons the magic that's been dumped on them]], they sure as hell would rather play with it on Earth than on C'hou. And they SURE as hell don't want to be forced into the role of adventurers.
** When the events of ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World'' roll around some ten weeks later, they plan to do whatever it is they're supposed to do as quickly as possible so they can get home before too much time goes by on Earth. Of course, once they discover that [[spoiler: they've actually been in a giant telepathic {{MMORPG}}]], they're even more ready to get home as quickly as they can manage.

--> '''Falena:''' No matter how fair the vistas or pleasant the land, the soul cries for home, like a child cries for its mother. Harrenhal is in our blood, and our bones. We dream of it when we sleep, and think of it when we awake.

* Kate and Humphrey in ''WesternAnimation/AlphaAndOmega'', who must return home to Banff National Park after being moved many miles away to [[AdamAndEvePlot repopulate a wolfless area.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Simba runs away from home following his father's tragic death. Though he enjoys his time with Timon and Puumba, reuniting with an adult Nala makes him feel guilty for running away. He eventually does come back home, [[spoiler: defeats his evil uncle ([[CainAndAbel who, it turns out, orchestrated his brother's murder]]), and takes his rightful spot as king.]]

* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' and the book it was adapted from, have Dorothy's main objective being to get back home. In the movie, Dorothy taps her ruby slippers and utters, [[TropeNamers "There's no place like home!"]]

* In ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', it's rescue Toby, THEN get home.
* Flynn in ''Film/{{Tron}}''.
* Heartbreakingly invoked in ''Film/ForrestGump.'' During the Vietnam War, Forrest befriends Bubba, a man who loves to go shrimp fishing and plans on buying a boat to do so once the conflict ends. [[spoiler: When Bubba is shot and lies dying in front of Forrest, he says his last words, which reflect what every soldier really thinks about overseas:]]
-->'''Bubba''':[[spoiler: I wanna go home...]]
* In ''Film/{{Big}}'', Josh, who undergoes an OvernightAgeUp, has this has a twofold goal: first, find the [[MacGuffin magical fortune-telling machine]] that transformed him, then get back to his childhood home.
* In the Series/SesameStreet spinoff film Film/BigBirdInJapan, Big Bird sings several times about being homesick - the last time, ironically, about feeling this for Japan! The opposite is true for the Bamboo Princess, whom Big Bird befriends-she dreads going back home to the moon, as it's implied (as in the legend) she loses her memories of Earth every time she does so.

* ''Film/ColdEnoughForSnow'': When Pippa arrives at the University of Exeter, glad to be away from home, a homesick student is twice seen telephoning her mother, pleading to come back home.

* Nerd joke: "There's no place like 127.0.0.1."[[note]]You are excused if you didn't get it. An internet router (like the one you are likely surfing Website/TVTropes on right now) uses this as the default "home" internet address for any information that doesn't go out to the Internet (like if you were playing a game using your router as a network hub).[[/note]]

* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' puts Dorothy on TheHomewardJourney, but near the end of the book, Glinda tells Dorothy about the [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong Silver Shoes]]. "All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go." So Dorothy declares her desire, saying, "Take me home to Aunt Em!"
-->'''Scarecrow:''' I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.\\
'''Dorothy:''' That is because you have no brains. No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.
* In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', the protagonist has been unable to return home to Ithaca for 20 years of warfare and increasingly lonely wandering. Even when the goddess Calypso wants to make him her immortal sex buddy, all he wants is to see his mortal family again.
** [[ShoutOut Referenced]] in a well-known sonnet from the collection ''Les Regrets'' by Joachim du Bellay (1525-1560), who felt homesick for France while serving as a cardinal's secretary in Rome: "The seat my fathers built pleases me more than the Roman palaces with their bold front, more than hard marble I like the fine shale, more the Gallic Loire than the Latin Tiber, more my little Liré than the Palatine Mount, more than the sea breeze I like the Angevin sweetness." The opening words, ''Heureux, qui comme Ulysse'' ("Happy (is he), who like Ulysses") have also been used as as the title of a film starring Creator/{{Fernandel}}, who takes an old horse to the Camargue to set it free.
%%* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}''
%%* Another Creator/NeilGaiman novel, ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', also uses this.

* This is [[Literature/ThePendragonAdventure Bobby Pendragon's]] original motive upon learning he was a Traveler. This changes about a third of the way through the series.
* ''A World Without Heroes'' follows the story of the main character, Jason, who is doing everything in his power to get home.
* OlderThanDirt: In the {{Ancient Egypt}}ian Tale of Sinuhe, the main character goes into self-imposed exile from Egypt during a time of political upheaval and ends up settling somewhere in the Levant. He becomes quite wealthy and starts a family, yet unhesitatingly jumps for it when offered the opportunity to return to Egypt. It wasn't just a question of living the rest of his life in a foreign country: being buried by foreigners, using "strange" funeral customs instead of Egyptian mummification and priestly spells, was regarded as an unhappy fate. Or at least, that's the message of what may have been a piece of government propaganda.
* Jonathan Thomas Meriwether (aka "Jon-Tom") spent most of Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series desperately wishing to return to his home dimension. When he finally could, he decided to take some of what he considered the best bits of it and return to his friends and love interest in his adopted dimension.
* Subverted in Piers Anthony's Virtual Mode series, where Colene, who had little to keep her in her home dimension, spent the entire series trying to get to her love interest Darius' dimension.

* DiscussedTrope in Creator/RobertFrost poem "The Death of the Hired Man" (''Literature/{{Collected Poems|1930}}''). Silas the itinerant laborer has come back to the farm of Mary and Warren after some time away. Warren isn't thrilled about this, as Silas once went off and left him in the lurch with work to be done, but Mary recognizes that Silas is terribly ill and has really come to the farm to die. Silas has a well-to-do brother, but, as Mary and Warren come to realize, apparently their farm felt more like home to Silas than his estranged brother's house.
-->"Home is the place where, when you have to go there,\\
They have to take you in."

* In the autobiography ''Boy'', Creator/RoaldDahl writes about how he was so devastatingly homesick during his first term at boarding school, that he faked appendicitis to get himself sent home. This worked for a short time; the doctor who examined him at home was not fooled, but expressed some sympathy, and made him promise never to try a trick like that again. Interestingly, as soon as he left school, he longed to work in faraway places, and his first job took him to Africa for three years, with no trips home, but this did not worry him at all.
--> Homesickness is a bit like seasickness. You don't know how awful it is until you get it, and when you do, it hits you right in the stomach and you want to die.

* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''
** And its {{Spinoff}}, ''Series/AshesToAshes2008''.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}''
** Aside from the obvious "plane crash survivors wanting to go home" plot (which is [[spoiler:resolved halfway through the series]]), a much more specific form of this trope comes in season 6:
-->[[spoiler:The Smoke Monster]]: "I want the one thing that John Locke didn't. ''I want to go home.''"
* Ian and Barbara in the first season of ''Series/DoctorWho''.
** Also Jo in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks]]''. She even turns down a chance to stay with a man in love with her because she wanted Earth.

* ''Series/QuantumLeap''

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantastic_Journey The Fantastic Journey]]'' (1977)
* ''Series/{{Otherworld}}'' (1985), which had a very similar plot to ''The Fantastic Journey''.
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}''. Ironically, the group made it back to their own world at the start of Season Two... but they mistakenly thought that they ''hadn't'' [[spoiler:because the gate was oiled since becoming lost]], so they left again.
* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E20WhatIsAndWhatShouldNeverBe "What Is And What Should Never Be" (S02, Ep20)]], Dean is willing to kill himself to get back to his reality.

* Many {{Blues}} traditionals have this as a theme. A well known example is "Sweet Home Chicago" by Music/RobertJohnson from ''Music/RobertJohnsonTheCompleteRecordings'', where Johnson asks his sweetheart if she wants to come home with him to Chicago? "I Feel Like Going Home" by Music/MuddyWaters (available on ''Music/TheAnthology19471972'') expresses homesickness.
* "Man Of Constant Sorrow", a traditional about a man who wants to get back home after all the sorrow he experienced while being elsewhere. It was covered by Music/BobDylan on his debut ''[[Music/BobDylanAlbum Bob Dylan]]''.

--> ''Country Roads, take me home\\

* The TropeNamer is the song "Home! Sweet Home!" from the 1823 opera ''Clari, (or) the Maid of Milan'', in which the singer desires to return home.
-->''Mid pleasures and Palaces though we may roam,\\
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!''
* "Road Ladies" by Music/FrankZappa from ''Music/ChungasRevenge'' expresses homesickness of rock artists on the road.

--> ''Now my friends it's time to go''
--> ''And this love will live to grow''
--> ''And I want you all to know''
--> ''I'm going home''
* "Sweet Home Alabama" by Music/LynyrdSkynyrd also expresses this feeling. It was written as a retaliation for a song," Alabama", by Music/NeilYoung that was critical of their homeplace.
* Music/BreakingBenjamin: The line is featured in and one of the major themes of "Home", a song that is basically a wholesale reference to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''

--> ''Who will find me, take care and side with me?''
--> ''Guide me back safely to my home''
--> ''Where I belong, once more''
* "Oh Susannah" by Stephen Foster is about a cowboy who came from Alabama "with a banjo on his knee" and is glad to be home again with his sweetheart.
* "Going Home" by Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} from ''Music/AftermathAlbum''
--> ''When you're three thousand miles away''
--> ''I just never sleep the same''
--> ''If I packed my things right now''
--> ''I could be home in seven hours''
--> ''I'm goin' home, I'm goin' home''
* "Kansas City" by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller is about a man going back home to Kansas City to meet his girl. It was later covered by Music/TheBeatles on ''Music/BeatlesForSale''.
* "Back In The USSR" from Music/TheBeatles' ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum'', where the protagonist is glad to be back home after a long and terrible flight.
* The traditional "Sloop John B.", covered by Music/TheBeachBoys on ''Music/PetSounds'', is about a sailor who wants to go home after a long voyage at sea which he considers to be the [[WorstWhateverEver worst trip he's ever been on]].
* "Drivin' Home For Christmas" by Chris Rea is about a man who is drivin' home to his family in time for the holidays and glad to do so.
* "Somehow I'll Find My Way Home" by Jon Anderson (Music/{{Yes}}) and ''Vangelis'' is a PepTalkSong expressing the confidence that wherever life may take him he will nevertheless find his way back home.
* "Willesden Green" by Music/TheKinks is a nod to many country songs being about the subject of homesickness.

--> ''Homeward Bound, I wish I was homeward bound''
--> ''Home, where my thought's escaping''
--> ''Home, where my music's playing''
--> ''Home, where my love lies waiting silently for me''
* The ''Series/SesameStreet'' song "I Don't Want To Live On The Moon" expresses Ernie's sentiment that he wants to visit all kinds of places in the world, but doesn't want to stay there forever, as he likes his own home the best. The song is also made available on the GreatestHitsAlbum ''Music/SesameStreetPlatinumAllTimeFavorites''.
* "Hickory Wind", a song Music/GramParsons wrote for Music/TheByrds' album ''Music/SweetheartOfTheRodeo'', is about the sound that makes him think of his North Carolina home.
* Music/{{Sigrid}}'s "Home to You" is about her returning back home to her parents after traveling.
-->When I don't know what to say, when I don't know what to do\\
There's a room I need to sit in, surround by my favorite view\\
When I need a hand to hold, someone to tell the truth\\
Would it be okay if I came home to you?

* ''Theatre/TheWiz'', an all-African-American adaptation of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', naturally has Dorothy's goal involve finding her way back home from Oz. She expresses this longing in the song "Soon As I Get Home", which she sings before she leaves Munchkinland for the Emerald City, and the finale "Home" (quoted below), a TriumphantReprise she sings in order for the Silver Slippers to help her return to her Aunt Em's farm.
-->''When I think of home, I think of a place where there's love overflowing\\
I wish I was home, I wish I was back there, with the things I've been knowin...''
** The TV version of ''The Wiz'' plays around with the meaning of, "home". Dorothy initially desires to return to Omaha, Nebraska, where she spent her childhood until her parents died. However, her adventure helps her realize that her ''real'' home is where she can stay with people with whom she shares love. Subsequently, when the Wiz sets off for Omaha in [[GenderFlip her]] balloon, Dorothy instead decides to try and find a way to return to her Aunt Em's farm - Which doesn't take long, since the Good Witches Addaperle and Glinda fly in almost immediately to help her.
* In ''Leave It To Me!'', Goodhue's goal is to get out of Russia and go back to his hometown of Topeka, Kansas.

* Nero from ''VideoGame/CielNosurge'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/ArNosurge'' was forcibly ripped from her home dimension and into the game's, to be taken advantage of by the locals. She spends all of both games trying to return to her home dimension, no matter the cost--an entire planet, the future of all of a sentient species, or the lives of every living member. The game portrays her as a sympathetic victim of powers beyond her control, villainous and even evil as her actions are.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', [[spoiler:The sapient machine Omega]] is revealed to be from a distant planet and became stranded on Hydaelyn. Their entire motivation in growing stronger is to recover the needed strength to make the journey through space to get back home.

* ''{{Webcomic/Annyseed}}'' desperately wants to be human again. Or at least feel like part of the human race.

* ''Webcomic/ILoveYoo'': Shin-Ae prefers staying at home, and only reluctantly goes out. This is mostly an attempt to avoid conflict.
* ''Webcomic/HeroesOfThantopolis'' Cyrus is helping Helene because she promised to bring him home.

* ''Literature/{{Stardust}}''
* Another Creator/NeilGaiman novel, ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', also uses this.

* ''A World Without Heroes'' follows the story of the main character, Jason, who is doing everything in his powers to get home.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss Everdeen in the first book. Inverted in the second. Mad crushingly depressing in the third.

--> "Home is the place where, when you have to go there,\\

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': One of [[Characters/AmphibiaAnneBoonchuy Anne Boonchuy]] main goals, besides becoming a hero, is to find a way to go back home, given her first experiences in [[DeathWorld Amphibia]] didn't exactly endear her to the place.

* ''Webcomic/KillTheVillainess'' follows Eris, who woke up in the body of a romance story's villainess and ''immediately hates it''. The love interests suck, she's looked down upon by everyone else, and she can't kill or harm herself as she must follow the story's plot perfectly. [[spoiler:She ends up successfully leaving despite the love interests efforts to make her stay, thanks in part to a witch and her love interest Anahkin, who ends up following her to her world as well.]]

* Webcomic/KillTheVillainess follows Eris, who woke up in the body of a romance story's villainess and ''immediately hates it''. The love interests suck, she's looked down upon by everyone else, and she can't kill or harm herself as she must follow the story's plot perfectly. [[spoiler:She ends up successfully leaving thanks in part to a witch and her love interest Anahkin, who ends up following her to her world as well.]]

* WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack's main goal is to get back to his home time, though, of course, FailureIsTheOnlyOption. [[spoiler:At least until the very end, over 50 years later.]]

* Done nicely in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}''. After WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic banishes WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob, he finds his room has turned into his old review room with his CatchPhrase echoing when he touches the table. He's far too gone with the need to be in power by this point, but just for a moment you can tell he desperately wants to go home.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep'': This is [[spoiler: ultimately why the Nektons are always exploring the ocean. Turns out, their ancestors were Lemurian.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' cartoon has the overarching plot of the main characters attempting to return to Earth after being transported to a strange fantasy realm.

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