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Here's the sentence I want to say : My parents stayed at my sister's for a few days before returning/leaving _________.

With returning, I could say 'home' or 'to their place', but that does not convey that they're not from around here.

With leaving, I could say 'town' or just the name of the current place, but I want a general way of conveying it. What if I don't want to name the place, or it is the country side, not town?

I'm not committed to using returning/leaving. Suggestions that remove these words altogether are welcome too.

Edit: To rephrase, I'm looking for a way for out-of-towners to say that they're going back.

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    "Returning home" or "going home" doesn't seem to me to carry the implication that home is "around here". – Kate Bunting Aug 2 '17 at 8:21
  • 'going back home' probably connotes distance better. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 2 '17 at 11:10
  • @KateBunting Neither does it say that home is NOT around here. I'm looking for a way to say just that. – sodapop Aug 3 '17 at 13:34
  • My parents stayed at my sister's, away from their hometown, for a few days before returning home. – alwayslearning Aug 3 '17 at 18:41
  • I think you’re trying to combine too many disparate elements. For instance while personally of course it does, grammatically and largely semantically, whether anyone stayed at your sister’s, or in a hotel or on the street can’t be relevant; nor can the duration. Isn’t they stayed at/in location before returning/leaving… much more clear? Either way leaving ignores the destination except in the sense of leaving for, which would indeed match returning. Grammatically it can’t matter whether you say town or the name of the place and where did just come from, please? More… – Robbie Goodwin Aug 3 '17 at 22:01
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"Traveling home" seems to convey that they had to make an effort or go a good distance to get home. Along with that, "journeying home" might also be a good fit, perhaps even more so than traveling as it gives off a feeling of being more effort to make the trip home.

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protected by tchrist♦ Aug 3 '17 at 18:35

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