Back Home…

So I’m home now, and it feels weird. It’s strange to hear all these American voices (although in my neighborhood, I hear a lot of Spanish, Polish, Chinese, other languages and accents), to hear English spoken so freely, to wash dishes and cook food and grocery shop and scoop my cat’s litter. I miss traveling. Sure, I’m glad to be wearing a clean outfit that I haven’t worn a million times over the past three and a half months, but I miss everything being in my backpack. Going through brochures and postcards and boxes of stuff, I’m aware of how much I own and how I prefer having everything in a backpack. So where I am to go from here?

So I’m home now, and it feels weird. It’s strange to hear all these American voices (although in my neighborhood, I hear a lot of Spanish, Polish, Chinese, other languages and accents), to hear English spoken so freely, to wash dishes and cook food and grocery shop and scoop my cat’s litter. I miss traveling. Sure, I’m glad to be wearing a clean outfit that I haven’t worn a million times over the past three and a half months, but I miss everything being in my backpack. Going through brochures and postcards and boxes of stuff, I’m aware of how much I own and how I prefer having everything in a backpack. So where I am to go from here?
I know I have to unpack my boxes, look for a job…but a job as what? I want to be traveling, seeing a new place every day. I want to pick up the next Lonely Planet on a Shoestring…for Africa? For South America? For Russia, a country I’ve wanted to go to since high school? For Australia? I’d like to study Spanish more, and then go to South America next. But maybe I should just leave, go to OZ and NZ, there’s so much there I want to see.
At the start of my trip, I was homesick, feeling old around 19 year old American backpackers, thinking, “I’ll never do this again. I hate this backpack.” But now, I love my backpack. I know I will travel more, again, as much as I can. Next time I plan on finding a subletter who doesn’t overfeed my cat, but I know the road is waiting. I plan on finding a job, working for a while, and a leave of absence would probably be best. Or teaching in Africa. Or. Or. Or.
Travel has made me realize that the possiblities are endless….there is SO much out there, so much beyond my home and city and state and coutry…there are so many places to go, people to see. I did the most expensive continent first, so wherever else I chose to go to, I know I can do it. It will be hard but I will. This trip has proved something to me: I’m a traveler. A wanderer. Someone who seeks the open road. And even if I’m in front of my computer right now, in an apartment that I have a lease on for another year, I’m still a wanderer.
See you out there. Sling on that pack and hit the road, and tell me about it.
Thanks for listening.