Backpacker Buzz

What started as a 260-day journey 'round the world is now down to just 15. Yesterday, I flew from Stuttgart, Germany to Lisbon, Portugal because I wanted to go to the beach. I guess you could say it's going to be difficult to shake this lifestyle.

It feels like when someone close to you is about to go away for a long time, and you know the goodbye is coming and you know it's going to hurt so you try not to think about it too much. Instead you book a last minute flight across a continent and consider kite surfing lessons.

That said, I do feel like it's creeping up on the right time to go home. I'm looking forward to a lot of things at home; most of them have to do with familiarity and comfort. I'm looking forward to my bed, my friends, my family, not labelling everything I put in the fridge, being able to leave my shampoo in the shower and having more than a handful of different outfits to wear. 

But there's lots to miss too. Most of all I'll miss that strange but exciting mix of freedom and stress that comes with not knowing where you'll go next. And realizing time and time again that while things might not be going well, they will work out in the end because they always do. 

I remember one night in a hostel bar in Broome, Australia some people asked what I was doing that night and if I wanted to join them at a beach party later on. I looked at my wrist, where my watch usually is but wasn't anymore. We laughed a bit and I admitted I wasn't sure why I did that. Sure, I'll go. That's what the past eight months have been about and that's what I'll miss. 

When I think back to that first day in Auckland, it feels like years ago. When I  think about what I've done between that day and today, it blows my mind. Twenty-eight countries (and counting), four continents, who knows how many miles. I can't even begin to digest it all. Not yet.

So with two weeks to go, I'll ride out this decrescendo in Portugal and Spain. I think only once I'm home, back amidst the familiar, I'll be able to make sense of this whole thing and organize all the people, landscapes, stories and memories that I've crammed in there this year.

And in the end, I don't think I'll ever stop asking that most important question - where to next?