For the last week, I have remained in one place. I have slept in the same bed for 8 nights. My clothes have been unpacked and put away. While I enjoyed the first 24 hours (okay, maybe the first 36 hours) of resting and not having to go anywhere, I soon began to desperately miss waking up every day to go explore a new place.
This summer was amazing. It is still hard to believe that a month ago Michal, Adam and I were soaking in the warm sunshine and breathtaking beauty of Dubrovnik. From there, Michal and I continued to travel to one exciting place after another. On Wednesday, Michal and I are heading to Berlin and on Thursday we are flying back to the states.
Planning a trip like this took lots of time and lots of money. If our bank accounts were not in need of being replenished, I am pretty sure we would return to the states for a few weeks then continue traveling for the next year or so. There is so much to see and experience in this world and we have only begun to discover what is out there.
Traveling changes you. It introduces you to things you never knew existed. Furthermore, you are forced to discover new aspects of yourself when you end up in foreign countries and situations that would never happen in your daily life back home. Yes, this trip was expensive, but travel as they say, “travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer”. What makes this trip even sweeter, is that Michal and I are great travelers. Who you chose to travel with is more important than where you go. I am so lucky to have Michal as my travel partner on these European Adventures as well as in my everyday life.
Thinking of returning home is bittersweet. I am not the same person I was when I left in June. It is always a difficult task to merge who you were with who you are now, especially when you’ve been gone for a good amount of time. I will hold onto this amazing summer for the rest of my life. Thinking of going back to our over scheduled, rushed life style back in the states is currently not very appealing.
In some ways, I am ready to go home. I miss peanut butter. I miss my family and friends. I miss Ithaca and I really miss Wegmans. While Michal and I have had the summer of our lives, we have also experienced a great deal of heartache and stress. We started off the summer with one of Michal’s family members in the hospital and we are ending the summer with my sweet Grams in the hospital. No plane can get me home fast enough to be by her side.
What I have learned is that traveling is what makes me feel alive. I am the luckiest girl to have seen what I have seen and I will always have a thirst to get out there and travel more. However, the love of a family and being able to be by someone’s side when they need you, that is more valuable than unpacking your suitcase in a new location.
I love you, Grams. I’ll be home soon.