Drinking From The Ganges

I write this entry not from an internet café in a far off land, a land where sounds, smell, people and languages are unfamiliar…..but rather from the place my journey began a little over thirteen months ago, Seattle Washington.

Writing this entry brings tears to eyes and sorrow to my heart, as this entry brings a sense of ‘closure’ to my journey of thirteen months and marks the beginning of a new journey….an unknown one much like my around the world journey, but possible not nearly as exciting (who knows only time will tell).  I mean really how exciting is it when; I understand the language, I don’t have to haggle for a pack of gum or a bar of soap, I’m not paying 200% more than the locals for a taxi ride (and I actually know how far it is from my house to the train station or airport), I’m not being constantly groped by the young local men and I know or can ask ‘what is in the soup’ rather than be surprised by unknown animals, rodents, reptiles and insects.  What is the excitement in knowing…….

I have been back three weeks, ‘back to life, back to reality’…..well definitely back to ‘reality,’ as for life…..well still trying to find my place.  I’m sure like many people who set off on an around the world trip for an extensive amount of time and return home, find it difficult to transition back into the life they knew before they left, one that is the same as when they left, but they are not the same upon return.  I am no different; I have come back to a place where all my friends’ lives are still going on just as I left them….a few with new additions, such as wife, husband, child, new house, new job, etc.  But as for me, there is no house, no automobile, no significant other, no furniture, no job (never owned a house, sold, donated and quit all of the above).  But what I do have is thirteen months of travel and twenty-two countries full of memories and experiences…..yes not tangible items, nothing that I can put on my resume, put on my w-2 form, put in my 401k, show to someone as I walk down my block or while standing in an elevator, nothing in that sense….but some of the best things in life you cannot touch, define or explain….and sometimes when you do the value of that ‘object’ looses some of its worth.  Some things are best experienced by doing……not by buying, reading, hearing, showing, but doing and that is exactly what I have done!

I have often cursed this Blog throughout the course of my travels; it has been like homework for me.  Homework because, I would always have it as a ‘to do,’ have a ‘deadline’ when it must be completed (though an imaginary one and one that I really didn’t follow too closely, especially by the time I reached my fifteenth country), find an internet café in every new city/country so I could write the blog entry for a country I had left three weeks prior.  However, after arriving home, I am definitely glad I have kept up with my blog.  Because, like many people when they take a two week holiday from work, return home, return to work, it feels like you never left.  Well, I know I actually did travel for thirteen months and on those days it doesn’t feel so real…..I have my blog!  Speaking of blog, I do plan to write my entries for Australia, New Zealand and upload photos.  I also, plan to do a ‘top ten’ list and a few additional items…….and after that well, onto my next journey, which is currently in the works.  So I won’t say ‘good-bye,’ but say, ‘until next time!’

Revision to this entry as of September 2009-  I suspect i won’t be writing about Australia or New Zealand, I have since moved on to South Korea……on a new blog.