The Trip of a Lifetime

For five years this trip loomed over the horizon. For nearly a year now it has been reality. Soon, it will be part of our family history. It has been a grand trip, a great trip, one never to be forgotten. Understanding what we have accomplished on this trip will be better understood as we look back on it from the vantage point of the future. Still, I think it is safe to say that it has been a resounding success. We have learned a lot about the world, other peoples, our family, and ourselves.

Like any large undertaking, this trip was initiated with multiple goals in mind, though we knew that it would likely result in things different than those goals. One of the overarching goals for Margit and I, though, was getting a chance to spend intense, quality time as a family. Kids seem to grow up so fast, and we realized a few years ago that the end of the time with them living with us was fast approaching. We wanted to be sure that we would not look back in future years and wish that we had done more with our kids. In that the trip has been an undoubted success. We have certainly had times when we all got on each other nerves and needed our own private time, but through it all, we have really enjoyed being together. For myself, I appreciate and enjoy everyone more now than ever, and that alone has made this trip worthwhile.

As for the kids, they have really come to enjoy the trip more as it has gone on. For Bjorn in particular, early on he complained about being on the trip, and wanted to be home. In retrospect, it should not have been a surprise, as he is a kid who really likes a routine. Now that the trip is the routine, it is something he enjoys. For Emma, she also has had times she wanted to be back home to play with friends, and with Rosie, our cat. She seemed to adapt quicker, though, to the rhythms of travel and adapted better than I expected. Additionally, before leaving on this trip, I worried that she would not get enough to eat. She is a particular eater (something she gets from her father) and will go hungry before eating food she does not like, and before we left, it did not seem there were many foods she liked. She has been a real trooper, though, trying all kinds of foreign foods, some that she liked, and some that she did not.

Normally, when I go on a vacation, I develop a bit of anxiety and sadness about the vacation ending, and it detracts from the enjoyment of those days at the end of the trip. We had wondered how the end of this trip would feel. Would it be so long that we wanted it to end, or would there instead be sadness about it ending, so that we would not be able to focus on the travels at the end and enjoy them? This time, it actually does not seem to be either one. I have been able to enjoy and focus on what we are doing each day, without thought of it ending. And yet, when I do think about returning to the US, I am excited about that, as well. Such mixed feelings.

As we have approached the end of the trip we have also found ourselves talking about what other places we want to visit after this trip, how we would do the trip, when we would want to go, where we want to go. I don’t think we could ever possibly do a year-long trip again as a family, but perhaps a month or two sometime in the future. After the kids are out of college? A summer break trip? Who knows. For the foreseeable future, we will simply be savoring this trip. And now, with the time quickly counting down, I am trying to focus on just enjoying every day that is left.

So what will this trip mean to us in the future? We won’t know until the future arrives. Whatever meaning we find, though, I know it will include great memories of the trip of a lifetime.

-Mitch
5/12/2011