It feels like just yesterday that we were on our home computer writing about our pre-trip planning.

It is difficult to describe what it feels like being home again after 53 weeks on the road. We know that our experiences over the past year have changed us, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how. Our life has taken a nose dive into the ordinary, but it is actually kind of comforting. We have unpacked all the boxes that we sent to ourselves and have counted the number of photos and video clips-3,076, to be exact.

We are taking life back here one day at a time. We are noticing the simple pleasures of life, like having a cup of tea in your own kitchen or sleeping in your own bed. Our home feels large and our walk-in closet, even larger. The scale of our day to day life has increased ten-thousand-fold from when we had all of our possessions in two small backpacks. Culture shock comes in small waves, a recent trip to the local grocery store left us overwhelmed with the number of choices for peanut butter or deciding what to wear after only having about five combinations for the last year. We know these instances will fade over the next couple of weeks as we get used to life in the United States again, but it is interesting to watch it happen here in our home country.

Over the course of the year, we have been required to adapt to each country, learn how to work with its culture, its food, its currency. As we progressed from country to country, these rules for day to day living changed, so each country was like a new page in a book and sometimes, like an entirely new book. Before we left, we expected that as the months rolled on, we would get to be “expert” travelers, but because the rules for living kept changing, we never became expert travelers, but travelers experienced at change.

The most common question people ask us is, “Are you still speaking to one another after all that time together?” We are, and although we had our moments of being angry or upset or just sick and tired, we feel like the trip has been great for us as a couple.

The second most common question is, “What are you doing for an encore?” Well, actually, we are not really thinking of where to go next, but we are thinking of making new goals for ourselves. This trip was a large part of our life before it happened, and now we need new goals to reach. Our first goal will be to find gainful employment. If anyone needs an accountant or a land use planner who know how to say “Good Morning” in Swahili, or how to say, “I’m not interested” in Thai, just let us know.

Finally, we want to thank everyone for their support both here and on the road. The world can be scary because of its size, but we found that people’s kindness made the world seem much smaller and even comforting. If you have enjoyed reading about our adventures, we would love to hear from you. It was the best year of our life (so far!).