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Published: January 21st 2011
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Buddha even lives with me at home. And a pic of my other important living being, Max, my dog -- he's happy I'm home too :) Hello all. I'll bet you're wondering "Now what? She's home, what else could she have to say?" I thought I'd impart some of my final thoughts on these past four months.
While traveling I've had such great opportunities to meet up with some wonderful people, some travelers, some locals that live in the country I was in. In conversations with the other travelers, you inevitably ask each other the usual questions, 'how long are here', 'where have you been', 'where to next'. When I told people that I'd quit my job to travel and listed the countries I was planning, many asked if I was doing an 'Eat Pray Love' type trip. I'd never thought about it that way but I suppose this was sort of an EPL trip but with some differences, allow me to expand.
EAT: anyone who knows me for more than five minutes know I love to eat. Now I didn't have to go to Italy to do that, I found some amazing cuisine in odd places, like many street vendors. Each country would have something different to offer and I took full advantage of whatever I would see and try it out. As long as it wasn't animal flesh, I was in! I lived on peanut butter and Nutella on fresh baguettes in Luang Prabang, just like a Reces Peanut Butter cup. I also found tempe in Bali which would have to be my favorite food. So yes, eat was a big part for me, I suppose that's true for the first part.
PRAY: okay, if you've seen even one of my posts, you'll see I have a connection and desire pertaining to anything Buddha. I never 'prayed' to any of them but I was moved in almost every encounter. Knowing the history behind some of them made it all more amazing for me. Okay, so perhaps that gives some weight to the 'pray' part.
LOVE: didn't find anyone resembling Javier Bardem in Bali so no love in the way it's portrayed in the movie. But what I did realize is a love for myself that I don't think I had before. I've learned to let go of the little things, those little regrets I may have had. To realize that I need to be a little less self-critical but that's great advice for all of you as well. Forgive yourself of those opportunities you might not have grabbed onto because there is a reason that you didn't. A reason that might not be or have been so obvious but we are where we are because there is something to be learned. And if that learning is just to forgive yourself, then perhaps it's all worth it. But mostly I've learned that I needed to leave my job to do this because what I was exposed to and the people I encountered will stay with me forever. For me, there was a difference between traveling for a month vacation then back to the grind and this four months away. Difficult to articulate but feeling so much more grounded than I ever thought I could be. Now being back to my life and colder temperatures (that initial sixty degree swing very nearly killed me), I hope to keep this with me but I also know to be realistic. Once the stresses take hold, job, family, life in general, it would be easy to sink back into those stresses. However the effort to keep those stresses in check is in each and every one of us. So the 'love' part may not be exactly as Julia Roberts portrayed in the movie but I think it was as impactful. But I'd still love to find my Javier so I'm putting that out there too 😊
So this is my last entry for the four month Asian extravaganza. Again, I thank you all for the great comments and messages. Even though I wasn't able to respond to every one of you, I truly do appreciate you traveling with me. Knowing you were there made me less lonely sometimes so thank you all. Now that I've acclimated and the jet lag is on the way out, I'll be seeing you in the coming days, weeks or months and I can't wait to catch up with you all. Have a great weekend. Cheryl
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Lindsay
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Welcome home
I hope you got everything out of your experience that you wished for.