S: end of the journey

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The end of the journey came kind of slow - more like creeping, but once it arrived it was totally there. And in the same way as the distance to Asia grew, and the time changed (strange things happening while flying) it felt like being in a time-machine, and landing in Germany didn´t only feel like landing in a different part of the world -but more like in a different time, or a different world, or... I just can´t explain it - but suddenly the whole journey was so FAR AWAY.

I guess in the beginning of "being back in Europe" also I was far away (from myself), because everything just felt so surreal - for many days. Of course I also got sick. Just because it is so silly, so stupid - and so typical - I got a diarrea just a few hours before going to the airport. However, my body (and mind) was kind of used to this state already and it wasn´t all that bad - just stupid arriving in Germany (land of tasty ecological food!) with a diet of only rice and bananas, rice and bananas, rice and bananas.. So I didn´t keep it very well, and paid every meal with a stomachache - but it was worth it! 😊

Another one of theese "first memories back in Europe" was the feeling of HOME. It was strange, but there - stuck in the middle of the Autobahn (stau!), I really felt that this is my home - EUROPE is my home, and the whole of it!! Because even though it is so big, and there is so many differencies, and so many places I haven´t even been - still everything is more or less the same, and more or less everything is wellknown to me (maybe I haven´t been there - but for sure I know someone that has been there, and probably I also know someone that is brought up there), oh Europe, Europe...

But before sounding to nationalistic (or continentalistic?!) I need to carry on. So, I spent a few weeks in the middle of Europe - meeting friends, eating good food, talking, listening and laughing, and most of all - doing nothing at all! I guess I was kind of worn-out after all the new places, people, things on this long journey - and it was so good just to stay at home (reading or sitting in front of the computer) or just wander around not really looking where or thinking why.

But then the time came for another big journey - the journey Hanna already made a few weeks before me - GOING HOME. For me this trip also felt like travelling through time, but now the time was going backwards - from beginning of the summer in Germany, to the middle of the Spring in Poland and Lithuania then beginning of Spring in Latvia, Estonia - and finnally Finland. (Från maskrosor, förbi vitsippor och tussilago ända fram till frostnätter och kalla öron.)

This trip (Berlin-Tallinn-Helsinki) was a great conclusion of the whole big journey for me: it all started on a long busjourney with everyone speaking russian all around, and it ended in the same way. Also it was long enough for me to be able to understand, and feel, that this is it - now I am really going all the way up north to the place that I don´t really get why anyone is living in (it´s so cold!!) but still call my home. Besides, nowadays I call the whole of Europe my home. Or was it Asia..?! or the whole Earth?!? Well, however...

Being back home, everything is like it always used to be - and it is a new feeling to me: being able to predict what things will look like, sound like, taste like... But the people here doesn´t seem interested in theese kind of things (predicting what that slice of bread with a peace of tomato and cucumber will taste like) and keep asking about the big journey. That, however, feels really out of place for me - in which time are they living?! It must have been that same old time-machine (remember, the one I walked into in India and out from in Germany) that messed things up - and they think that the travel is just a few weeks back. (hihi!)

The most beloved question is the one where they want me to prioritate one of the countries, and preferably also tell what was so special about that. The second most beloved question is if it happend something really scary or dangerous - people just love drama!! But I am not giving them any. I guess I am the most boring "world-traveller-just-arrived-back-home" ever, it just feels impossible to even try to make a conclusion out of everything I´ve seen and experienced.

That´s my story - the end of the story. Whoever wants to know a bit more about it: read the old blogs, or come back asking all those questions a few months from now. Maybe by then I am bored about predicting what usual things will be like (look like, sound like, taste like) and just dying to tell all the big stories, knowing exactly which country was the absolutely favorite one (and why) + it will be a lot of drama... Well, let´s see about that. Until that, my friends:

THE END

(and they lived happily ever after)

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Comments

[Inga H]

Wow!
Great pictures! I just read through the whole blog.. Your trip must have been amazing and I can imagine it is hard to explain your experiences to all family and friends. I've had a similar feeling, but every now and then I end up talking about Yemen in every second sentence, without anyone asking me to do that.. :) I'm interested to know more about this project of yours. Hope to see you in Maailma kylässä! H, Inga