What Just Happened?

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The last six months has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Here is the run down, for anyone who missed it:

NEW YORK CITY - September 27th to 29th, 2008. I stayed in Brooklyn and visited with two friends that I had met in Nepal.

AUSTRALIA - September 30th, 2008 to January 10th, 2009. I traveled on my own and visited Sydney, Brisbane, Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo, Toowoomba, Maleny, Montville, Rainbow Beach, Tin Can Bay, Hervey Bay and Fraser Island, Noosa, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Byron Bay, Nimbin, Tuggerah (where I worked on a carnation farm), the Blue Mountains, Canberra, Melbourne, drove the Great Ocean Road, celebrated Christmas on St Kilda beach, celebrated New Year's at Sydney's botanical gardens, Cairns, went diving in the Great Barrier Reef, Airlie Beach, the Whitsundays, and left from Brisbane. I met so many amazing people, but my some of my favorites were Simon (who I met in Nepal), his girlfriend Lauren, Nicole from Halifax (who I traveled 2 months with), Nathan from England (that I met 5 different times in 3 1/2 months), Lea from Switzerland (that I spent 3 weeks with north of Brisbane, in Sydney, and in Melbourne), James from Halifax (who I met on the Great Ocean Road and spent nearly every second of the next week with), and Nicole from New York (who was my dive buddy in Cairns). I drank a lot of beer, spent a lot of time on the beach, had two little romances, and fulfilled my dream of diving in the reef. It was amazing.

SOUTH EAST ASIA - January 11th to February 15th, 2009. I traveled with Dad for 5 weeks and we visited 3 countries.
Thailand - Bangkok, Kanchanburi, Erawan Falls, Sukothai, trekked for 5 days along the Burmese border, Chang Mai, the Elephant Conservation Centre near Lampang, and Pai.
Laos - took a slow boat down the Mekong for 2 days, Luang Prabang, went tubing in Vang Vieng, and Vientiane.
Cambodia - 3 days in Phnom Pehn, and 4 days in Siem Reap visiting Angkor Wat and a floating village.
It was great to be able to spend so much time with my dad, but I only met two people my own age - Jochen from Germany, and Jake from Washington DC. I keep in touch with both of them. And minus the one night I scared dad by staying out too late, we didn't have any problems at all.

SOUTH KOREA - February 16th to March 5th, 2009. I stayed with my friend Ashley from university, who is teaching English in Seoul, and her room mate Erin, who is from Guelph. I just stayed in Seoul, but visited the North Korean border, and I made lots of friends - Weston, Nisha, Young Jin, Josh, Rob, and plenty more that I try to keep in touch with.

JAPAN - March 5th to March 20th, 2009. On my own once again, I visited Tokyo, Hiroshima, Okayama, Kyoto, Osaka, and Mount Fuji before heading back to Tokyo to fly out again. I was too tired to be social, but i did make friends with Mark from New Zealand and Cassie and Mark from England. Japan was gorgeous and I had no where near enough time to appreciate it.

NEW YORK CITY - March 20th to 27th, 2009. Mum met me for four days and we visited museums and restaurants. I spend two days on my own, decompressing, and visiting with Nicole and Ivana.

I felt really conflicted about coming home. Part of my desperately wanted to sleep in my own bed and stop carrying my life around on my back. Another part of me just wanted to keep going because I was having more fun now than I had ever had before. But no matter what I wanted in the end, I had to come home. I had a ticket booked and had run out of money, so I didn't have much of a choice.

I've been home almost two weeks now. In that time I've seen lots of people that I missed - Mum and Dad for one, and Maxwell, as well as Jenn, Kristyn, Meaghan, Angela and Maeghan from work, Kaitlyn and Alex, Mikw, and I've talked to my old room mates from university. I've taken a CPR class and started Tai Chi again with mum. I'm on the job hunt, which is a full-time job in itself. I've made doctors appointments, done my taxes, and been to every bank I need to be at.

People told me the 'honeymoon' period would last at least a few weeks, if not a few months. Kaitlyn told me it took 3 months after coming home from Europe before the travel itch started again. But for me it only lasted about 3 days. My first weekend home was great - lots of visits, relaxing, comfort food that I'd been missing - but before long I started to feel like I'd stepped 5 years back in time.

I will be 23 years old before the month is up. I grew up in Ottawa. I went to elementary school and high school here, and my parents have been living in this house for over 20 years. All the friends I have here I've been friends with for 5 or 10 years, or more sometimes. And I love all those things. I love that my house feels so comfortable and that my friends know me so well because we've been friends for so long. But all that isn't taking me anywhere. Since my last job ended before I left in September, and I spent the entirety of my savings on my travels, I've moved back in with my parents till I figure out the next step in my life.

I'm almost 23 years old, I have no job, I live with my parents, and all my friends are people I went to high school with. It feels like 5 years ago.

But until the next step in my life works itself out this is where I'll be. I'm busy applying for jobs all over the country and now it's a waiting game. I've slipped back into my old life so easily I almost feel like the last 6 months didn't even happen. It was such a whirlwind of excitement and aches, sleeplessness and new horizons, culture and parties, the greatest memories of my life and moments I wish I could take back. I learned a lot about myself and what I want and what I don't. I'm more independent than I thought I was, and I'm not shy or scared, like people might think I am. I might be too impulsive, and I might be a little selfish, and it may or may not be a good thing that I have no sense of shame. But I did it and I'm proud and I'll never forget it.

And if anything is a good indicator of just how long I've been gone, it's the length of my hair.

PS, thanks for following along 😊

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Photos

Australia
sunrise at Rainbow Beach

Thailand
beach at Ko Chang

Laos
temple door in Luang Prabang

Cambodia
Ta Prohm, at Angkor Wat

South Korea
temple architecture in Seoul

Japan
cherry blossoms in Kyoto

New York City
Strawberry Fields in Central Park