Friends, foes and fellow wanderers;
This blog draft has been too long taking up space in my back pocket, right alongside the handful of postcards I buy with the sincerest intentions to send you from every city. Oh trust me I have tried. This draft must be the most well travelled free rider in the whole of Europe.
I must be suffering a mild case of bloggers block because I have no idea where to start. Seeing a sneak peak of our world through my own eyes has not only opened them more so, but sent my thoughts spinning into overdrive. My mind is never in one place long enough (quite literally) to catch and bottle it's contents, and for now I'm learning to appreciate the feeling. Plenty of time patiently waits back in the real world for me to think and hold responsibility.
And now on the home stretch mark, as I casually lay in the shade overlooking a postcard picture worthy sight of the majestic big blue, realising how far from home I really am, I finally have the will to say something; IM ALIVE.
Perhaps it has something to do with me being over a month into the solo part of my trip, but I am now well versed on the importance of touching base. So this is me 'checking in'. I'm alive,
relatively well, a little older, wiser and softer around the edges. I'm not lying dead in
some down town gutter, nor have I had to resort to sleeping in one (yet). And so far against
even my own expectations I have managed to navigate my way from A to B, and B to Z.
The last near 4 months has felt like a day at disneyland. So many stunning things to see, too many interesting characters to note and I have that constant butterfly feeling in my stomach. Not sure if its a good or bad thing. Riding the rollercoaster seems the clique way to explain it but it really is the closest comparison I can find for now. At first the initial buzz, followed by fun, fear :- sometimes both at once. Then comes that feeling of sickness, followed by throwing up, wanting to get off, not being able to get off because you are halfway through. Then finally getting off. Realising it wasnt that bad. Going for a massive icecream then lining up again for a different ride because the last one left you shaky but still wanting more. Then at the end of the day leaving exhausted, resting up to do it all again tomorow.
When people I barely recall ask where ive been so far, and might I add this is more common in conversation than the typical exchanging names and pointless pleasantries, I genuinely have to stop and think about it. Because I move through fresh, buzzing places as quick as day passes to night. And I have run out of fingers to count the countries I have rolled through. For the record all fingers still remain. Its a blast, but yes there are times when i find myself absent mindly google earthing home. Somehow the more people that surround me, the more I think about the ones that patiently wait at home, at how irreplaceable they now seem.
So consider this your long overdue postcard, my dears. Misplaced along the way, slowly finding its way back to you. In Typical postcard form I wish I could post photos right now. All 5000 of them.
