We are officially back in New York and after six weeks of backpacking throughout Southeast Asia, I have returned a changed person. To be perfectly honest, I really had no expectation of changing.
Which, in retrospect, is evidence enough that change is exactly what I needed. Even while it was happening I wasn't truly aware of it. In the past, I have had the privilege of traveling through a lot of Central and South America and some of those trips lasted almost a month. So going into this trip, I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew what culture shock was. Or at least I thought I did. However, this trip proved to be different, and particularly due to timing, it proved to be more life changing than any that have come before it. Although it wasn't until our second day back in the states that I could even begin to comprehend it.
As of this moment, I am a little more than half way through documenting our trip on this blog. Without a doubt I will finish blogging the entire thing, not only because it is one of the best ways for me to share our travels with our family and friends, but as it turns out, it is an extremely therapuetic practice for myself. With complete and utter un-intention, my travel posts have somehow evolved into a deeply personal method that allows me to remember and reflect on all that I have experienced. Truth be told, if I don't finish, I don't think I will fully process it all and that idea alone scares me like nothing else. So for now, I need to take a break from the posts of destination highlights and write something different. Something slightly more personal. Something on the subject of homecoming. A subject that brings to light everything from passion, to conflict, to purpose, to personal growth and to will. All I can say is that this is a post that needed to be written and it needed to be written now. It is a time sensitive issue, purely a state of mind and 100% reflective. I have a sneaking suspision that there is an expiration date attached to my awakened mentality and because of it's fleeting nature, all I want to do is capture it in a jar and keep it in my possession forever.
Yet the question remains: How can I possibly put the spectrum of emotions that I am feeling into words, let alone string them along to make sense? It is almost inevitable that when you return from a long trip, one of the most commonly asked questions you're faced with is, "How does it feel to be home?" Even while in transport back to the states, I knew I would be confronted by this question, but I didn't yet know how it would feel. Now that I'm here, I am experiencing how it feels, but finding it difficult to articulate. While I don't think I've been very successful in answering this question to most, I have realized that behind some of my responses (or even mere reactions) are the true underlying answers.
Sometimes I stammer because there are no words to describe the paradox of wanting to be here and there at the same time, or wanting to be the me that was there here. Sometimes I give one word answers because it's easier to convey how amazing it is to see everyone I love, than it is to explain how I feel more at home with them than I do sitting on my own couch in my own home. Sometimes I sigh and then smile and laugh because I feel relieved to know that I am growing into the person I vowed I would become and because finding myself feels like paradise. And sometimes I cry because I feel more human than I have in a very long time. Some of my tears are a direct result of the vast amount of love, compassion, and pure happiness I have recently endured, and some of them come from a place where I fear that the mentality I have gained will discreetly slip away if I don't make life changing efforts to maintain it. I don't know what it is specifically that I have seen, experienced, questioned, or conquered that has made me feel this way, but I do know that this trip has challenged me to my core and has left the word "priority" resonating in my head. I've come to a much needed and unexpected turning point in my life; a gift of insight has been bestowed upon me so that I may re-prioritize myself, and what doesn't help to define a person, if not for their priorities? I know who I am and who I want to be, but I also know that this type of personal growth takes an immense amount of strong will and outside support to sustain.
Like I said, it wasn't until our second day back that I felt like an altered version of myself. Walking side-by-side with Andy to the farmers market, I finally met my realization. I stopped in my tracks, turned to him and confessed, "If I don't continue to take trips like this, I know I am not going to like the person I become." I believe in this statement wholeheartedly, but it is the most personal statement I could possibly make. I don't want to give off the opinion that in order to feel fulfilled one must travel the world or that taking a long trip will change your life just because this one happened to change mine. This post and that culmination is the conclusion of me taking a risk and experiencing a passion of mine at a pivotal point in my life; a passion that happens to be ignited by traveling to a new world from one that feels all too familiar.
"Buy the ticket, take the ride." - Hunter S. Thompson.
Hoi An is the reason we travel the way we do. It is the reason that for almost two full months, we rarely planned our time more than one day in advance. It is the reason all we carried was a photocopied guide book, two empty calendars and one trusty mechanical pencil that helped us to fill in the boxes as we traveled north, east, south and west. Without expecting it, these calendars became some of our most valuable possessions. Not because we would have been lost without them, but because they were a constant reminder that we were 100% unscheduled, unplanned and absolutely free for an entire summer. It wasn't until I started looking at these calendars, (where the only days that were filled in were the ones in my past) that I realized just how much of my daily life is dedicated to looking at calendars where the weeks ahead are already full. This is a habit I now hope to break. Nothing feels more freeing than recognizing the true potential of your future, and trust me when I say, the feeling is almost addictive. It was not uncommon for us to take out our calendars over long bus trips, just to look at them because we knew doing so would make us giggle like nothing else. Unfolding those homemade papers gave us goosebumps, staring at the blank boxes gave us freedom and reading what we had filled in gave us pride and gratitude. Now, as I read over them with nostalgic eyes, different places stand out for different reasons, and Hoi An is a place that resonates with me today. Hoi An is one of those special places that we probably would have missed had we chosen to plan out our trip before hand. But because the road before us was blank, we made the last minute decision to stop there and make it our home for a few days. (Thank you Peter). While we didn't do much while we were there, we did exactly as we pleased, and life was good. We soaked in the culture of the Marble Mountains. We spent two full days submerged in a swimming pool. We drank fresh beer by the glass at sunset. We strolled through the markets and haggled for fruit. We walked aimlessly down the cobblestone streets and lantern lit bridges. We met amazingly worldly people. We shared delicious food and insightful conversations. We enjoyed our time with them immensely. Our eyes were open to the world around us and all the while we were fully conscious of the fact that everything we were experiencing could not have happened if we weren't open to it in the first place. All of this was the direct result of a blank piece of paper. Literally, it was all thanks to nothing.
This was our first sleeper bus experience in Southeast Asia. We took this bus to Hoi An from Hanoi. An interesting experience to say the least. We slept in these little sleeper pods all night and they were very comfortable. Despite the fact that we had to negotiate for our seats hardcore, this was the best sleeper bus experience we had our whole trip. 
