Ponderings of the returned
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2006
1
179
Trip End
Oct 31, 2007
London, United Kingdom
Saturday, November 3, 2007
The day we arrived at Heathrow was a strange one actually because everything felt so familiar that it was difficult to believe that we'd even been away. It almost felt as if we'd dreamt the whole thing and that nothing had actually happened. And because everything was so familiar it really wasn't as exciting to be back as we had thought it might be. Lovely and comforting and homely, yes, but exciting, no.
But anyway, how do we feel about the trip itself, now that we have a bit of distance from it? I think it was a fantastic experience that's given us memories and stories and pictures that will last us a lifetime, but I'm really a homebody and that kind of nomadic existence, for such an extended period of time is really not me, so I'm very happy to be home and I wouldn't want to do it again, but I am glad we did it. And now I'll let Tim tell you how he's feeling. (R)
'Surprisingly good about being home', is the answer. We both worried that I'd sink into a morass of misery on landing in England and would be inconsolable about the loss of freedom and the inevitable return to "normality". But the fact is I'm doing fine. It's been lovely to see family again and it's an unusually mild autumn so far with New England-like colours all around to inspire us with love and affection for all that counts as British. Most important, there's little "normal" about life at the moment. We're in the process of moving to the country where, (as PUSA put it), we hope to eat a lot of peaches. The change of pace we expect our lives to take - goodbye manic London, hello gentle Shropshire - should mean we stay fresher for longer. (Which, by the way, is not meant to sound like a plug for a new brand of sanitary towel). Maybe ask me again in 6 months, but at the moment it feels like we're still right in the midst of 'Tim and Rach's Big Adventure'.
As for the trip itself there is - as R says - a real sense of unreality about the last year. Sometimes I ask myself if we really went anywhere. Almost as if we just camped out at Heathrow - Victor Novorski-like - for 12 months. The photos, over 2,000 of them, prove that it was indeed us in all those exotic countries but somehow it seems difficult to believe. I think it's partly because we're still adjusting to 'life at home' (whatever that means at the moment). As the months pass, the remembrances of cumin-spiced chickpea curries and of water as clear as the sky will wash over us both and I think we'll begin to process
the experience as a whole. When that happens, I hope we'll begin to see how very privileged we were to have been able to see so much of the world in one go and - perhaps more important - how privileged we are to live where we do in the age that we do. We have it so easy.
Okay, that's enough wishy-washy flowery-speak from me: look out for those country summaries and statistical analysis - coming soon to a flat-screen monitor near you. (T)
