Coming home

"Travelling is the most thrilling experience ever: you never know where you're gonna end up, who you're gonna meet, what you're gonna see or discover. All these are little hidden jewels and memories which are gonna fill up your heart and mind for the rest of your life. More, friends you meet on your way are unforgettable. Every new friend, every new culture and every new country impacted on who I am today. Travelling the world taught me a lot about myself and about others, and I discovered that adventure is the best way to learn. But home will always be home, and the ocean the special place in my heart. Along the way, people taught me that you can make your wildest dreams tomorrow's reality. Life is what you make it, you just have to understand that you are the only person that can get you were you want to be. Now go out there, travel, life your life to the fullest, be kind to the earth, jump in the ocean, fall in love, create your destiny and never ever regret anything."

I chose this quote to start with because to me it's exactly what I want to say.

This blog post is about coming home. People always just talk about leaving, but what about coming home? 


Sometimes it can be hard while we are away - making real friends, staying safe, finding jobs, learning social norms and how to deal with other cultures - but you get through these parts. If fact, all these lows are erased by the complete highs you experience. Besides seeing the world you meet new people, try totally new things, fall in love, visit mind-blowing places, learn about other cultures, traditions and so on. 

Unfortunately you return home at some point. For the first two weeks you are Hollywood. You visit all your family members, catch up with your friends, tell stories, show them pictures, ... and it's all so exciting!
But after some time it all goes away. Everyone gets used to you being at home and then people will start asking you questions like: "What are you going to do next?" "Do you have a job already?" "What's your plan now?"

Sure you are happy that everybody is healthy and somehow a lot has changed since you've been gone. People got pregnant, others got engaged, some have gotten new jobs or new boyfriends and girlfriends. On the other side nothing has changed. I was sitting in my childhood room when I realized that nothing has changed and a part of me wanted to scream: don't you understand how much I have changed? And I am not talking about looks, hair, height or something that has to do with your appearance. I mean what is going on inside your head. To me the dreams have changed, the new things that are important to me or the way I perceive people differently. 
Sometimes I feel angry and lost. Sometimes I feel like it wasn't worth it because nothing has changed but then I feel like it's the ONLY THING I have done that is important because it changed everything. 


Lately I've read in an article that once you've travelled for the first time all you want to do is leave again. They call it the travel bug but I think it's about returning to a place where there are only people who speak the same language as you. And I don't mean English or Spanish or Chinese or what else, I mean that language where others know exactly what it's like to leave places, grow, experience, learn and then go home again where you feel more lost in your own hometown then you did in the most foreign places you visited. 

I guess this is the hardest part about travelling, but it's also the reason why we all run away again.