A Final Note

…and then we were ‘home’.  It’s taken us weeks after our return to Melbourne to finally get the previous blog post up.  Partly because we’ve been busy re-connecting with some friends and family (with many still yet to see!), frantically house-hunting and jumping straight back into work routines.  However, perhaps the main reason for the delay in getting the final blog post up has been to hold onto that final bit of our trip for as long as possible!  The realisation that our trip was over has certainly hit us hard and there have been the inevitable moments of ‘post-holiday blues and grumpiness’ over the last few weeks - all those years of dreaming about doing a ‘big trip’, spending weeknights scouring through Lonely Planet books, maps and online forums, the excitement of the 6 months of travel…and now back to reality with no upcoming holidays in sight and a seemingly endless amount of bills and debts to pay.

Though after a couple of weeks of letting all of that settle, it’s certainly starting to become clearer that the learnings and experiences from our travels can be carried with us for so many years to come – hopefully for a lifetime.  Firstly, there is the predictable travel realisation that the world is ENORMOUS with so many corners to explore – and rather than coming back with our travel desire satiated, we are returning with an extensive list of future travel dreams and a burning desire to get back out there.  We are also returning with a huge amount of ‘traveller’s debt’ – not the financial kind, but instead a bank of favours and acts of kindness that were shown to us throughout our travels that we can hopefully repay to travellers and visitors who cross our paths in the years to come.  We have a huge sense of gratitude and optimism for the future; everywhere we went – whether it be tiny villages in Malawi that we passed through on the back of a Matola, or the beautiful home of our new friends Dawn and Keith in Kelowna (to name just a few!) – we were greeted with open arms, huge smiles, and the most amazing generosity and openness.  It is wonderfully life-affirming to share a connection with so many people, from so many walks of life, all of whom gave of themselves to help make our journey unforgettable.  

The last 6 months has been an incredible experience – made all the more so because we shared it together.   As we now move on to the next stage of our lives, it is something that we will continually look back on with much fondness.  This blog has proven to be a really useful way for us to capture our experiences on our travels and we are excited that we can ‘re-live’ the experiences over again by reading back through it.  We did also share our blog with others interested in our travels, so for those of you reading this final post – it seems appropriate to sign off with a huge thank-you for following our journey. 

Alick and Tess xx