For the past few days we have been reconnecting with friends and family ... answering the inevitable questions ... how was the trip ... what was the best part?
For me the answer for cannot be distilled into just a few words. For those people (too many of us) who only have a second to talk, I just say "Great ... trip of a lifetime." But the truth is more complicated.
In reality the best part was damning the torpedoes (too long, too dangerous, too expensive, how will the children cope, last minute visas, inoculations, passports, political unrest etc etc) and heading out anyway. But equally good was coming home, was making it through to the end and back to all that is familiar ... perhaps with a little less attitude and a little more gratitude for all that we have here in Canada.
If the constant close proximity was difficult at times, then surely the best part was watching each person in our gang take up the "rally troops" gauntlet, each in turn, bringing us back "on course" during tough moments, ultimately making us a stronger travel team.
Or maybe the best part was gaining a greater understanding of different travel modus operandi ... understanding ours was clearly a journey and not a "vacation" and the rewards we found lay not just in the things we saw or the people we met or the miles we logged, but so too in the joy of living purposely, of setting an agenda for the day or week or even month and then going out and doing it ...with an open mind and heart and unfettered from the responsibilities and accountabilities of the regular daily routines back home.
So now it is back to Ontario and 3 months until we rejoin our place in the "real" world after Labour Day ... still time, me thinks, to let the full impact of our wonderful journey sink in ... to revel in newly acquired perspective on more of what the "real world" truly is and to move forward with confidence ... confidence that surely the best is yet to come.
BOSgone
