Reflections

Hello there! It’s been quite a while since we’ve updated our blog. We know most of our readers probably are already up-to-date with what we’ve been doing since we got back from our trip, but as this blog is as much for ourselves as it is for all of you, I’m going to post a quick update for posterity’s sake.

Julia had a job lined up before we even traveled back! We got back home on the evening of Friday May 6th, and Julia was off to work at Pierce College the very next Monday! I didn’t start my job search until after we got back, but on July 5th I started at ESI in Lacey.

It was surprisingly easy to fall back into the swing of things. We took Luna back home from my parents (thanks, guys!!!) and she was comfortably sleeping on our bed within an hour. It only took us a few days to get rid of our jet lag, and before we knew it we were back to “normal”!

As of this writing, it has been exactly 100 days since Julia and I landed back in America from our trip to Southeast Asia and Japan. We left America another 117 days before that. Having a regular routine has really made my perception of time pass much quicker than it did when we were traveling and experiencing so many new things every single day. It feels like it’s only been a month since we got back, and that we were in Thailand for an entire year.

I think about our trip almost every day, and the memories give me great joy, but also fill me with a sense of longing; I wish I could take a sabbatical from the real world every year, but it just isn’t feasible. As much fun as we had on our trip, and as much as we grew to cherish our friends that we did make, and as much as Chiang Mai felt like home…it isn’t truly home without our friends and family. If there was a way that we could bring everyone we love with us as we travel around the world, I would live that life in a heartbeat. But of course, that’s as much a fantasy as winning the lottery.

If I’m coming across as sad or depressed…well, I am, a little bit. But this trip was an amazing experience that I will never forget, and I’m happier and feel more fulfilled for having lived it. I know that we’ll go back someday – I just hope that day is sooner rather than later.

We still have a couple of blog posts that we started but never got around to finishing, so look for those in the next couple of weeks. There’s a post all about the Chiang Mai Zoo, the last post about our road trip, a post about our last two stops in Japan (Hiroshima and Osaka), and then I’ll probably write another post looking back on some of the best moments from the trip.

Until next time…