The holiday, the Contiki adventure, has finally (almost) reached an end. Even though it has been more than 3 days ago since our goodbyes, and as things have begun to slow down and more and more of us have returned home to our old lives, I can't help but feel both a mixture of gratitude, sadness, nostalgia and whatever other emotion one is sure to feel in a situation like this.
I write this on my second last night in London, in a friend's apartment in Hackney, sick with a cough and a fever but still elated over what the past 3 weeks have shown, taught and revealed to me in many more ways than one.
Meeting some amazing, genuine, interesting people from various parts of the world will never cease to diminish my amazement on the beauty of interaction. We are such a small fraction of this world. And unless we get over this thing we like to call FEAR, and step out of our own skin, our own box, we will risk putting ourselves in a situation of never really feeling the joy of realising we are never, EVER alone. That there are others who feel, think and crave many of the same things we do.
To see the world, to experience new avenues, to be amazed, astounded, doubted in our views and perspectives we thought we held ourselves proud in holding so much knowledge in.
Our knowledge on the world and it's people, and how these people interact with the environments around them.
As an Australian, this is sure to come as a deliberately cliche comment, but seeing Europe and the many cultures that can be experienced within only a short 6hr drive from one place to another, makes me realise how encased and oblivious we are in our little island home.
My eyes have been opened, washed, wiped, re-wiped, re-polished and polished one more time. What was once a blur of assumptions and misconceptions fed very much by movies, TV, travel books and travel blogs, I now see (only a fraction of Western) Europe and its many similarities and differences. And the mind begs for more.
To be able to share these adventures and revelations with other people who share the same ideals as you in one way or another is a true privilege.
For this, I cannot thank Contiki, our tour manager Amy, driver Attila and my amazing tour group enough to have allowed this.
My only fear now is how time feeds on distant memories, and often makes us forget these feelings of gratitude as the harshness and realities of everyday life continues to speed forward.
I only hope this feeling and perspective will continue to stay with me long after the last photograph has been uploaded and archived (to be looked at in a few months or years time), long after my suitcase has been emptied and packed away, and long after the last few attempts at keeping in touch over Facebook with the people you knew so well over a period of 2weeks have dwindled and fizzled as life overshadows our desire to keep this connection alive.
I must remember not to forget the joy of knowing and living with such inspiring individuals. And whilst this time was only brief, let life's demands not tarnish these memories, and remember that we all came together at a moment in time, and formed unfamiliar relationships in places we never knew existed.
And these are all things to be cherished.
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