I sat in the airport awaiting my first flight. I couldn’t watch the sunset for too long that night. It was going to make me cry that it was my last sunset in Australia for a while… It was very very hard to walk away… I found myself in the state of limbo airports produce… Sad to be leaving but not yet quite enjoying the hopefully happy reunion on the other side… I sat and people watched. Some off on adventures, backpack in hand, others returning home; staff going about their day… Lots of different people; many stories… Making you think of your own journey and of the stories you can tell…

It was a long, long journey back. An opportunity for sure to appreciate the world’s size and how far away Australia really is from Scotland… Darwin to Perth (a cool 9 degrees at 9am); Perth to Abu Dhabi, then having a bit of faith, onto Brussels for a short stop over in Belgium. Seeing the sights of Gent, drinking some very tasty Belgian beer (Mystic was my favourite) and eating mussels and chips, it was nice to explore a new place and catch up with certain Belgians… After Australia, it seemed very cheap!! Hard to know what is relative though… Also what is expensive for that particular country… The weirdest thing about my time in Belgium? Long summer nights…! Used to Australian winter and darkness by 6pm, it totally confused me as to what time of day it was!

The next leg onto Edinburgh, via Heathrow, Europe showed itself to not be quite as wifi accessible as Australia. Obtaining a nice tour of Heathrow before embarking the plane (note to self: do try and avoid Heathrow if feasibly possible), momentarily excited it might be a Scottish crew taking me home, it was the same English crew from the preceeding journey… Ah well. Offered ‘chips, nuts or biscuits’ and some terrible coffee, they were not as friendly as the Etihad staff preceding them… A short journey, my eyes watching the flight path map in front of me, the tones of sunset surrounding the plane, the view of Edinburgh and the familiarity the view bestowed was a little overcoming for me. You looked beautiful from the sky Edinburgh :-). Met by my parents and a ‘welcome home’ banner and surrounded by the Scottish accent, it was a lovely sound :-). The ‘this is home’ sign didn’t hurt either!

Arriving home, it’s a very strange feeling walking into your old room after such a long time living out a backpack… The sheer amount of possessions overwhelms you. I’d totally forgotten how many shoes I own… Life has existed out of 4 pairs… I appear to have a mini shoe shop… Twenty eight books that I was ‘going to read’ which has been refined to a more workable 9… I had to declutter, reorder and fill a charity bag before I could rest easy in my bed that night… I’m not remotely finished… Amazing how travelling opens your eyes to what is important… It is actually very strange to be back. It feels like there’s a part of me that still needs to get here. A lot in my head but not quite sure how to share it… I’m hoping some old friends can help me out :-).