The big post-travels hangover

Coming back home was strange. I don’t think I realise what was about to happen and that our travels were coming to an end that day when we had our official last stop of our almost two year long journey around the world in Iceland.

 

Iceland was cool in every way possible. Even though it was late Juny the weather felt like early spring. We had come from a very hot summer-y Chicago, before that South and Central America and before that a very humid summer in Auckland so we were definately not used to the nothern cold. But I must say that it was pretty nice to get cooled down a bit.

We had a stopover for about nine hours and our original plan was to go to the famous Blue Pools whihc is only a short bus journey away from the aiport. Little did we know that these Blue pools gets sold out pretty quickly so we weren’t able to go.

But after all, we did end up having a really great time exploring Reykjavik (this was not a very big mission though, is the smallest capital I hav ever been to ) 

The views from the bus from the airport to the town were amazing! The nature was unreal. For more glimpses of the magical nature and the beauty of the area, we went up to this church tower, standing tall and proud in the middle of Reykjavik.

 After some strolling around we went to warm up at Vinyl, Iceland’s only vegan cafe! It was so lovely in every way. Great staff with a great menu, but very expensive, not very surprising since realising that Iceland is very expensive.

Due to the early hours we were there it was perfect that they had a combo breakfast with coffee, juice, sourdough bread and loads of different spreads to choose between.

Oh – this was the day that England lost the football towards Iceland so on our flight to Sweden there were heaps of happy Icelandic people and a very embarressad Guy (Just a few days earlier Britain had had the referendum were the poeple decided to leave the EU as well – not a good day to be a Brit!)

Anyway, when we were boarding the plane leaving Iceland it started to hit me. I’m going home. I’m gonna be able to speak without having to think twice if i’m saying it correctly or not, I’m gonna be able to order coffee in Swedish and not going to have to use extreme body language to try to get people to understand what I'm trying to ask, I’m going to see my friends again, see my family, I’m going to be be in the middle of a Swedish summer and most importantly – I'm starting of my homecoming in my beloved Malmö with all it’s great vegan food (!!!)

This was probably the first level of the after-travelling come down. You actually feel super excited to finally come home. Everything you missed for ages is finally going to be there when you wake up every morning. You're gonna sleep in the same bed for more than just a few nights, not live out of a bag or having to wake up every morning to repack that backpack that hurt your shoulders so much that you can't stop dreaming of getting a massage. Only the thought of getting a little break from that was incredible. 

During my travels, I don’t think I ever allowed myself to think about what I was going to do when I got back home. It was too far away to event think about and it felt too overwhelming. Sure, I had some thoughts about what could happen and had some ideas of maybe what I could imagine to do, but that moment when we landed in Copenhagen airport I had absolutely no clue where I was going to be six months from now. Hell, I didn’t even know where I would be, or what I would do, in a couple of weeks. I didn’t know anything and it didn’t freak me out that much until a few days after the homecoming.

That moment when I realised - I’m home. Travels are over. 

Okay. That sounds really dramatic. But to be honest, in my head it felt really dramatic. Deep inside of me I did know that this wouldn't be the last time I went to go on a long trip or an adventure. That’s something I’m going to make sure of. But it was almost as if I had left to go on my travels two years ago as a uni gradudate and suddenly come back to a life where I was suddenly an adult and had to have all these responsibilities. That University  life is behind me. I almost couldn't believe it, even though I've known it for a long time.

It was time to get a job, because I was broke. I needed somewhere to live that wasn't my old room in my parents house. Get that cash back into my very empty account. Cut my hair. Remove all old bracelets and anklets that’s been on me 24/7 for years (I know it sounds gross, but I did actually have one anklet on for 2, 5 years that someone gave me when I lived on Zanzibar, without every removing it). Time to spend all of my waking hours sat infront of a comupter to look for work, apply for jobs that I won’t ever even hear back from. I knew I didn't really need a dramatical change like this, but it felt necessary to me in order to move on into my new life that I, in some ways, also felt eager to start living. 

There were those days after arriving home and I sat alone in my parents house and everything just felt hopeless. Travelling and all the experiences from that time already felt so far away after just a week back home. It almost felt like a big dream that I had just woken up from and I had no idea what to do with all of those amazing memories. 

Thankfully I have a lot of caring friends in Sweden, these are the people that I will always love to pieces no matter what and that I will always treasure even though I am far away from the most of the times. This was truly the best bit about coming home. To be close to all these people that I love again. There is no better feeling in the world than seeing someone that means the world to you for the first time in ages and I got to experience it so many times this summer.

I feel like the luckiest person on Earth to have all these wonderful people. Depsite all this excitement about finally being home again it was really hard. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so lost in my life. This post university combined with post-travelling stage of life is not easy at all. At the same time, I wouldn't of changed my travelling experiences for the world. The past two years have been the best time of my life, and I mean it. 

As you may I have noticed already - this summer is what I like to call the summer when I felt schizophrenic. One minute I just wanted to go back out in the world (even though I was broke), the next I felt excited to start to work again. I applied for so many different jobs. I mean SO different. Everyting from student veterinary nurse positions in Devon to campaign jobs in different countries in Europe and office jobs in London. I just thought – when someone offers me an interview that is where I’ll go.

This is how I ended up living in London all of a sudden.

I got a couple of interviews in early August and decided to pack all my shit again and leave Sweden after what felt like a minute there. I was so determined to try to start up a life somewhere and it did feel kind of exiciting to not live out of a bag again, but to still be abroad.

I think that I have been really lucky with how easy the move to London have been for me. I am very grateful for having friends in London who kindly enough offered a place to stay and who gave us all necessery advise and support we needed as totally newbies in the big city. Friends who were also there for us when we just had to go out to the pub for a few pints to calm down after having interviews that went shitty. (Tony and Lisi - Thank you.)

After a few weeks of commuting back and forth to and from London between Devon and Sweden again, and after receiving the good news about a job offer, everything fell into place when I was lucky to very quickly find my new home thanks to spareroom.co.uk, living with three amazing new friends. (Look at me - I'm actually New Girl! Definitely living the dream)

Despite missing travelling every day I feel very happy about where I am right now. I still have no clue what I want out of life, I change my mind and my future plans almost every day, but who the hell knows that anyway?