"back to life, back to reality"

i am now home.

the "tour" has ended.

i thought that it would be much harder to come home, much harder to get back to real life and reality. while i was traveling, i'd think about it sometimes and feel trapped at the thought of being home. but now that i am here, everything is fine... even getting here was fine. it is all very surprising. in a good way, of course. but perhaps in a week from now, i will get anxious and want to get moving again. after all, i haven't stayed in the same place, in the same bed, in the same anything, for longer than a week for the past 7.5 months.

i am not sure how to reflect on these past months. it all seems surreal, really. time went by so fast. it's hard now to wrap my head around all that i have done and seen. i have been working on my pictures since my return and i just can't believe that *i* did all of that. went to all these places. and loved it all, the bad and the good. loved it.

so, until i can think of something clever to say to conclude my trip, here is a tally of random numbers, just for the heck of it.

2 continents.
11 countries.
12 currencies.
9 languages.
12 flights.
18 train rides.
33 long distance bus rides.
24 ferry / boat transports.
1 ride in an hired car.
1 rental van.
6 different subway systems.
16,525 (yes, that's right) pictures.

but here is truly how i feel... dedicated to all of those who have tasted the fruit.

My men went on and presently met the Lotus-Eaters nor did these Lotus-Eaters have any thought of destroying our companions, but they only gave them lotus to taste of. But any of them who ate the honey-sweet fruit of lotus was unwilling to take any message back, or to go away, but they wanted to stay there with the lotus eating people, feeding on lotus, and forget their way home.
- The Odyssey