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It's been about a month since I landed back in the U.S.A. And I have yet to sit down and try to put my thoughts on paper and relive the amazing 8 weeks that I spent backpacking. But I do know that 8 weeks was not long enough! The desire to travel, to see and experience more, will never leave me. In fact...
Nah, just kidding! For now I am home and coping with repatriation as well as I can. I'm enjoying being surrounded by family and friends and dealing with brief pangs of reminiscing about the last incredible 14 months of my life. People don't really understand how it could possibly be weird to be back home but I'm also not able to explain it so that anybody could possibly understand it. That's just the way it is.
It was a surreal feeling finding myself back in the US of A. I flew into LAX on the morning of May 3rd after traveling by bus from Cambodia back to Bangkok to catch a flight to China to pick up my things in Guangzhou where I spent one day before departing for the US with a 10 hour connection in Seoul before leaving for the longest leg of the return journey across the Pacific. In Los Angeles, I was met with people that looked like me, talked like me, and honestly were quite a bit bigger than me. A pretty painless re-entry to my home country, a crazy expensive chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr., and about 1 hour of sitting and thinking about how I was just one more flight away from home and I boarded for OKC. I pride myself on being able to catch some Zzzs pretty much anywhere but for whatever reason, on my 11 hour flight from Seoul to LA sleep wasn't happening for me. Fortunately, however, I was finally able to shut my eyes and turn my mind off for the 3 hours from LA to home, where after 14 months abroad I was met with hugs and smiles from my mom, dad, meme, and memaw.
After collecting what I brought home of my life in China in all of my well worn luggage (one bag actually busted which means new luggage for the next trip!) we headed for food at my favorite Mexican spot - Ted's Cafe! A few hours later I found myself at home in my bed with my cat that was probably thinking 'that was the longest trip to the store ever.'
The question now is what's next?! And to that I don't have the answer yet...
In the meantime, I'm going to try and share some of my adventures from what my friends in China declared the Tour de Audrey...first stop - Shanghai!
Nah, just kidding! For now I am home and coping with repatriation as well as I can. I'm enjoying being surrounded by family and friends and dealing with brief pangs of reminiscing about the last incredible 14 months of my life. People don't really understand how it could possibly be weird to be back home but I'm also not able to explain it so that anybody could possibly understand it. That's just the way it is.
It was a surreal feeling finding myself back in the US of A. I flew into LAX on the morning of May 3rd after traveling by bus from Cambodia back to Bangkok to catch a flight to China to pick up my things in Guangzhou where I spent one day before departing for the US with a 10 hour connection in Seoul before leaving for the longest leg of the return journey across the Pacific. In Los Angeles, I was met with people that looked like me, talked like me, and honestly were quite a bit bigger than me. A pretty painless re-entry to my home country, a crazy expensive chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr., and about 1 hour of sitting and thinking about how I was just one more flight away from home and I boarded for OKC. I pride myself on being able to catch some Zzzs pretty much anywhere but for whatever reason, on my 11 hour flight from Seoul to LA sleep wasn't happening for me. Fortunately, however, I was finally able to shut my eyes and turn my mind off for the 3 hours from LA to home, where after 14 months abroad I was met with hugs and smiles from my mom, dad, meme, and memaw.
After collecting what I brought home of my life in China in all of my well worn luggage (one bag actually busted which means new luggage for the next trip!) we headed for food at my favorite Mexican spot - Ted's Cafe! A few hours later I found myself at home in my bed with my cat that was probably thinking 'that was the longest trip to the store ever.'
The question now is what's next?! And to that I don't have the answer yet...
In the meantime, I'm going to try and share some of my adventures from what my friends in China declared the Tour de Audrey...first stop - Shanghai!
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