the end

i am writing this last post while i am waiting at singapore airport for my flight back home.

it is pretty hard to describe what i am feeling right now. of course i am looking forward to coming back home and seeing everyone again, having my own apartment, ... but it seems kind of unreal. for me my trip just started and all of a sudden it is over again? it seems just like yesterday that i packed my bags and started this journey to see all these new places and to also get a new perspective on life and my future. so much has happend in those 5 months that it will take some time to process everything and what it means to me. although i don't want to travel anymore, going back home doesn't feel right either. because of this and a couple of other reasons i am sad to go back home. mostly i am able to think about the things that await me back home, but then i hear a certain song or see/read something and then i just wish i could go back in time. i am also a little bit scared. a new chapter of my life is about to start and i have yet to figure out what it will be... coldplay says it perfectly:

Nobody said it was easy - it's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy - no one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, take me back to the start

my experiences over the last months made me realize that it is important to really live the moment and not think/worry about the future. i am sitting in the lounge surrounded by business men whose world couldn't be further apart from me right now. although i am soon gonna join this treadmill again, it will be with a different mindset. travelling truly changes a person and things that used to be important just aren't any more. i now rather live a life that expresses who i am than try to fulfill the expectations of society and please everybody. i guess some people might say that is selfish, but i don't care anymore what people think about me. life is too short and i now truly understand that. i hope i'll be able to keep all this in mind and not get sucked in my "old" life and habits again.

now a few stats about my trip:

• 5 months
• 9 different countries
• 37.500 miles flown (60.338 km)
• 4.021 miles travelled in a bus (6.470 km)
• countless hours waiting at airports
• more than 120 new friends on facebook

not to mention all the impressions and amazing experiences i had, like learning to surf (still a lot to be improved), bungee jumping, sky diving, new years in sydney, halong bay, hiking the great wall, chilling on fijian beaches, ... most importantly the people that accompanied me along the way and made the trip so amazing. i was able to learn something from each one of you, and i am really grateful for that.

things i am looking forward to back home:

• my own apartment
• my own bed
• my family & friends
• not to have to lock my stuff away
• not living out of a suitcase
• good bread, bread at all
• no more rice or instant noodles
• cooking and baking

things i am not looking forward to:

• being by myself again - not having people around me constantly
• the cold
• having to dress "properly" again
• having a routine again

since i've never been good at goodbyes, this trip has taken it's toll on me. i had the pleasure of meeting so many great people, but usually was only able to spend a very short amount of time with them. of course there are a few very special ones, from whom it was especially hard to say goodbye (you know who you are). although, in my experience, you mostly don't stay in touch, i hope this will not be true for certain people. hopefully i'll see at least some of you again. you definitely are always welcome in vienna (no matter how much time passes)!!

so i guess this is it and i'd like to close with a quote from dr. seuss:

don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened!