For those of you who aren’t familiar with the rules, there’s a time limit for how long an American is allowed to be in Europe as a “visitor” or “tourist”. Without going into the nitty gritty details, I was dangerously close to reaching my “expiration date” and had to make the journey back to the USA.

The past 4-ish months traveling have been so transformative for me. I don’t want to be cliche and list all the ways in which I’ve grown/evolved, or all the lessons learned. Instead what I’ll say is this: I’m not the same person I was before beginning this adventure. In the time I’ve spent getting to know myself I’ve learned so much! And, turns out, I love being on my own. Being “alone” isn’t something I dread or fear anymore. It’s beautiful, reliable, easy… I’m happy by myself and I’ve had an absolutely amazing adventure.

So much so that I could write pages and pages about why I’m not ready to be back to the USA (I’m not) and why I wish I could delay it further…. But instead, I’m going to write about the aspects of “returning” that make my heart flutter with happiness:

• Morning snuggles with my niece Evelyn and my nephew Franklin, quality time with my sister Sara and brother in law.
• Proper American tampons (sorry Europe, I do NOT like your “applicator-less” approach to menstrual cycle products)
• Amazon Prime (seriously!)
• Mall of America

And here’s a list of some of the things I’m going to miss most about living in the Balkan countries all summer:

• Mediterranean food
• Mediterranean weather
• Mediterranean beaches
• Mediterranean “schedule” of life (sleep in until 8:30-9:00am, lunch around 3:00pm, dinner around 9:00pm, stay up until 2:00am
• Listening to street music (and making friends with the musicians)
• “Cheap” wine that tastes like “expensive” wine
• Swimming in the sea
• Street cats and “free” dogs

What’s next for me, you might be wondering? Well that’s the million dollar question, isn’t it. 😉 My current plan is to spend some time in Idaho, Utah and a little Colorado doing some nature hippie adventure stuff this Fall and into early winter. Hoping to sneak in a quick Austin trip and a visit to Minnesota for Thanksgiving… then, come January I intend on heading to Southeast Asia. Thailand, Vietnam and (maybe Bali – we’ll see). My plan is to stay until April/May, and then return back to the USA, visit family and then plan the next big adventure.