Although I’m still in the process of writing over 3 months worth of belated blog posts, I thought it might be good to post a current one about our return to Oz:
It was a strange feeling to be back in Australia when only the day before we were in northern Thailand, trying to process that our time overseas had come to an end. Which reminds me….there was no time to process anything in Bangkok, as we ran 1km to the boarding gate, listening to our names being called over the loud speaker. Funny thing is that I’ve secretly always wanted my name called at an airport (much to Tim’s disgust)….not that I really wanted to miss my plane as a result! Thankfully we made it to the gate just in the nick of time and as I slumped into my seat puffing and laughing at the movie scene that had just played out, Tim landed into his puffing and cursing me for my obsession with getting all our postcards sent before leaving Thailand. Yep, despite already being at the airport four hours before departure, this is what made us late, forcing us to run to board our plane. The most important point….we made it!
So after being away for just over 19 months, we set foot on Aussie soil 3 weeks ago in Sydney. We spent almost 24 hours in transit from Chiang Mai, Thailand and arrived bleary eyed and a little disoriented. At first it seemed like any other random airport, until we heard that distinct accent all around us and saw in big bold letters, the words ‘G’day, welcome home!’ It was a surreal and indescribable feeling that we experienced in that moment…..one that caused me to seriously well up. We were home and there was no going back….not right now at least.
We spent a week in Sydney with good friends and the plan to cope with being back was to check out Sydney and keep the travel bug at bay.....to become a tourist in our own country I guess. Since being away, it had become extremely apparent that we may have seen a lot of the world, but we were yet to experience many of the wonders on our home turf. Once we arrived though, we realised we just needed to stop and rest for a bit. We had jam packed so much into our last week in Thailand, we were exhausted! We couldn't avoid the fact that we were indeed back in Australia, but the thought of trying was slightly appealing. We were both feeling a bit numb and although it was great to see friends, in some ways we wanted to turn around and get back on that plane. Already, we were faced with the questions of 'where to/what next?' and we wanted to run a mile! Of course it is a completely logical inquiry, but all the clarity we could muster was 'we are taking one day at a time'. Life has been so good living with no plan but continuing to remain open to the opportunities that arise. A lot of people might say 'well you can't live like that forever', but maybe it is possible.....without being a complete bum of course! hehe! Have we been so conditioned to have our future worked out and if we haven't there must be something wrong?
After our time in Sydney, we flew to Darwin where we've been catching up with Tim's Dad. We've had a lot of time on our hands....in some ways too much and we've been feeling fidgety to say the least. It's the longest we've stopped anywhere since May last year so I guess that's to be expected. It's given us time though to contemplate what life might be like if we continued living without too much of a plan. If we set clear goals, would we be cutting ourselves off mentally from other possibilities? I read a post from another blog recently titled 'The best goal is no goal' and it really resonated with what Tim and I have been discussing. Click on the link to view the article. We're keen to hear your thoughts....do you think a fulfilling life can be lived without goals? You can add your comments below.
