38 days on the road. 33 cities, 11 countries, 2-3 continents (depending on whether you consider Istanbul as part of Asia or Europe), 11 languages, a few thousand photos, and a lot of trains.
For the most part, good food, lovely cities, difficult communication, and good people (excepting the few bastard taxi drivers).
I would have liked to have the time to stay longer in each of these cities -- time to learn the culture, the language, money to explore more of the country, to try more of the foods... Perhaps someday I'll be able to go more into depth in my exploration of these places.
At this moment though, I'm ready to go home. I want to wash my clothes and take a shower without having to fight with my travel-size shampoo bottle to wash my hair. I want to cook my own food while watching a You-tube episode of South Park with Jay. I want to walk around my hall barefoot, to sleep in my own bed, to have free internet access, and to have absolutely no schedule (at least for a few weeks before classes start). I want to speak a language competently enough to be readily understood, and I want to not have to observe everyone around me for fear of committing some egregious social gaffe.
In the long run, however, this trip has only whetted my thirst for travel. My wanderlust remains undiminished. I've found that the people we've encountered are much more friendly and similar to ourselves than some *ahem, Lonely Planet and Rough Guide books* would lead us to believe. Istanbul and Morocco were very comfortable to travel in and I was never once harassed for being a woman or for being non-muslim. Rather, the most friendly and welcoming people have been those we spoke with in those two areas.
I would like to see more of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. I want to explore eastern Europe and Latin America more thoroughly. And sure, a few trips to Scandinavia, Benelux countries, and Oceania wouldn't hurt. First, however, I want to learn more languages. French, Arabic, Cantonese, and Russian seem a good, all-encompassing start -- you can get around in a lot of places with those. When I'll have time or energy to learn these? No one knows. But I'd like to. I have an urge to go explore the less-known areas, to see the cultures firsthand, thereby obtaining a better idea of how the world IS rather than how we're told to think it is. I want to break out of this fabricated western bubble of safety, see for myself what's really there. That process has started, and I doubt my wanderlust will abate until it's complete.
Watch out world, here I come... soon.
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