A brief time travel and the start of the final chapter
On September 5th, I took a flight from Moscow to Korea to visit family. It turned out that the day was my 2nd travel anniversary, which was a pure coincidence. I had thought about taking the time at the airport to record how I feel about having spent two years traveling. But as is often the case, at the end I was only grateful to have made it to the gate only 20 minutes before it closed – there had been a mini-saga figuring out the airport parking.
Coming home is obviously special experience. It is where I was shaped for the most part, and it is where there live my special people. But it also seems to be a time travel. I give a subconscious agreement to interact with the people’s not up-to-date perceptions of you. For one, my mother still tries to make sure that I take the right bus, so that I don’t get lost (in my own country!). And it is fun to be surrounded by small reminders that tell me what I was like before, and how much I’ve changed.
Usually, people get new perspectives when they visit remote places on vacation, but I felt like I got new perspectives about a ‘normal life’, hearing about parents’ expectations and catching up with old friends and see how their lives have been. And it was not always easy to reassure parents around real-world topics such as future plans, and social recognition. I took the returning flight heavy-minded, but by the end of the long flight, I concluded that the best I can do now is to focus on what is presented to me today. In fact, I try to take it as a life-long practice: focusing on the present and appreciate where I am. I try to take life as a process.
Now I start the final leg of my travel. It would last until the end of next spring and I plan to finish it in the Russian Far East. Along the way, I’ll zigzag and visit the Capsian countries, perhaps Greece and Albania, and the Central Asian countries. Many things are not definite at this point, and so there will be a lot of fun.
@ Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow, Russia, September 22, 2019
