Coming home for the first time after 14 months

Luxembourg is my home country, and I love it, but I haven’t been home for 14 months and traveled all year around Asia and Australia. I had the best time of my life, and it felt absolutely weird to be back home. I only stayed home for 20 days before I left again to travel around South America. It was so odd to get back home, and it made me think a lot.

First things first. When I came home I went striking for more climate action by my government.

Everything is the same

It felt like I never left, ok there are some new buildings (although not many) and some people left or are new, but in general is everything the same. The best example of this is the pub I used to go to. I went back there with my old friends, and I saw the same people, doing the same things and having the same conversations as they did when I left. The bakery is the same and serves the same food (which is good because there are no better croissants around), and the town looks the same. I was only 14 months away, and everything is nearly the same, but I feel that I changed myself so much. And back there, everything came to a stillstand in comparison to my personal change.

In the first days, I even felt like a stranger in my own country. I was so used to Asia and the rules back there that I had trouble to fit in back home. I saw this when I crossed the street like an idiot and just waved the car to slow down – In Asia normal, in Europe, basically forbidden.

No adventure, nothing new

I was so used to new things every day. New people, new cities, new places, new restaurants, and new experiences and that every day. Going to the same pub every night, seeing the same people every day and eating in the same restaurants was really strange at first.

Obviously, I was happy to see my friends and family again, but I missed the adventure already after a few days.

With time everything gets back to normal

The first days were bizarre, and my feelings went crazy. On one side, I was super happy to see everyone, get the right food, and do things I know are good. On the other hand, did I miss the adventure, the chaos the food back there and the new things every day. But after a few days or the first week back home, everything came back to normal. I was used to living in Europe again, the rules and the way of life and I got used to seeing my friends in the same places all the time. But getting used to these things doesn’t mean to feel great and to love the lifestyle – It just means to get used to it.

Conclusion

Even though everything went back to normal, I missed the adventure and that even though I knew I would leave in a few days again for the next big adventure. I wanted to get back on the road and explore more. I guess that’s normal. But something else I realized even stronger than before is that I can’t live in Luxemburg anymore – at least not for now. I knew that before already, and that’s why I’m planning or wishing to move to Bangkok. But my time back home did show me that my feeling wasn’t wrong at all. After seeing the world, experiencing how amazing it is around the globe and how many exciting things waiting around the world, I wouldn’t be happy to live in Luxembourg even if I would travel every year as much as possible. My life has to be an adventure, a continuous travel experience with new things along the way, as much as possible. The challenge will be to combine that with the need for making money, but I’ll find a way.