Leaving, Learning, Living.

The journey began with a song.
"I'm Yours" was playing at an overpriced cafe at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and I was gonna walk right past and grab a cheaper bite, but my legs decided to lead the way into Cafe Ritaza and my ears seconded the idea.
In Latvia, after a night in the transit lounge, I heard the song again as I had my potato pancakes for Breakfast.
In Lisbon, an aunty who I was struggling to communicate with in my non-existent Portuguese [as she did not speak English] started to sing along to the song as it came on the radio while I was leaving her shop....I did buy those ceramic plates, so I guess she was celebrating with song.
And time after time this song was just hanging in the air around me.

I had such significance for my solo journey, especially the lines below...
"I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some"
I really learnt so much about myself, the cultures of these new lands, the languages and about people.
"Well open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and then you're free"
I tried very hard to not constantly compare these places to other places I've lived in or been in, I wanted to see them as they were...holding thier own. And yes, I opened up my plans for this trip and while on the trip I allowed myself to add to or subtract from my plans.
"But I won't hesitate no more, no more, it cannot wait. I'm yours"
Oh the day my journey began, I was so scared and hesitant but Spain and Portugal were calling and no, I could not wait any longer now, could I? I just threw myself headlong into the plan...and for those 10 days, I belonged to the journey.

"So please don't, please don't, please don't, there's no need to complicate. Cos our time is short, and this is, this is, this is our fate."
Leave, Learn and Live. That's all I did, really.
I cannot leave God out of this post. It was so incredible how he watched me every itty bitty step of the way. I made sure I let Him know just how scared I was. My prayer before walking out of my home was more of a statement then a prayer - "Lord you are God of Singapore, Sweden, Spain, Portugal...God of the entire world and universe. There's nowhere I could go that you are not present at. You will be there, I'm sure of it".

And every place I went, God had planted kind people -who spoke English, no less- to help me in so many ways. Directions, loading baggage, holding my backpack for me while I strap it on, delaying a bus by 1/2 an hour when I was 20mins late and thought I had missed it for sure, keeping me safe when I had to go from airport to hostel sometimes at midnight...the list goes on. And I made so many friends in the hostels so I was never lonely...except maybe when I had to while away hours in an airport. I really treasure these friendships and contacts I made from Tel Aviv to St Petersburg. From Romania and The Canary Islands to Chile and Argentina.

I think I've grown a lot in this short time of traveling alone...I can't quite describe it, but it feels like I've hit some new level of adulthood I never knew was there to reach in the first place. After each plane, train or bus and location or hostel, I would tick off what I have completed on my travel plan and I would put the E-ticket/booking confirmation at the back of the envelope I carried them around in and look with anticipation at the document in front which would tell me what to expect next. I kept every ticket, map, brochure, etc...those I feel, are the real souvenirs.

But as fun as it was, I did get a tad bit Lulea-sick and I was excited to come home. When I got off the plane in Stockholm, it still felt a little foreign, but when I walked across the tarmac in Lulea Kallax Airport, and felt the icy, zero degree air on my face I knew that this journey had come to a great close. This morning I woke up to snow -and a big load of laundry- it's good to be home.