Homeward Bound

This post is mostly for Ashley, who asked to have my last blog post titled after the Simon and Garfunkel classic. I'm definately more nervous about the flights home than I was about the flights to Taiwan. I fly domestically alone all the time, but customs and switching planes in Japan and all of that are starting to make me a little nervous. By the time this blog posts, I'll be well on my way to Memphis by way of Detroit/Japan/Taiwan. See all of you on the other side!

One foot out the door, but my other keeps askin' for more.

This isn't quite a goodbye post just yet, since I still have 13 hours before I hop into my car to the airport. I'm almost all packed (just some random toiletry stuff and carry on left to pack), I've done all my last minute shopping and saying goodbye. So, how will I spend my last night in the place where I've lived for the past two months?

For the most part, I'm going to do the things I've been doing. I'll go for delicious san bei ji (three cups chicken), eat some green tea ice cream and probably try to buy a wallet (my old one might not even make the trip home it's so worn out!). Then I'll come back, go for a last run (walk...run...jog...), and try to read a little more of my book. I'm hoping to get into bed fairly early because the car comes at 6:00 am to wisk me away.

I didn't really use this blog for reflection much, and I'm probably not going to start doing that now. There are a few reasons for that, primarily because I think reading my rambling reflections on my experience might be kind of boring for you. That last bit is kind of a lie. It's mostly because I think I'd find it boring to type all that up.

I kept a series of journals while I was here, and that's probably the one thing I'd pass on to someone else making a long term trip abroad: bring a journal and use it all the time. Take it with you everywhere. Even if you never read it again, there's something very comforting about being able to take out a pen and paper and write down what's going on. Also, you'll look REALLY brooding and mysterious sitting outside of a restaurant, fiercely writing down observations. No one needs to know you're only writing down how nervous you are about trying to order in Chinese....No one.

I'm going to let Mr. Steinbeck do some reflecting for me. Again, this is mostly because I find John Steinbeck far more interesting than I find myself. But it's also because this quote, like lots of his writing, is just so damn true.

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us. - from Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

I'm not going to waste any of your time or my time unpacking and analyzing that quote. But it took me two months in Taiwan, 6 books, countless miles on trains and ferries, a 5 week internship, a hundred pounds of white rice and one rambling blog to start to let the trip take me instead.