Back home.

Tat6/30

Had to happen at some point,unfortunately.

For those of you that knew more of our plan know that this post is a bit late, seeing as we were supposed to be home by Friday night. Instead, Ayla and I had the pleasure of spending 6 hours in the Toronto airport, waiting for our flight to arrive in Toronto. Due to "weather". Our flight kept getting delayed and finally, canceled. We were upset and exhausted, to say the least. We finally got out of the airport and to a hotel around 10:30, which is actually 6:39AM in Athens time- meaning we had been up and traveling for 24 hours.

The next morning, slightly more refreshed, we caught a flight to Cleveland at 3:10 by taking a stand-by ticket and camping out by the gate. Finally finding out we had seats on this teeny plane was the best news we had heard in two days, so we almost forgot we didn't actually want to be at home.

I would like to say that the end of this trip was bittersweet, but it was actually mostly bitter for both Ayla and I. Being abroad, backpacking from European city to exotic beach to small town, was a life-changing experience. The world is so big, and there are so many places to explore... It's safe to say that if we hadn't booked a flight home, we would be choosing our next destination.

The culture differs from every place we visited, as I've been trying to document.  Learning the cultural quirks of the people and their lifestyles is like a wake up call- once I started noticing these differences I  couldn't stop. Also, it makes me curious about American culture- why do we do what we do? 

The interviews I did were also a very indicative of health and lifestyle I each country, just from talking to one person! The information I was able to gather definitely gave me a little bit of insight into the medical attention given in each country. 

Also, foreigners were equally as interested in the study I was doing, as I was in asking them questions! 

Not only is there a culture difference in each country or city, but there is a separate traveler culture- backpackers. The nitty, gritty, adventurous people who bounce around from place to place, staying in hostels and hand washing their dirty clothes. It is usually a minimalist culture, where the main focus of the backpacker is to experience and explore, not caring about luxuries of more expensive travel. Most of these backpackers are younger in age, but there are definitely those who are older and still enjoy this type of travel! This was my first experience as a backpacker, and I absolutely loved it. The people that I met were probably the best part- everyone is so excited to be where you are, everyone is looking for adventure, and for swapping travel stories! Insight I've gotten from experienced travelers- it is addicting. Backpack once, spend the rest of your life saving and venturing, 

This trip has truly changed my life and made me more confident in my decision to integrate traveling into my career as a nurse, and just into my life!

 Its safe to say that I've been bitten by the wanderlust bug, and I don't plan on holding back.