goodbye, europeland!

last i wrote, willy and i were in budapest, faded outpost of the late great austro-hungarian empire. between then and now, i have undertaken two full days of train rides and am entering my eighth hour in the arrivals and departures lounge at london's gatwick airport. ah, the glamorous life of travel.

this time tomorrow i will be in the homeland and in about 30 hours i will be on the screened-in porch, relaxing with the fam. its a strange feeling to be headed home--a great feeling, don't me wrong, but odd nonetheless--but it is stranger still to be alone and traveling without anyone else. willy and i said our goodbyes last night in the alexanderplatz ubahnhof in berlin, and for the first time in five weeks (since cabo finisterre), i am alone.

to be honest, i'm not sure i like it. this from a girl who LOVES her alone time--relishes it, i think would be a better description. but traveling with anna, abbey, aya, and willy has been, with only a few minor exceptions, absolutely fantastic. when you spend 24 hours a day for weeks on end with someone, you start to anticipate their thoughts, their feelings, what they want to eat...you start to be able to give them a certain look that will send them into instant giggles. you start to talk a little bit like them, walk a little bit like them, and you watch them do the same. i had my doubts about traveling with every single one of the people who i spent my summer with: would we fight? would they turn out to be too spontaneous or too stuck to their itinerary? would we be able to have a conversation after day three? would i even leave europe as their friend???

in every case, the opposite has occurred. as much as i hate to say goodbye to europe, saying goodbye to willy in the ubahnhof was so much harder because it meant the end of this incredible journey that i took with such amazing people. i did not cry, but i felt a hollowness that this wild and wonderful adventure in friendship had come to the end.

all those who made it possible--my family and friends at home, our fellow pilgrims in spain, our hosts in lisbon, barcelona, prague, and bregenz and the delightful people they introduced us to, our fellow travellers and roommates in hostels from dublin to budapest, and most of all to anna, aya, abbey, and willy, who have been beyond excellent travel buddies--deserve my thanks. you have given me a summer filled with laughter, amazement, beauty, heart to hearts, and a kind of complete happiness i have never experienced and a kind of love i can only hope to give back.

america, here i come!