Square One

Well then here we are back where it all started. Sitting with my laptop in my parents’ spare bedroom writing a blog entry for no apparent reason. Far From Home has come full circle, and it only took two and a half years. The European adventure has come to an end, and this seems as good a time as any to look back at some of the moments that made the last nine months so unforgettable, and some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.

Scenic highlights

Fez Medina
Alhambra
The Aar River
The lights of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Gastronomic highlights

Tapas in general, especially in Granada.
Francesina in Portugal
Traditional Moroccan couscous.
Giant slices of pizza for €1.50 in Rome

Cross-linguistic highlights

Watching Star Trek with Spanish Subtitles. “Para ir a donde ninguno haya ido audazmente” just didn’t have the same ring to it.
Being mistaken for a native Spanish speaker at a restaurant while attempting to order in Italian.
Trying unsuccessfully to convince Spanish children that there is no such sport as ‘footing’ (apparently there is in Espanglish, it’s another word for jogging).

Things to take with me next time

A much better camera
A girl. They're generally fairly bothersome to travel with, but standing on top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset on my own while everyone else was busy making out did feel a little silly.
Vegemite

Things I wanted to do but didn’t

Legoland. It’s in Denmark, and was just too far north to get there and back in the time I had.
Celebrate a successful Ashes campaign.
Walk the Camino de Santiago.

Things I did do but shouldn’t have

Left my hat on a train.
Tried to go to England.

So there you have it, or not as the case may be. A European oddysey in handy to read blog form. The next trick is going to be getting myself back home to Darwin.

Far from home




Garry with 2 Rs