the end of a road

so this is it. one final blog ( my seventy-second by the way) and i will be on my way home again to settle down and be in one place again, at least for a week or so until i get restless and must move on! i am feeling a bit rattled by the swiftly approaching finale of my adventures (well these migratory adventures at least, as i am sure there will be more adventures in the future) and have therefor been looking for ways to settle myself, no need to be too stressed on tomorrows very very long journey home, and have been doing some counting to calm myself down and put this whole thing into perspective. so here are some numbers that i have come up with:

postcards i have sent-107 (my mother alone recieved 28)

time zones i've been in (long term not just passing over)-6

airports i've been in-12

flights i've been on-11

hostels i've stayed in-19

currencies i've used-6

farms i've worked on-5

books i have read-55

busses-17

trains-14

ferries-7

countries i've been to (again only ones i've stayed in)-11

cities i've visited-36

plug adaptors i've used-4

i have met a countless number of people, some of whom i will never speak to or see again, despite being friends on facebook. however there are a good number that i know i will keep in contact with and several who i will not be suprised to have turn up to visit when they are in my neck of the woods and a few who i will be going to visit myself. i've planted trees, walked on a volcano and jumped out of a plane as well as doing a rather thorough survey of plane/train/bus/ferry services. i feel that were i to be suddenly set down in some strange place, mapless and without plan, i could find my way, meet some people and discover some fun things to do. things that used to scare me now don't bother me at all and i feel i've accomplished rather a lot over the course of six months, including the fact that i will be returning home not broke having managed to stay on budget which is sort of a miricle in this type of long term travel or so i have gathered from my fellows.

anyway, i really don't have much to say and all of that counting was in a way some form of procrastination as i have not packed one bit and am more than a little bit terrified by the pile of things which must be coerced back into the raggedy confines of my dreaded backpack (interestingly, only two items of cloathing have survived from the original pack-load. everything else has been worn out, discarded, bartered, or replaced), but over all i think that the the counting was a way to reconcile my memories with facts, draw it all together into something at least resembling a cohesive journey. to justify the money that i have spent, and the time that i have invested. and most of all to sooth my worry, not about what has already occured but what will. the unknown. a return to 'normal' (whatever that is) and how i will cope with permenence and one place and a job? alarming prospects all. but never mind that, one day at a time and all that. i will get there when i get there and in the meantime, i have so very much enjoyed this migration, here at the close of my one-hundred-and-eightyeth day of summer (with few exceptions) and looking forward to more and whatever else comes with that and after that. i am always amazed and pleased that anyone has been reading this, i hope that it has provided some amusement of some sort and not been too atrocious in the spelling department, and (until the next bout of travel seizes me) not goodbye, but see you later.