It's been exactly 3 weeks now since I made it back home! I didn' take any time to be sad or melancholic on the way back, because I was absolutely exhausted and slept during the entire trip...

Eventhough I was mentally prepared to it, landing back in Belgium was a bit of a shock. Cold and rainy weather, unfriendly employees at the airport and as an absolute climax: the bicycle was not on the plane!! Eventhough I wouldn't be able to cash 10 dollars for this old bike, the emotional value is enormous!! Luckily it got delivered at home that same night...

Offcourse the part where I got to meet the family again was great! My parents were waiting for me, they were flanked by both my sisters who had brought almost there entire families... I didn't shed any tears, but nevertheless it was a pretty emotional moment for all of us. I was happy to be able to hold them all again, I felt proud that I achieved to realize my big dream and yet sad that it was all over...

At that point two very hectic weeks got started. I got dragged from one place to another to do nothing but fun things. It was great to see all my friends again and to do all the stuff that I couldn't do while travelling. Offcourse everyone wanted to hear all about my great trip and I didn't know where to get started. It was just as great to hear all there stories about everything I had missed while I was on the road.
At first it seemed to me that not too much had changed. But after three weeks I know better... I guess I'm the one that changed most; more than I initially thought... Obviously a few changes occured around here as well. Friends got married or moved houses, my mom is retired, there's some public construction going on, ... Eventhough nothing fundamentally changed in my environment, I feel it's not going to be easy to get back to my reality as it was a year ago. I have seen a lot of beautifull places, had the chance to live some amazing adventures and met a lot of very interesting, friendly and openminded people... But I have also seen a lot of injustice, corruption, extreme poverty and the lovely way people know how to deal with all that shit!!
I have learned a lot. I've had plenty of time to think. I have changed a bit...

Once the blur of the first two crazy weeks was over, it all fell off my shoulders. I got very tired, slept a lot and had to start thinking about getting back to reality...
By now I live through the first moments where I start missing the undescribable athmosphere of my trip. There are too many things to sum up righthere, but it felt so great not having to think about tomorrow or next week. I have tried, but I can't begin to describe the feeling I had when riding through lonely deserts or high mountains all by myself. The big contrast with the equally amazing feeling of arriving in a little village or a big city, running into interesting people and especially being able to avoid the not so interesting people...

I have learned a lot. I've had plenty of time to think. I have changed a bit...
I don't want to be the local preacher. I don't want to change the world, my city or the people living in it. But often I have to stop myself from telling people what I really think. Stupidity and ignorance all over, okay; but hell do I go crazy when stupid, ignorant people talk and act as if they just invented the wheel!!
I won't try to force anyone into changing, but I hope I can carry my own bagage, use it in my own life and maybe one day pass it on to the little Vandewallekes...