Europe 2014 - Home

So on the evening of July 23rd, we arrived back in England.
England felt a lot like home to us at this point.
It was nice to hear the English language again!
We arrived at St. Pancras via the Eurostar.
It was one of the most beautiful stations I had seen on our entire trip.
Sadly, in the rush of departing our train and moving to find the Underground, I didn't take the time to take a picture...but its worth a Google!

If you remember, we had made different arrangements for our last night in London.
I will tell you that I felt real joy in knowing that we weren't heading back to Victor's house!
I made a reservation at The Thistle near Heathrow and knew that once we arrived and settled in, we would get a good nights sleep before our long flight home.

And so, after another 9 hours on a plane, we arrived back in Seattle on 24 July to a group of 3 people that I was so happy to see!
I cried!

When we got home, we were greeted with some sweet cupcakes...that we ate!

I can't even remember the next few days.
It felt good to be home, but it felt strange too.
I had just had this huge experience that only Hannah and I understood.
I wanted to be home, but in a strange way, I wanted to go back.

Then, very shortly, I was back in the routine of home and was grateful for all that came with my life.
Of course I was so thankful to be back with Donald, Ivan and Jenelle!!
But I loved even the little things like cooking in my kitchen, using my washer and dryer, going to the store without having to figure out what time, what train and what language to use!
These were small, but thrilling things!

Now that 6 months has past, lots of little memories about the trip pass through my mind.
Moments that were insignificant at the time come back and make up the patchwork of the entire experience.
Hannah and I have said on several occasions to each other that we would do it all over again.
When we first came home, Hannah would ask me, "Would you do everything on our trip again for $1000?"
My answer was "No!  Especially not staying at Victor's!"
Then, "What about for $10,000...then $100,000?"
Etc.

Now, I think that we would both agree that we'd go back and do it all the same for absolutely nothing!
Sometimes we look at pictures and say with awe, "We were THERE!"
Like so many things in life, I look back and wonder if I did it right...
Did I appreciate it enough?
Did I see enough?
Would I do anything different if I could do it again?

What I do know is that Hannah and I were gifted with the greatest gift from Donald and I am forever grateful.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page."

-Augustine of Hippo