Encountering myself: It's been far too long

I'm writing this sitting at my dining table in Adelaide with a cup of tea, enjoying the sun pouring in the window (but with the heater on, because, yes, it is winter!). In my last post I finished up writing about my trip to India, which was actually in May 2009. It's been an entire year, a lot has happened and I reached my final destination 10 weeks ago. My two years, two months and four days of travel is up. Weird feeling, not thinking about the next trip, not sharing a flat, not saving money for anything in particular, not even having to buy roll-on deoderant in case I jump on a plane in the next couple of months (these are the things travellers think about haha, and I will continue to do so anyway for environmental reasons). At the start of the trip I didn't think I would last being away for a whole year, let alone two, but I sure am glad that I did because around the time I was feeling the most home-sick is when I turned up in Edinburgh and met Rory. You never know what's around the corner hey?

Since I last wrote I stopped working at Kilimanjaro and started up at the City of Edinburgh Council where I met more fantastic people and enjoyed having my weekends free; the Fringe Festival came and went and I was lucky enough to see Rhys Darby and Adam Hills; I caught the Military Tattoo with the gals; travelled to Portugal for a week with the lovely Rory where we had a blast with the sunshine and sangria; mum came and visited for a couple of weeks over Christmas and New Years and we visited Manchester together, and then went to Dublin for NYE with Rory and caught up with my aunty and uncle, Gabrielle and Nick, in the winteriest winter you could imagine; I had one of my best birthdays ever with a flat cocktail party, and definitely my best Valentine's Day with an amazing home-cooked meal by Rory; and spent a night at the amazing Channings Hotel, again obviously with Rory! In between all the events and special times, there were also many nights out with good mates, great nights in with spag bol and a dvd, fantastic films, new music, exploring exciting foods like Malaysian feasts and Polish sausage, and seeing the ballet Swan Lake. Edinburgh, you've done me proud! Could not have hoped for a better 18 months.

To finish up the expedition, more travel and good times were required so Paul and I headed to Tanzania and Malawi for a month, and then I met up with my dad for a trip through Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore on my way home. So keep reading!

Posted from Adelaide