The End of the Line.

I currently sit at Domestic Ticketing & Check-in lounge at the Vancouver International Airport. I can't believe it's over. I can't believe I have been gone for just over seven months. The last seven months have been an amazing experience.

Boarding the boat to leave Beach Comber Island and watching the island get smaller and smaller was absolutely heart breaking. It was that moment that really signaled the finality of my adventure. It marked the very beginning of the voyage back to Victoria.

In the last seven months I have changed drastically. I now have a much different outlook on the world as a whole even though I only visited two countries on my trip. Constantly being surrounded by people of all different backgrounds allows you to gain a unique perspective of how diverse the world really is yet at the same time how many similarities we all share. The social aspect of traveling has been the greatest facet of the trip for me. I have met an amazing collection of people on this trip from all over the world. Some people I spoke to for hours and never even exchanged names. Others I talk to every few days on Facebook and I will likely go visit in the future. Initially meeting all these awesome people took it's toll on me. The constant cycle of becoming really good friends with people and then having to say good-bye knowing there was a very high chance I would never see them again was very difficult to adjust to. However it eventually became just a necessary evil. You never really fully overcome it but you learn to accept it. I will definitely miss being surrounded by people from all over the world everyday of the week.

Looking back on the last seven months it all seems so surreal. I did so many things I could not even have imagined doing just a year or two ago. I have really broken out of my shell and become a more confident person as a result of my experiences on this trip. I did a lot of things I had wanted to do in Victoria for the longest time but kept making excuses not to do. Sky diving, Bungy Jumping and SCUBA Diving are prime examples of this.

As a result of this trip I am definitely recommending anyone who is even remotely interested in traveling after high school do so. You learn skills and concepts traveling that you will never find in a book or in a classroom. You will meet the most interesting people in the world. You will also likely form some of the best memories of your life.

As I sit here writing this I am already plotting out when and where my next trip will be. I understand now how important seeing other parts of the world are. I also understand the importance or languages. My goal when I am back is to start working on languages with the hope of going to Europe in the next year or two and working on building confidence in other languages. I am now of the belief that multilingualism is one of the most important skills one can attain.

I look forward to taking the next week or so to reflect on my trip and pick out some highlights to compile into a "Trip Highlights" post so be sure to stay tuned for that.