Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.

Brisbane, Australia

So the adventure comes to an end, as do all things. Drew nailed it when he named the thank yous in his final post; this trip, as with any trip, is absolutely nothing without the people. And the people we met, talked to, taught things to, travelled with, and most importantly learned things from will always remain in our memories, hearts, and stories told around the campfire.

So this, the final post of Wangthai, is an acknowledgment to the people who made our trip what it was, and without whom it could never have been as memorable or as amazing as we were allowed to have.

We're home now, and being home makes us appreciate all the more what we left 3 months ago. As one random traveller asked us, "Why do you leave Australia? It is the best country in the world!" Our answer at the time was a laugh and a continuation of the conversation. But the real answer? We leave Australia so that when we return we can understand and appreciate how lucky we are to live in such an amazing and beautiful country. I've been home for three days, and every day I look up at our amazingly deep blue sky, fluffy white clouds, take a deep breath and just enjoy the view. Australia is an astoundingly stunning country, and only until you leave it behind and see what the rest of the world is like do you understand just how beautiful yet humbling our home can be.

I'm always travelling, and I love being free, but I still call Australia home (to paraphrase the great Peter Allen. Here's to you, you sentimental bugger). And after such a long time searching for a home, I finally found it where it had always been waiting for me; the place you belong, and the place where your heart tells you that you should be.

But to end Wangthai, and say goodbye to one adventure, we must understand that every day is a new adventure. When we arrived home at the airport, we were greeted by a group of close friends, and we went out for lunch at the exact same pub and table as we'd had lunch at 3 months earlier on the day we left. It took me the longest time to consider and contemplate what to cheers our drinks to. How do I encompass what we had experienced, what we had felt, and how we had changed to become better people? How do you put into words an experience that would last you a lifetime?

In the end, it was Drew who helped me realise that no words could explain it, nor were they needed. I looked at him over the top of my Guinness, and he looked back at me. In that one moment when our eyes met, I finally understood. I raised my glass to him in a silent toast, and an eternal thank you.
I had refused to contemplate it before. But in that one moment, I had also finally accepted the fact that our adventure had ended, and that we had a different and better future in front of us because of it.

I decided on my final cheers.

"Here's to the end of one adventure, and the start of a new one."

Let each day and each moment be such an adventure, and let us all take the time out of our lives to enjoy what we've been given. A life, and a home, in the most beautiful of countries in this great wide world.

Here's to Australia, to finding your home and yourself, and most importantly to the friends and family that make our lives complete. Without you, we wouldn't be the people we are today. Wangthai has, and always will be, dedicated to you.