Long time no write… But perhaps it’s time for an update now we’ve been home for a good seven months. (Is it really that long already? Time does pass more rapidly when you’re not on the move. Relativity, innit?)
Well, we’re certainly doing that thing of ‘one year ago today we were…’ – and we have astonishingly clear recollections of each and every day of our trip, going beyond what is mentioned in the blog. A real sense of being there, inside the picture rather than just looking at it. That hasn’t happened for any other extended period of my life that I can think of.
On the downside, we’ve lost our immunity while away and so we’ve been going down with every cold virus around, often getting two or three bugs back to back. There again, we’ve been spending far more time indoors (given the freezing weather) than during our travels, and three of us can pick up things from being at school all day.
Two photographic successes from our 15,000 images: Ellen’s picture of the landscape seen from the train to Machu Picchu got her shortlisted as one of the best five out of over a thousand entrants in a National Geographic Kids competition, and my serendipitous snap of a man carrying salt through the sepia-toned pans at Maras got me into the best fifteen for the Wanderlust photo contest. Don’t know yet if it’ll make the exhibition at the Destinations Show in London this February.
Salt pans at Maras, Peru.
Otherwise, how has our life changed? A lot more walking to and from school, rather than driving (while weather and health permit). No great desire to surround ourselves with clutter – most of our pre-trip possessions remain in the loft, and need sorting/clearing out at some point. And there are so many occasions when items of news from around the world take on an extra resonance; we weren’t that far from the Chilean or the New Zealand miners, for instance. We are also still ‘travelled out’, though, with no burning desire to get away yet (despite the continuing freezing weather), although we miss the long hours of sunshine we had last winter.
‘How do we follow that?’ is still a big question, and one that remains tantalisingly unanswered, for now…
So funny that I hadn’t checked your blog in months, and today I did only to find this post. Funny thing about ending a year that held such a big thing.
All our best in this new year.
Chrislyn, Rory and Nora
I have enjoyed reading your blog – even if you were home before I started reading it!
I feel for you fighting off the germs. My daughter is in kindergarten and her immunity is not yet up to the task. We have been catching everything this school year!
My family is heading out in September on a RTW trip (with Peru, Easter Island and Tahiti on the list). If you are interested in reminiscing we would love to get a few more details to help us with our planning.