Entry #25, July 1, 2023, HOME

 

We landed at the Tri-Cities, TN airport (home) at 10:45am on June 2, 2023—almost to the minute of when we took off a year earlier. I had planned to be away for a year, and that’s exactly what we did. We did it! It happened! We planned, we executed, and we got home safe and sound. Wow!

 

If I were called up on stage for an acceptance speech, it would go something like this: “I thank my family and friends for their support, love, and encouragement throughout the year. And I thank God for the many blessings, for keeping us safe, and for opening our eyes to such a lovely world with such diverse and beautiful cultures. 

 

It was a lovely experience, and the memories of course are seared on our brains forever.

 

However, as Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, “There is no place like home.” And there isn’t. Northeast Tennessee is even more beautiful. It’s so green. The people are so friendly. The customs are so familiar. I loved our year of travel, but we lived in constant anticipation of what was next. At home, we are at rest. We are at peace. There is no place like home. 

 

Would I do it again? Yes, of course! The travel bug has pumped through my veins since I was 15 years old and my mom worked for the airlines. The more I travel, the more I want to travel. Many of you understand (Janet B, Renda K, Bob D). But I’m content at home for now. At least for a few weeks. J

 

Now, I encourage each of you to do what we did. Go travel! Step outside your comfort zone. It doesn’t need to be for a year, start with a week to a state (or province or city) you’ve never been to. If you feel more adventurous, get a passport, have it on hand, and when the feeling hits (and a good airline deal is available), book a flight to London or Paris or Rome. Or be more adventurous and don’t go to the mainstream tourist places, like an American girl we met in Morocco, whose first oversees experience was to do a Workaway in Casablanca! Talk about immediate adventure. Kudos to her!

 

My purpose to travel for a year was cultural immersion—to be enriched by meeting people from around the world and doing my best to live like a local. My purpose for writing articles and blogs and sending them to you was to encourage you to travel. If an “almost old” couple like us—who aren’t rich, who aren’t extremely adventurous, who have hurting joints and leaky bladders (well, one of us does)—can do it, I really think you can, too. 

 

To help you out, be on the lookout for my travel book about our adventures and packed with travel tips. I hope to publish it later this summer.

 

And, though this is the last blog about this adventure, I have several more trips coming up later this year. A Mimi on the Move will continue traveling and writing and taking you along with me.

 

Now I leave you with this:

 

“To travel is more than a physical journey…

  It is an emotional, mental, and spiritual awakening.

     The sights are seared in my memory.

     The sounds are forever in my mind.

     And my own essence is now intertwined with whoever else has passed that way.

        A piece of me remains in each country.

        A piece of each country is buried in my soul.”

                                                                        —Pam Johnson 

 

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Hasta Luego!

 

Pam (A Mimi on the Move)