The 2 Inevitable Questions I Will Struggle to Answer

I am looking forward to coming home. My mom and I have had a countdown going for awhile now. Not because I am not enjoying myself but because there is just something so comforting about “coming home”. And on a trip where you are constantly pushed outside your comfort zone, cozying up on a couch with my family/friends and drinking tea sounds like heaven.

I will miss many things about travelling too, which I hope will be my next entry… So right now I wanna talk about going home and two questions I am certain to be asked and why I probably won’t ever be able to provide an accurate and/or satisfying answer.

Question 1: How was your trip?

To preface, I know this is a totally normal question to ask… And the good intentions are well received. The hard thing about this question is that how the heck do I sum up 3 months of experiences (great, good, bad, ugly…) into a succinct answer? Traveling for this long brings out just about every emotion you have. Explaining it all is just not possible.

Everyone wants to hear that this was the best 90 days of my life. Certainly there were days and experiences that top my list, like hiking Machu Picchu, my week with PeruHop, the monkeys, salt flats, Patagonian boat trip and my visit at Izcayluma. But some parts of traveling are, well, boring. Like night busses and eating meals alone, or visiting your 10th million “Plaza de Armas”. Or eating at McDonalds because you can’t stand the thought of eating another dish of “lomo saltado”. And some parts of travelling are awful, like when a great professor of mine from university passed away suddenly and I had to grieve alone and far from home.

I will always answer this question with a “great” or “awesome” – because it’s true. I have loved my trip and I’m so proud that I did it. I will be honest and tell you it was full of incredible people, experiences and places. But I will also be honouring, even if not out loud, the just as important boring or tougher moments too.

Question 2: What was your favourite part?

Gah! Please tell me you can relate to this??? How do I choose between this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

Okay- you get my point, right? It’s like asking a mother which child she loves best. Each is lovable and appreciated for different reasons!

I will never be able to answer this in any way other than “it’s impossible to choose”. What an unsatisfying answer for the person who asked! I will happily tell you about my best meal (anything from Cafe Morena in Cuzco) or favourite hostel (Izhcayluma, no contest) but my very favourite part??? No way.

But, I guess in the end… I am looking forward to going home. To sitting and chatting with family and friends over tea about anything…. Even these hard questions. Maybe I will eventually figure it out…

🙂