We could travel forever

photos by the amazing Randy Newman. You can see his flickr here.

There is always the pull between home and travel. A comfortable place to rest ones head, a pile of books, and good nights sleep vs the wonders of the world, dusty unknown paths, new friends and the promise that adventure is around every corner.

For now, I sit somewhere in the middle of this pull. Before leaving New Zealand I pined for foreign lands. Each year that passed gave way to a heightened feeling of restlessness and frustration. When I arrived in Japan I found that each day was an adventure, terrifying and amazing. I was surprised that despite this wonder, my thoughts often skipped back to my home, my family and friends, and strange things that I never imagined missing like my op shop salt and pepper shaker collection. piles of photo albums and stamp collections and my brothers dog.

In the past year I explored Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and India. After the disaster I went back to New Zealand briefly. This year I have plans for the U.K, Vietnam, Okinawa and South Korea. I now know that I can't go everywhere and see everything. It's more important to enjoy the journey wherever I am, rather than rush through countries, hastily ticking them off my list. My mum once told me to slow down. I can't consume the world. 'You're so young' she told me. 'Savor things.'

So for now I'm going to try and taste each country slowly, and savor new experiences on foreign soil. I'm going to make an effort to make the journey slower. Because you can always go back. Because you don't have to see everything at once.  I'm also going to try and enjoy being at home, in my apartment, lying on the couch listening to music and reading a magazine.

They are equally wonderful. It just took me a while to realise that.