Interim

I’ll try to use this post to report on some of the stuff that happened on the two-and-a-half months that I was back in Canada. I returned on September 3. I left again on November 18.

Why did I come back for such a short time? There’s a few reasons. My cousin Marta Rybak (now Shoemaker) was getting married. My friend Susie Ma (now Severence) was getting married. The weddings were only two weeks apart, so it would feasible to go to both. While I was back, I learned about two more weddings, Mike Henhoeffer and Naina, and went to those, too! Yeah, crazy... four weddings in two months. I guess I’ve reached that age where everyone else is getting married. Next year is more of the same... But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, of course.

I didn’t want to miss Thanksgiving. I missed Easter, and I was going to miss Christmas. I had to make sure I went to Thanksgiving, at least. I missed my family a lot and it was really good to see all them again.

I also missed my friends a lot, too, and it was great to see them again. I made a point to see as many of them as I could while I was back. I saw lots of people from Toronto, Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock and Ottawa. It was good to reconnect with so many people again. I even made some new friends, too.

I was very fortunate and thankful that I was able to return to my old workplace in Toronto, NeoEdge, and work for five weeks. My coworkers there are brilliant and so very fun. While I was gone, some people had left. Some people came back. Some people moved. Some people changed positions. It was good to catch up with the changes (money is nice, too).

I also really needed a break from traveling for a while. I was definitely feeling travel fatigue. Too much moving around. Too much packing. Too much unpacking. Too many friends made for a short time, only to say goodbye over and over. It was a cycle that I needed a break from. It’s strange to say that going back home to work was a break from traveling, but it really seemed that way to me.

I think, on my next trip, I will try to take go at a slower pace. I’ll also be gone less time (it should only be four and half months, not seven). I have every intent of coming back to Canada for Easter. Mostly, I just want to skip the winter while I still have the chance.

The day I left Canada was the first day of permanent snow. Sure, there had been a few days where scattered flakes drifted from the skies in little flurries, but the snow never lingered long enough to matter. On November 18, though, as I was flying out of Toronto, there was snow all over the place. It makes me feel like, unlike last time, I definitely beat winter.

In short, my break from travel was very very appreciated. I saw so many people. So many great things happened. Thank you for reminding me of the great and amazing things I have in Canada. I love you all and will see you in a few months.

This is hardly a goodbye, of course. I’ll continue updating this blog while I’m away, and I’ll be back before you know it (four months really isn’t a very long time...).

For those of you that don’t know yet, here are my approximate plans:

November: 2 weeks in Fiji
December: in Australia (including Christmas and New Years)
January to the middle of March: New Zealand
Second Half of March: Cook Islands, if possible. Maybe somewhere else. Still not really decided.
April: BACK IN CANADA! Yay Easter!
May: Ireland for a bit to see Patrick and Toni get married. This should be FANTASTIC and I am extremely looking forward to it, for lots of reasons.
June: BACK IN CANADA again. Depending on how things go, this may be the end of my long-term travels. It’s still many months away, so let’s wait and see, eh?

As always, people are free (and encouraged) to send me emails and text messages. I’ll probably reply to text messages more rapidly than emails, for obvious reasons. Unlike the last trip, I will always try and have a local mobile phone number (unless I’m stuck somewhere without reception). My current phone number should usually be posted on Facebook. Maybe I’ll start posting it on here, too.

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Rob Szumlakowski
The Beachouse, Viti Levu, Fiji