Homeward Bound: The Final Edition

Following the conclusion of our final trip, we returned home to London for a whirlwind two days of saying our last good-byes to Ruth and Bryan's family, revisiting our favorite local spots (Indian food, Spanish tapas, Gelato Mio, and discount Tuesdays at Coronet Cinema), and doing the final pack and weigh of our 10 check-in bags, plus two carry-on bags each.  With the extensive help of my parents, we somehow managed to get all of our bags through the airport, and arrived absolutely exhausted into California on the evening of Wednesday, May 2, 2012, thus concluding perhaps the most phenomenal experience of both of our lives thus far.  It was a day that I had been dreading for about six months, and it came and went, albeit painfully long, but successfully in the end.  In the spirit of the Homeward Bound blog entries we've written in the past about our friends who've left London, we've decided to write one for ourselves...

A MINI PROFILE: Bryan & Brandina

• Hometown: Northern California, USA
• Time lived in London: 2 1/2 years; October 15, 2009 - May 2, 2012
• Something we've shared: An absolutely incredible 2 1/2 years of working, living, tasting, exploring, traveling, and loving the experience of temporarily settling abroad.  We've shared our London-based home and neighborhoods with a number of visitors, and shared experiences abroad with numerous friends and family.  Nothing quite compares to sharing in the experience of travel with others. 
• Something we've learned: After searching far and wide, in almost every country we visited, for the best kebab and the best scoop of gelato, we are humbled by the fact that in the end, the best is where it all began - the Notting Hill Kebab shop, just steps from the Notting Hill tube station, and London-based Gelato Mio.  And trust me, we've tried dozens and dozens of both on our travels, without complaint of course, all in the name of research.  Oh, and a few other lessons: 

1. Hire a tax guy when you live abroad; it will undoubtedly be worth it.
2. Stop taking cheap buses to the London airports; swallow your pride and take the more expensive trains - it really cuts down on the time and stress of it all.
3. Always be prepared for any type of weather; dress and carry all applicable accessories every day - don't be fooled by the weathermen, or the way it looks outside when you wake up.
4. Live and love fully every minute of sunshine in the public parks. Seriously.
5. Do your best to be a local, no matter where you live or where you travel; tourists only know the surface, locals know the secrets and the magic of their own cities.
6. Learn to love the little things - the best things don't always come in big packages; down-size where you can, and appreciate the wholesomeness of less-is-more (though, be wary of applying this directly to the size of your living space).
7. Research your travel options, your itineraries, the cheapest flights, the best places to stay...but in the wee hours of the night, when it literally starts to hurt, just make a decision and press "submit."  Of all the places we've stayed and the trips we've taken, we can only recall one bad hotel; those odds aren't too shabby I'd say.
8. Explore the big cities, but take the time to hop on a bus and see the countryside; whenever we did this, whether outside Munich, Prague, London, Vienna, or Luxembourg, we loved the diversity of the experience.
9. Don't be afraid to go back to the places you love.  Sure, make a list of places to go and get out there and do it, but don't be ashamed to admit that you really love one or two places the most, and be ok with going back.  Get the touristy things out of the way on the first go around, and relax a bit more the second time.  Trust me, you won't regret it.
10. Take lots and lots of photos.  It's a numbers game, and while it's a lot of work on the editing side of things (oh man, so much work!), the photos will last you forever.
11. Be prepared for people at home to say (quite openly) that you are living a fantasy life.  Just remember that while it does feel like a dream sometimes, you are working exceptionally hard to make it happen, every day, and that yes, you are lucky to be playing hard in a big European backyard.
12. Pass it all down - the stuff, the knowledge, the travel itineraries, the favorite spots, the local secrets - that way, it still lives on, and others can continue to enjoy in your memory.

• Our newly given hand-me-downs: Some of our prized-possession hand-me-downs included our granny grocery cart, my basket of art supplies, our treasured large umbrellas, and a whole host of other things that we just couldn't take home with us.  Luckily, everything went to wonderful homes - there's little bits of B&B in many places still around London. 
• Our next meeting place: We are lucky enough to be welcoming some of our overseas friends and family at our wedding...but beyond that, we are hoping for our next big trip to be Australia and New Zealand...and hopefully a return to London in the not-so-distant future.

Today, May 30th, marks exactly four weeks since we returned home Stateside, and if I'm honest, this is the first time I've sat down to actually reflect on an experience that seems to have ended too quickly, thrust into the background by the myriad of tasks, to-dos, and stressors we've faced since trying to restart our lives in California over the past four weeks.  I can remember running through Hyde Park (the legendary day that I spotted the Queen, March 15th), thinking about what I would say when today, the day devoted to the final blog entry, would inevitably arrive.  And the truth is, I feel slightly lost for words, at least lost for words that can accurately describe this experience we've had; amazing, wonderful, incredible...they just don't seem to do it any justice.  How do you really describe something so life-changing?  What began as a pipe dream in our San Diego apartment in December 2008, became a reality 10 months later, through a lot, and I do mean a lot, of preparation and work.  And in reflection, I believe with all my heart that Bryan and I will never be the same - we will never be the same people we were before we started this adventure, and I am sure (at least I hope!) that in our years ahead, we will say the same thing about other phenomenal experiences that we share.  We are, forever changed.  Interestingly enough, I feel a sense of relief in the fact that certain things about London will never change.  London is this incredible city steeped in tradition - stubborn even at times in its will to preserve its royal history.  But with this stubbornness comes beauty, comes pride in things like red double-decker buses, exquisite afternoon high teas, and beautifully-groomed royal parks.  London will always be a city of steadfast tradition, remarkable sights, and lovely people.

Furthermore, London will always be the place we lived when we got engaged, forever documented by color-popping engagement pictures in some of our favorite spots around the city (like the one above, all snapped by our beautiful friend Ruth).  London will always be the one place (please, let it be the ONLY place!) that we shared the most ridiculously-tiny studio for 11 months, somehow existing together in one small room, at the top of 94 painful stairs.  London will always be the place where we worked at exceptionally challenging and stimulating jobs, the place where we learned to rely on and appreciate public transportation, and to never leave home without an umbrella.  London will always be the place where for 2 1/2 years, we went through the exceptionally tedious process of filing taxes in two countries, in essence, preparing tax returns every six months (like I said - hire a tax guy, it's well worth your while).  London will always be the place from which we were able to launch ourselves into various stunning corners of Europe, marked by an epic cross-country race during the Icelandic volcano eruption, multiple adventures with friends from both sides of the pond, and a collection of photos that will soon find their permanent way into our home, along with roughly 65 gold pins in our Europe map.  London will always be the place that we met some of the most incredible friends and family, people who will forever remind us of the experiences we shared, people who made our experiences what they were.

Most likely, we will eventually stop using our favorite British terms, and eventually stop writing with an "s" instead of "z."  I fear an almost inevitable loss of my slightly British accent and intonation, but will cling on as long as possible.  Somehow though, let there be solace in the fact that London will always be the place of many, many incredible things.  We couldn't be more thankful and appreciative of the many, many people, from home and abroad, who made the past 2 1/2 years not just possible, but absolutely unforgettable.

So, there it is.  The End, or as the British say, Full Stop.  On to starting the next chapter of our lives; one can only hope it is as remarkable, in its own way, as the last.

-B&B

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."  - Orson Welles