Unexpectedly it happens often - the end of our journey

written on 15th/16th February 2024

Some of you will surely be surprised. To be honest, we are too and we need to sort out our feelings first. No need to panic! After Nina had been experiencing physical symptoms for a while that were pushing her to rest, she made the decision to fly home a few days ago. The longing for familiar and tolerable food, clean beds, good sleep, comprehensive medical care, and above all for her loved ones had become so great that she made this decision for herself alone - without telling anyone. The end of our journey, faster than expected. Tears were already flowing when we announced it to Ronja. Ronja fully understood, even though she is still very sad. We have become completely accustomed to each other and we don't feel like we've had enough of each other at all. No one annoys the other, we really harmonize well together.

The farewell: Nina's flight was on Friday at 12:40 p.m. - coordinated in such a way that Ronja could accompany her and Felix (who was supposed to arrive at 6 p.m.) didn't have to change airports again. We postponed our feelings as long as possible. We had already started this post the evening before and realized how affected we are. On the train ride to the airport in the morning, we met a friendly man (Juan) from Canada who had been doing business with cocoa beans in Asia. He gave us the name of one of his customers from Canada, who has a company for chocolate and coffee and offers tours. He said that when we are in Canada, we should contact Dany, he would make it great. Yes, why not?! Hello Canada. When we arrived at the airport, we didn't have any more time to lose. Juan had driven to the airport with a lot of time buffer, but he still led us quickly to the check-in counters because he knew the airport much better than we did. Nina checked her completely stuffed backpack, while Ronja knew what she was about to experience. We stood facing each other and hugged. Tears were streaming like water. It hit us so hard because the last few weeks together were just so incredibly beautiful and touching. We exchanged some final personal words. We will miss each other! Due to the tight time frame, our farewell was limited to a maximum of 7 minutes. Even though it was very difficult for both of us and a large part of us didn't want it, we separated from each other and Nina went to the security check. With everything (passport control, another train ride to the gate), she arrived at the gate at 12:03 p.m., right on time for boarding, and shortly afterwards she was able to board. She spent the next 12 hours on the plane to Frankfurt, surrounded by older people and families, reminiscing and looking forward to being at home. At the same time, Ronja spent her time at the airport. She listened to music, read her book, had a very nice phone conversation with her mom, and even met up with Sarah, whom she had met in Vietnam, for a coffee. Sarah happened to also land in Bangkok on that day. At some point, Ronja got very nervous because Felix's flight was significantly delayed. She looked at every person who came into the large hall, hoping it was finally Felix. 2 hours in vain, ugh. But then finally he arrived. The joy was great!

Nina was joyfully received by her moms and arrived safely at Hotel Mama. She is already feeling better. Ronja and Felix will continue their journey for another 2 weeks and the next destination is Khao Sok National Park. We don't know exactly what will happen with the blog next.

We never thought that the journey would bring us so many ups and downs. And we are absolutely grateful for every moment, every experience we have shared together. Not a day has passed when we fell asleep in the evening and thought that everything was stupid. There was ALWAYS at least one situation that made us incredibly laugh and happy. And if not, then we created such situations. Every day was different and definitely stood on its own. All of this has made us grow tremendously. We have learned from each other, have grown through ourselves and the challenges of the journey, and have gotten to know ourselves better. One reason why it probably worked so well with hardly anyone else is that we gave each feeling space and everything was okay. We simply accepted the other person as they are, with everything that was present. This actually led to a lot of tears for us, but we had many more great moments! And we will remember them for the rest of our lives. We draw on the countless photos and videos we have taken, on the memories, our blog posts, and our mutual stories.

We met a lot of nice people, made great acquaintances and cool traveling companions. They gave us tips and helped us, or we helped them. We got inspiration from world travelers and benefited from their experiences. We had good conversations and gained insights, some of which we shared here in the blog. One of the big ones also was how great it is to enjoy this freedom - to simply live day by day. Without a plan and goal. Of course, this also includes being free to decide when you want to go home. We want to take as much of this spontaneous life with us into our life in Germany as possible. Make our everyday life more flexible and spontaneous. Not plan so much, decide more based on the situation and our gut feeling, what we feel like doing, and maybe who we want to meet.

What we will probably miss/Our most beautiful experiences

• Watching the breathtaking sunsets on Thai islands.
  
• Dancing in the rain on Koh Samui.
• Our longtail boat ride in Bangkok.
• The party night on Ko Phi Phi with a visit to the sea and flying fish.
• The day in Ao Nang in the company of monkeys.
• Hiking to the Monkey Temple in Krabi (when Ronja was directly attacked by a bandit monkey 🐵; when one sat on Nina's lap).
• How we got to Koh Tao thanks to the help of Suahee and many twists of fate.
• Evenings in the beach bar on Koh Tao with the soldiers.
• Bursting into tears together while listening to the song Bittersweet and holding each other.
• Our island tour of Ko Lanta & the delicious quesadillas.
• How we partied in Bangkok just to pass the time until the flight.
• The evening/night of the Full Moon Party (was not the most beautiful but unforgettable).
• How we listened to Rolf Zuckowski songs while being high.
• The drummer from Australia on the beach of Ko Phi Phi.
• Shopping in Hoi An, knowing that Nina will take our things home 2 days later.
• Our taxi ride on Koh Samui with the nice lady who picked us up on the street; how she gave us kisses.
• Our made-up stories about CM and Svetlana.
• Yoga on Long Beach at sunset on Ko Lanta.
• The hike through the rice terraces in Sapa.
• Our boat trip with Tom Cruise through Ha Long Bay.
• The karaoke evening with Englishman in New York and Männer.
• That we got matching tattoos together.

No one can take all of this away from us 👭💭🐒🫶🏼

Ronja & Nina