Back to reality! - St. Pölten

We did it: We have circumnavigated the world once!

When we entered the arrival hall at the airport, it was time for joyous reunions. Emi's mom had been waiting for her daughter for hours and was overjoyed with tears in her eyes to finally be able to hold her in her arms again. In addition, a small but fine group of our friends - despite the very inconvenient arrival time on a Monday evening - did not miss the opportunity to sweeten our arrival with a 'Welcome Home' sign. So we had no opportunity to be sad in any way. On the contrary: Coming home has never been as beautiful as after our world trip! :)

However, the journey to our familiar home did not feel real. We agreed that it could just as well have been one of the many taxi rides from the airport to our accommodation that we had taken countless times on our trip. The only difference was that we already knew the surroundings we were driving through. When we arrived at our house, we were delighted to find more welcome signs from friends hanging on our fence and at the entrance door! Emi's friend was also eagerly awaiting our arrival. When we entered the house, we were surprised by another welcoming committee. Emi's brother and his girlfriend were waiting for us with a set table, champagne, and breakfast baskets for the next morning. You can't imagine how much we appreciated that! After such a long time without black bread, there is nothing better. It was generally the things that are usually taken for granted that made us happy: drinking water directly from the tap, flushing the toilet paper in the bowl, taking a shower with hot water around the clock, and sleeping in our own bed again! After a total of 49 different beds during the trip, the first night in our own, freshly made bed was an indescribable experience!

But it's not just the little things that no longer seem self-evident to us. We have learned a lot on our trip: about our planet, the people who inhabit it, and above all about ourselves. For us, it is definitely clear that we belong to a very small group of people in this world who lack absolutely nothing and who can consider themselves incredibly lucky. Austria is one of the few countries where there is really nothing to complain about. We have clean streets and don't have to dispose of our garbage in any river. Public transportation is comfortable, reliable, and mostly punctual - at least there is no waiting time of 45 minutes without any information. We have 24-hour access to hot water, fresh water, electricity, and heating. Every day, we have the opportunity to choose from an incredible variety of food. So in a way, we will no longer participate in the collective grumbling in Austria!

Even if not everyone is made for such a trip, we can only recommend it to anyone who is open to new experiences and interested in other cultures. I once read that the hardest step is the one out of your front door, out of your comfort zone. I can still remember very well how I struggled with all sorts of fears shortly before the departure. During the trip, I learned that most ideas and expectations about a country or a place are completely wrong. The Internet and the media only report an extremely tiny fraction of reality to us. The worst thing you can do for your own psyche is to read the travel warnings on the Foreign Ministry's website. These are mainly negative vibes that are picked up. All the positive aspects in foreign countries are withheld from you. Of course, there are certain problem areas in some countries that should not be ignored, but with common sense and appropriate behavior, you can minimize or even eliminate almost any risk. For my part, I will certainly not be deterred by it in the future and I am looking forward to many more steps out of my comfort zone!

As a statistician, I cannot resist presenting the most important numbers of our trip, although I must say in my defense that Emi was mainly responsible for collecting the data! :)

24 weeks - 171 days

Number of flights: 21

Number of buses: 28

Number of boats: 12

Number of accommodations: 49

Kilometers traveled: 67,037
> 54,140 km by plane
> 12,546 km by bus/boat
> 211 km on foot
> 140 km by bike

Number of memories & moments: countless!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read our stories and accompanied our world trip. We hope you enjoyed the blog as much as we did! :)