Epilogue

I am now finally back where I started, atleast geographically speaking. Croatia was fabulous, seeing family and friends and spending a solid amount of time in one place only, and a very familiar place at that. This safe haven was especially comforting when I became quite sick four days upon my arrival, but there's nothing like the care of those that are closest to you to get you back up on your feet. And so, in three days I got back into the groove and even managed to use my condition to (attempt to) counter pick-up lines (me, in an absurdly loud voice: "SORRY, I have LARYNGITIS!!"), which proved to be more of a conversation starter than the one-line dismissal I had intended it to be.
These days my pace is much slower than what i've been used to the past few months and i'm still processing my experiences. And now that the Olympics are over, I can finally focus and begin to look through my hundreds (if not thousands) of photographs and attempt to arrange the best of them in some form of a semi-coherent, presentable album, which is turning out to be almost as ambitious as the trip itself!
It still astounds me that it all went so smoothly. I am proud to say that I did not once get pick-pocketed or have any belongings stolen, nor was I a victim of lost baggage, food poisoning, flight delays or sickness. It seems to be more of a risk to go out in downtown Düsseldorf than travel the world alone! In addition to that, I enjoyed the comfort of three or more seats to myself for all three of my eleven plus hour flights, and can not complain of to have suffered from anything even closely resembling jet-lag.
The trip has been overwhelming, to say the least. I have learned so many things on a day to day basis, but I am already noticing that the greatest rewards will be those that unfold over time; those that come to light in times of stress or self-doubt, those that I may never be able to pin-point myself, but that will hopefully be ever so present in the manner I approach the people and situations that will come my way.

Hope all is well with all of you, thanks for reading my rambling inner commentaries & be safe !!