Hostel here, Hostel there

Halftime. It's a weird thought, traveling around for a month. Even if I wasn't restless to some degree, this trip just amplifies it. You get to see the cities and landscapes on the fly, meet an incredible amount of people, and sleep in hostels with even more people. I can't quite decide yet if I love it or if I want to go home.

Sure, you always have to deal with a little homesickness. I haven't been back home since Christmas and I haven't seen some of my friends for over a year. It's longing. For familiar people, familiar surroundings and an ease that you only get at home, where I would take the right BVG connection in my sleep. I miss the vegan spreads (for the past year I've had to eat hummus in three flavors), the cheap German beer, and bread that isn't toast. I miss sleeping in a big bed, alone, and having a bathroom where I don't have to change in the shower. I miss eating breakfast in my sleeping shirt and not having to put a sticker with my name on every food item. And I miss listening to music loudly, workouts in front of the TV, lazy days on the couch, and going out for spontaneous coffee with my people.

I can already hear the announcement of the S2, "Next stop: S-Bahnhof Schichauweg", I can see the countless kebab stores (God, what I would give for a berlin falafel kebab!) in front of me and taste the beer in my favorite pub near Rosenthaler Platz on my tongue.

But I also know that when I get home, it just becomes a different kind of longing. Moving from place to place, seeing vast and endless landscapes, talking to strangers about God and the world. Sitting on the bus looking at the mountains, sometimes face warm from the sun, sometimes goosebumps from the cold of the rain. I will miss the pre-sliced vegetables from the supermarkets, the warmth from the volunteers in the (most) hostels. And as much as I love the Schmittz, sometimes I just want to sit in a pub, pint of Camden Hells in my hand, and listen to a random musician sing Scottish folk music.

It probably doesn't matter where I am, some part always wants to be in a different place. But that's okay.

I'm sitting in a hostel in Glasgow right now trying to recover from sore muscles. Yesterday I went horseback riding near Oban in the Highlands, it was just beautiful. We galloped up hills and had views all the way to the mountains, went through streams and fields and had perfect weather. I've always missed riding, but it's only when I'm back on a horse that I realize there's nothing that can replace that feeling or make me happy in that way. It was definitely one of the best days of the entire trip (thanks to Muddi and Vaddi for making it happen.) I was in Oban for three nights, mostly just raining and storming during the day. Still, the views of water and the surrounding islands were breath-taking.

Before that I was in the north of the Isle of Skye, in a two-street village called Uig. The hostel was a real winner; from the colorful couches, you could see all the way to the steep shores of the island. The weather was changeable as ever, but the last day I was lucky and the sun was shining. Two super dear girls from the hostel took me to a hiking area and saved me 5 hours of walking there and back. My route, of course, had another horror descent, which was basically in the foothills of a boulder slope line. But from the highest point I overlooked the rock walls, countless small lakes and mountain formations and the sea.

Before I went to Uig, I spent three days in Inverness. My mood was semi good after the grey Aberdeen, but this changed quickly after my arrival. The hostel was super cozy, it gave you real homey feelings. I started chatting with two of the volunteers working there. I spent the next few days with just the two of them, Ewan, who has lived in Inverness for years, and Ben, who came to Scotland from the US for 5 weeks. We talked about Sherlock Holmes, showed each other our current Spotify favorites while dancing in the kitchen, and I tried to teach them how to pronounce "Dirndl" (I failed). I was honestly sad to leave Inverness. That's the downside to traveling. You can never spend enough time with the people you click with.

Saturday I'm heading over to Northern Ireland, where I'll do a loop all the way down to Cork. After that, it's just Dublin, from where I'm heading back to Wales, Cardiff, London and Paris on the list. Then I'll probably write about how quickly the time went by and I can't imagine going home, nor traveling any further.