By train through Europe - 31st August - Returning Home

It had been a long month, and I covered a lot of ground together with @reggaemuffin. Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, it was quite the trip.

Packing in the morning went fast, which gave us some more time to cuddle Smaug, the most relaxed cat I ever encountered in my life.

_{Why yes, I'm petting his stomach in this picture. In fact, I've been petting his stomach for an hour because he looked at me with a very disappointed face every time I stopped. Freaking cat. I love you.}

The ride home was defined by delayed trains (shooting at Amsterdam central station! So glad we weren't leaving from there ...) and a tired @suesa.

Never in my life have I traveled this much before, and while I enjoyed it greatly, and am glad I did it, I was also incredibly relieved to just return home.

Having everything you own cramped into a backpack, unpacking and repacking each day, or at least each second day, sleeping somewhere else almost every night, meeting a bunch of people, it's an experience. It's a good experience, but it's also one that drains you.

I expected the trip to change me in some ways, and when I returned home, I was at first disappointed that it didn't. I thought I was exactly the same, and that I hadn't gotten anything out of it aside from a few memories.

But as September went by, I did notice a change. I had become less anxious, less worried about things not turning out the way I planned. Of course, I didn't completely stop to worry about everything, I'm just generally stressed out. That's my nature!

Still, the steemSTEM meetup happened soon after, and I was the main organizer. I expected to collapse due to stress and anxiety after the first day. And yes, I was stressed, yes, not everything worked out the way I wanted ... but it was okay. I enjoyed the time in Florence and my stress levels were a lot lower than expected.

So all in all, I count the tour as a win. It was a great decision and absolutely worth the money and time, there's not really much (or anything?) I would change. Maybe eat more. Food is one of the most important things of this experience.

I hope you enjoyed reading my travel diary! This blog will now go more silent again, in favor of my main blog @suesa. See you around!

_{*Disapprovingly stares into the distance, because the train is 30 minutes delayed and I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!}