going home to the usa

G1661732
^^ about to board number 25 of our 27 flights – headed home at the conclusion of a truly epic adventure. ^^

this post concludes my documentation of #charianaroundtheworld. huzzah!!

it has been really fun for me to compose these many posts about our adventures abroad, and i hope it has been somewhat fun to read them as well! :) i’m sure we will be reflecting on this crazy awesome trip for many years to come, but now i’m on to blogging about our summertime in the united states of america and hope to be up to date to our new life in the united kingdom before too long.

as the boy and i approach our first anniversary, i’m just blown away at how amazing this year has been. we feel tremendously privileged to have been able to travel so much together and to get to start a new life in one of the world’s most incredible cities. but our greatest blessings are the ones that aren’t exotic and can’t be captured in photographs: our love for each other, our relationships with other humans, and our faith in god and jesus christ – all of which have been deepened in profound ways this year.

it was the trip of a lifetime, a huge dream come true, a ton of fun, and an incredible experience that expanded us in so so many beautiful ways … we will cherish these memories and lessons learned forever. but the most profound thing we poignantly realized from our eighty day world tour is that the best and most fantastic adventures in life are not about trekking in the himalayas or repelling down waterfalls or diving with great white sharks or exploring spectacular foreign places. the best and most fantastic adventures in life are about relationships, faith, humble service, and finding joy in the (mostly non-glamorous or picturesque) everyday.

anyway…! before i finish posting about our around the world travels, i simply must share some photos of the last hotel room we stayed in before we headed back to the united states of america. we booked this room three months before we stayed there, so we didn’t remember anything about the place when we got in a car sent by the hotel at the airport.

we found ourselves in a really random, not super nice neighborhood and then outside a kind of run-down narrow building with a row of doors. i don’t even think there was a lobby/reception area of any kind. our driver opened our bedroom door, and we were pretty surprised by the interior!:

2015-06-08 18.23.212015-06-09 04.29.54
not pictured: a water feature in the corner and a pretty fabulously decorated bathroom. we have no idea how we lucked out so much with this place – haha!

on our flight to miami and then to san francisco, we talked with each other about how we had been impacted, individually and collectively, from our travels. it was hard to summarize and articulate all that touched and strengthened and changed our hearts around the world. we definitely returned to the usa more aware, more humbled, more grateful, more understanding, and more alive.

2015-06-09 07.37.342015-06-09 11.51.32 2015-06-09 18.51.30
it felt really, really good to be back on homeland soil. we were a little sad that whole adventure was over, but knew of course that really the adventures are just beginning. it is so so so sweet to know that no matter which adventures come in this crazy trip of life, we will have each other.

thanks for following along on #charianaroundtheworld! after a bit about #charianaroundamerica, we’re excited to share some #charianaroundlondon and #charianaroundengland and #charianaroundeurope adventures! but mostly, we’re excited spend more of our time producing rather than consuming and to use our hearts that have been filled up by these amazing experiences abroad to grow closer to god and to each other through simple service and ordinary days.

Comments

  1. Thank you for taking us with you on your magnificent journey!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It has been so wonderful reading about your experiences and seeing the photos and I have enjoyed every bit of it. Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It has been a real pleasure reading about the adventure! I admire your dedication to going back through to share it all. :) I look forward to hearing about the post-vacay real life.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mmh, yeah somewhat fun.

    I'm joking - I loved the posts!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've really enjoyed reading about your special holiday & seeing the pix, it's been brill.

    Are you going to make scrapbooks of your holiday or print it from the blog?

    By the way, you'll be able to watch Downton Abbey from Sunday night - enjoy.:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. That hotel style is known as 'Mid-Century Pacific Bordello." LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. Charity, I truly love your zest for adventure and life-- but more so, your dedication to your husband and the Lord. To have such amazing, wonderful adventures and to realize that the greatest happiness is found not in places, or things, but in relationships. Those places and things all enrich and beautify the experience-- and I'm so glad you were able to have them and I'm so grateful you shared them with all of us. Thank you!!! L.A. in WA

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment