Often after any significant travel, it can be very difficult to settle back into 'real life'. Although nothing has changed with our work, our homes and our family and friends, we, the traveller, have been changed and it can take quite an effort to marry who we are now evolving to be with that who we are known to be in our everyday life. This has been doubly hard for me this time, after my latest trip to North Korea. My crazy bucket list trip has come hot on the heels of a massive life change only at the beginning of this year with a move from my home of 27 years in Cairns. I had still yet to establish completely my place here in my new world here in Toowoomba.
I must admit that I have struggled since I have returned. This has been to the magnitude of questioning what exactly I am doing with my life, what is next for me and most importantly, how can I keep travelling. I also picked up a nasty head cold on, what I believe to be, my return flights. This was delightfully compounded by a particularly awful tummy bug which I'm not completely certain wasn't just a continuation of the 'DPRK belly' I had been experiencing for what was pretty much the duration of the whole trip.
When I did get back to work I found myself on a part of my work roster that saw me working 2x12hr day shifts followed by what was almost always a 12 hour 'afternoon shift' from 1015-2215 with 3 days off before starting the rotation all over again. I know that the usual is a 2 day weekend but 12 hour shifts take it out of you and the 3 days just never seemed enough before I had to go back. I had already done the 6 weeks of afternoon shifts prior to my trip, and found myself back at the top of this part of the roster when I came back...3 months!!! I know many people prefer no night shifts and only 3 shifts, but I love my night shifts! I am also studying so I was struggling to find the time to fit all my responsibilities in.
I have muddled through the last 2 months since returning home. Only now have I begun feeling as though I have caught up with myself. I am also very pleased also to share with you all that I am now over 24 days cigarette free. It has not been an easy journey giving up but not nearly as terrible as I thought it might be. I've been quite busy since I've returned.
It has been great also having a bit of extra time to process what amounted to be an incredible trip that exceeding any and all expectations. I have made some lifelong friends, seen places that not many outsiders have, and gained an acute appreciation for a misunderstood people who are largely just like you and me, with families and friends and work and homes who must fit into the society to which they have been born....just like you and I.
I'm excited to be sharing my stories and my photos with you and appreciate the patience that has been extended to me by my friends and family. Please do note that there are elements and incidents of the trip that I will be omitting from my online writings. I would love to be able to share every moment with you but there are things that, although this is a private blog, could create some issues with those who are in country and who regularly travel and do business there. The only reason that we as visitors and guests were afforded the freedoms we were whilst in country is due to the behaviour and conduct of those who have gone before us. I have no desire to make any issues for those who follow me.
Please feel free to bookmark my blog here, follow my Travelescence Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/Travelescence-1392728370988049/ or just follow along from my private FB page. I welcome any questions and observations as I chronicle my journey. I would also like to thank all my travelling companions who joined me on the Young Pioneer Tours Unseen DPRK and Complete Pyongyang Metro Tour 2018. Some people I have got to know better than others and I hopefully will do justice to recreating our experience together from my own perspective. I mean absolutely no offence whatsoever to anyone I do not mention or refer to in my stories. Each and every person on our trip was fantastic and helped make it the amazing time it has been, but for ease of narration I am writing purely from my own experience and may not be able to include anecdotes of all the amazing people I have met. I also would like to add a disclaimer...I am a story teller! I will try to remain true to all that I recollect, but I have been known from time to time to slightly embellish a story in the name of poetic license. Just saying and I do not apologise for it :)
To describe what it was like to be there....
I was quite surprised with how quickly it became 'normal' for us to be there, in North Korea, to be walking the streets of Pyongyang, smiling at locals wandering to and from work, playing with their children, making their way through their daily life. But then something would happen and suddenly we became acutely aware of exactly where we were and what was potentially was as stake should we push boundaries that should never be pushed....
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