We come to it at last. It's a bizarre feeling to think of the 8-month-long trail of destruction that I've left behind me crisscrossing around northern Europe. This trip was bigger and more arduous than what I could have imagined, and it wasn't a straightforward journey by any means. At times I was just so frustrated with myself and questioned why/what I was even doing here. It was an immense learning curve, but overall I feel mostly proud and happy to think of all the places and experiences I've seen and done since leaving home last July.
I wandered around outside for a bit this morning trying to soak in a little bit more of the archipelago with the time that was left. For the last few days the mercury has slid further down to hover in the negative teens, and at that temperature my face and fingers quickly started to tingle and ache at the slightest of breezes. Unless you're completely swathed in furs and thermals it's pretty nightmarish to stay outside too long, and your brain and body feel like they're shouting for you to get back inside ASAP. It's a strange contrast when the plentiful sunshine lulls you into a false sense of security when you see everything from inside.
I triumphantly finished my last two pieces yesterday night, so it was nice to have earned a day to do basically nothing. Following my walk I spent the majority of the day cleaning the apartment and fitting all the bits and pieces of my life back into a suitcase.
Tomorrow I'll take a mid-morning bus and get to Helsinki in the afternoon. My flight to Hong Kong won't leave until close to midnight, but it'll be good to get to the airport early and waste some time spending my last remaining euros on pointless crap or a nice meal. I'm going home.