CollaborationWritten by Pauline Viaud
If you’re used to travelling in the long-term, then you know that saying goodbye is something you will have to do before and during your trip.
It’s not an easy step! Not for me, but for the others. Each of my departures represents a project coming to life. So I’m happy to leave, and I know I will meet the people I love again.
Yet I know that it can be harder sometimes for those who watch me leave and will feel my absence. So I contain my joy, and I try to make separations as brief as possible. And then, pretty fast comes the return!
BEFORE
Goodbye family, friends, and colleagues on my departure.
You will see them again since it’s where you come from and that you will return someday, but meanwhile, a lot will have had happened!
A few weeks (and sometimes a few months even, because time flies by) before the D-Day, I try to spend as much time as possible with my loved ones: parties, special moments, meals, etc. The most moving moments still are the last hugs between my sweet little grandma, my niece, and me before a big trip.
These goodbyes make your departure official, and there you go, you’re off! I’m so happy every time to live my small adventures while looking ahead, never behind.
And nowadays, it’s easy to keep everybody updated! I have to admit that I’m quite wired and that thanks to social networks and my blogs, separations are only physical since we maintain regular contact!
DURING
Encounters between travellers happen a lot during these many weeks/months or travelling. We live strong emotions together. But after many days or weeks, there comes a moment where we part ways.
Even though I wouldn’t say I like these moments, the one where you drop your friend at the airport ?. Some will remember, I live these separations at peace since I know what we went through together is unique. It can’t be erased, and if our paths have to cross again, they will!
Seeing each other again would be the opportunity for a new trip, in France or in the countries around. It’s a nice future outlook!
SWEET WORDS
Since I don’t like goodbyes, I usually leave pretty quickly, but I leave little notes behind! With my mother, it even became a ritual. She knows she’ll find a message on her desk where I wrote what I didn’t say ?.
For others, before, during, and after the trip, I leave hidden notes, postal cards, blog articles, and I communicate to tell them all that they brought me and how much their messages are precious to me.
Epistolary relationships even formed on these occasions, pleasant surprises. The excuse for the adventure leads us to discuss many other subjects.
DO YOU MISS US?
What a strange question!
During my first years of travelling, I never felt the void, I lived intense moments, and I made beautiful encounters. I felt for the first time intense freedom.
But I still thought about my loved ones! I tried to follow their day-to-day life, even from afar, to keep them updated with messages more complete than the idyllic posts on social networks ?.
Today, after nearly three years far away from my own, I feel a need to live these moments with them physically. My family, my in-laws, and my friends, I feel like reuniting with all of them!
I want to see all of the tiny tots around me and see the less young grow old. So I will come back and live near my home region, but not to close, hey! I have too much of a need for independence. ?
POST RETURN, SAME SAME ?
Same, same but different! Just like we hear in some Asian countries. ?
We speak of loved ones, but will love, and friendship still be there after a long absence?
It depends on the relationship! When I returned in 2017, I found some people as if I had left the day before- no awkwardness, no heavy silence, just the joy of meeting again.
In other relationships, it was more complicated. We had evolved in different ways throughout this year and a half. The gap was too big to be mended.
For the others, the beautiful links never broke while one travels the world. They stretch, and we meet again with great joy when the moment is right. ?
TO SHARE PATHS
Your trip can also be the opportunity to find yourself at the other corner of the world if you wish! It’s the opportunity to discover another universe, share powerful moments, and see yourself in your element! Unforgettable memories ahead.
This post was translated from French to English by:
Sophie Dumais
My name is Sophie, a passionate language learner, and a full-time dog mom. Long walks, soothing cups of tea, Japanese learning and the search for beauty are my everyday life. Slowly but surely is how I do things, contemplating the peaceful ways of time and the enchanting notion of living the moment.
Pamela Denis
Léa Nadeau
Sacha Nadeau
