Last day before heading home.....(Final Thoughts)

So my dad picked me up last night, as we entered back into London, and I stayed with him two more nights before it was time for me to head back to the US. I was so exhausted the night we got back into London, I mean 24 days of little sleep, long days, and some partying in between will do that to you.

So I slept the first night, and slept in the next morning, but then it was time for some Daddy Daughter bonding....!  He took me to Reading to do some shopping, and we had some lunch (Indian food YUM). We then came home and chilled out before heading to dinner at this local pub that they frequent called The George, because every Sunday they have a roast which consists of a lamb roast, veggies, and yorkshire pudding. That dinner was AMAZING, it was so good to have some real food after eating all types of random food over the course of my trip. I was stuffed after this meal, went home, and got packed up for my early morning flight.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to go long before seeing my family, because upon my returning back to Atlanta, my mom and dad were going to be in the US visiting for 3 weeks visiting as well, and my sister and her family moved back down south closer to me. So needless to say,  I have not stopped since returning home from Europe.....for the past 3 weeks, I have been spending time with my sister, my nephew, my parents, and friends. It's been a whirlwhind. I am definitely ready to find some time to relax and get that downtime in now.

I will say this though, in April, when I decided to make some changes with my career, which opened up my schedule, I had no idea that this trip is what would come from it. I had plans to go visit my parents in London, but didn't think that a whole month in Europe was in the cards. However, although I had little time to plan, and just jumped on with this tour group, since it touched on so many cities and countries, I can say that I have NO regrets, and am so glad I decided to take this trip of a lifetime, and experience Europe. It has been one of the best months of my year, and has certainly left marks and memories for years to come!!! I am lucky to have been able to do this, and look forward to hopefully going back to some of these cities and experiencing them again, but this time, I'd like to do it without the constrictions of time so I can enjoy all that my favorite cities have to offer.

I definitely found it interesting to see the difference in myself going on this tour now at my age, versus if I was younger, because when I studied abroad in 2004, and went to New Zealand and Australia, although I enjoyed my time, and took back lots of memories from there as well, I didn't take advantage of it the way I look back now and wish I had. Wish I had seen this, or done that.....because I was too busy being young, having fun, and just living for the moment. However, I learnt from that and was not going to let that happen again on this trip. I realized now that although I've never really been one who's big on history as such, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and learning about all those cities, and moments in history that I had learned about in school, and being able to appreciate them in a totally different way in person.

So that's it, I've visited 12 countries, and over 20 cities all in a month's time! Till I return Europe......