So here's an update on how things are going. I have been back home about 4 months now.

Job wise, things didn't work out with the drilling mud company, at least not for the moment. We lost a major investor in the startup and I was out spending a lot of time on site on drill rigs away from home, giving technical advice and working on the rig, rather than selling. This was good in ways, it got me out of the city and satisfied a little bit of itchiness I was getting from being at home too much, but being away again was also not as bad as I was expecting. Also it made me realise that I don't enjoy being in one place for too long any more so I need a job that gets me around if possible. Anyway, back on the job market now and in final interviews with some cool companies - one of which is open to me taking time out to travel again in the future - win, win!

The re-calibration that I was talking about in my last post. Well busting my ass on a drill rig, lifting drill pipes for 12 hours in 40 degree heat (thats celcius) for 14 days straight was probably one of the best things that happened to me since I got back for 're-calibration'. It got the sook out of me, you might say. Having not worked for over a year I had lost appreciation for my free time and for the smaller things in life. This certainly fixed that. As did another 14 day stint on a rig underground. I would highly recommend getting stuck into some hard physical work when you get back, it helped to put things back in perspective again. The first few days really sucked ass, I wasn't work fit and the days just went really slow, but after I got into the groove of it, it felt quite good. It might seem like it goes against the 'don't go straight back into 9-5 recommendation' however I found that because it was 14 on, 14 off, and it had an end in sight, it wasn't too bad.

I have had a bit of spare time since January as have really only been working the 14 day on 14 off stints. Keeping any routine has been hard as I come back from the rigs absolutely exhausted. However I have been going into dad's office every day and studying for 4 or 5 hours. Have worked through a whole book on drilling fluids, and finished a Chemistry 1 textbook, never realising how much I was actually interested in Chemistry. That has really helped keep me motivated and stop my mind from wandering too much.

I have stuck with the exercise routine and put back on a lot of the weight that I lost while overseas, I feel much healthier and stronger as a result. Went from 78kg pre-trip to 69kg post-trip. Now I am back up at 74kg, my diet is a lot healthier.

I don't really talk about the trip that much. I get the typical questions from people, "what is the best country?","what is the best thing you did?","what is the craziest thing that happened?" - to which my response is usually something along the lines of, there were so many experiences and I can't boil it down to one thing. Sure, I have a few little anecdotal stories that I can tell if there is a suitable segue and people are willing to hear it, but again I really try to avoid sounding like that person who knows it all because they have travelled. When it boils down to it, I can't succinctly explain the whole trip/experience in one bit sized, simple story, that can be told over a in a bar. I guess that in itself is the beauty of it, and stems back to the reason why you just have to do it for yourself, and nobody else, not to try and prove anything to anyone, just do it because you want to.

I turned 29 over the weekend, which is a birthday where everyone wants to tell you that it is only 1 year until you turn the 'big' 3-0. Had I wasted my 20's doing things that I didn't want to do, I guess I might be a little bit bothered that I am 1 year from 30. However, I had a dream, a goal to travel and see the world. I worked hard in a job that, whilst it wasn't my dream job, I wasn't treading water career-wise either. It helped me save enough money and head off on the motorbike and experience so much. At the moment, I feel a hell of a lot of contentment knowing that I just did what I wanted to do.

__________________
www.thegreatgallivant.com - video blog of my current year long trip around Europe on the F650GS Twin