Final Leg: HKG back to YVR
Flight Home
After more than a month of traversing the globe, hand in hand, we will find ourselves at Hong Kong International Airport, ready to board our Cathay Pacific flight back to Vancouver. The familiar sight of the airline’s brushwing logo will bring a smile to our faces – a reminder that we’re using our hard-earned British Airways Avios points for this final leg of our journey. It feels like a fitting reward after weeks of adventure.
There will be an undeniable sense of relief knowing that soon we’ll be back in our own space. Don’t get us wrong – we’d enjoy every minute of our travels, but there’s something comforting about the thought of our own bed, the familiar view from our living room window, and the simple pleasure of a home-cooked meal.
Yet, when the plane takes off, leaving the stunning Hong Kong skyline behind, we can’t help but feel a tinge of nostalgia. Our minds will wander through a kaleidoscope of memories – the street food stalls of Kuala Lumpur, the serene temples of Kyoto, the bustling markets of Seoul. Each destination has left its mark on us, not just as travelers, but as a couple. We would’ve navigated unfamiliar streets together, tried exotic dishes side by side, and created countless inside jokes that will forever remind us of this trip.
There will also be a bubbling anticipation for what awaits us at home. We’re excited to see our friends and family, to cuddle with our bunny (who we would have missed terribly), and yes, even to tackle the mountain of laundry that inevitably comes after a long trip. There will be something sweetly ordinary about these thoughts that makes us realize how extraordinary our travel will be.
As we fly over the Pacific, we’re overwhelmed with gratitude. Thankful for the opportunity to have taken this extended break from our regular lives, to have the opportunity to explore new cultures, and most importantly, to have done it all together. Travelling will have a way of testing relationships, but we will definitely emerge stronger, with a deeper understanding of each other and a shared bank of experiences that we’ll treasure forever.
Of course, there will be a bittersweet note to our homecoming. As much as looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, we’ll miss the thrill of waking up in a new city every few days. The end of a trip always feels a bit like the end of a great book – you’re satisfied, but also a little sad that it’s over.
This long flight will give us time to reflect on our journey. We will flip through photos on our cameras, already planning how we’ll share our adventures on our blog. We discuss our favorite moments, the challenges we overcame, and even start dreaming about where our next trip might take us.
It’s a little odd writing about the last leg of our trip before even starting the journey, but I can just imagine as we squeeze each other’s hands and prepare for landing, we know that the memories we’ve made will fuel our wanderlust – and our love – for years to come. Home is where the heart is, they say, but after this journey, hopefully we will also learn that home is also wherever we are together.
