Yes, we are going home – after two years on the road our trip will end in a few weeks from now, when we leave New Zealand. These news are probably quite a surprise for some of our followers, since we had originally planned to go to South America from New Zealand. But plans have changed. Let‘s explain why….

We spent two years on the road – two years that were absolutely fantastic, full of adventures and experiences that we don’t want to exchange for anything else in the world. However, despite the great time we had, we have now made the decision to go home due to a combination of several reasons:

1. We’re not enjoying this anymore as much as we should

“What? How can you not enjoy travelling?  How is that possible?” some of you might ask now.

“Aren’t we living a dream? Wasn’t it our dream to travel? So why has this changed?” we asked ourselves.

Just travelling around all the time, no job, only doing what you want to do, see the world – this should be like paradise.

So why are we stopping here?

Well, we have learned a lot during our trip. If somebody would have asked us two years ago, whether we would get tired of travelling within the next two years, we would definitely have said “no”. This was our big dream, which we made come true – so why should we get tired!

But now we have learned that if you have something every day it will be just routine, and you will eventually get tired of it. You need changes in your life from time to time. It is like when you haven’t been on holiday for a long time, then you are dreaming of going somewhere else, where things are different.

Our feelings are a bit like that at the moment, just the other way around. We miss the “normal, ordinary live”, a job, a project, a meaningful work and some daily routine.

Even the paradise can be boring, if you spent every day there without seeing anything else….

2. We are tired.

Travelling is not just like a big holiday – even though it may seem like this. Putting the camp up, taking it down, unpacking, packing up… –  Where are we going to sleep tonight? Where do we find something to eat? – New impressions every day, new landscapes, new faces, new rules… – Everything is always exciting, interesting, and new, new, new…. – Actually, this is fantastic, but only to a certain extent, because after a while neither your brain nor your emotions can keep up with it.

We have reached this point already a few times during our trip. But now, we are so desperate for some routine, familiarity, constancy, that a short break simply is not enough to recover.

 3. We are missing a “home”.

We love camping, we don’t mind basic accommodation, and we always enjoyed it when people invited us to stay at their house for a few nights.

But now it is enough – a tent that is set up at a different place every night is not a home. Hotels and guesthouses never feel like home anyway. And other people’s houses remain other people’s houses, no matter how great the hospitality is.

We want our own home – we miss a place that feels to us like “at home”.

4. We are missing family and friends.

Every day, we meet new people. We have made lots of great acquaintances, and we even found a few new friends on the road.

We were definitely never lonely. But we are of course still missing family and old friends at home.

A conversation with new acquaintances is often really interesting. But the problem is: you are always starting at the beginning, you have to ask the same question and answer the same questions again and again, you have to get to know the other person first – and then you move on.

The familiarity and intimacy that we share with good friends and family cannot be replaced by even the most exciting acquaintances. The feeling to be together with a close person that knows you very well, and that you know equally well, is something wonderful – and we miss it very much.

5. We miss our „home country“.

The feeling of being at your home country, the familiar surroundings, the smells, the people – the language, culture, theatre, newspapers, pubs – the familiar “Gemütlichkeit” (sorry, can’t translate that – there is no word for it in English) of the German cultural region – the many small things, the seasons, the landscape, … places that are full of memories for us – there are so many wonderful things at home, which often didn’t really notice much.

Well, you can call it probably “homesickness”….

Did we give up?

We asked us this question: are we giving up, if we go home now? Does this mean that we can’t do it? Are we maybe not strong enough? Originally, we had planned to see South America and Alaska – and what about Africa? To go all the way around the world would be really exciting….

But we have found the answer, which is “no”.

Why should we sullenly continue something, which we are not really enjoying anymore? Just to prove anyone that we are able to do it?  Well, if this is the goal of a trip, then go on… everybody must decide for himself.

But for us, it was never the goal to prove something, neither to us nor anybody else. We wanted to discover the world, the people and the cultures, we wanted to enjoy the freedom of travelling – and we were very successful doing so. It was absolutely fantastic.

And now it is enough.

Conclusion…

We would not have wanted to miss the last two years of our lives – for nothing in the world. The journey was one of the best decisions we ever made. We are coming home now, with a big treasure consisting of adventures, insights, pictures, encounters, experiences, and stories….

…. and we are looking forward to what lies ahead of us – at home!

PS: Our blog doesn’t end here – there are still some travel reports that we want to write; we have thousands of pictures that have to be sorted; we are planning to publish some reviews on the gear and the motorcycles; and we are sure that we will still have things to talk about once we have arrived at home. Who knows which adventures are laying ahead of us, once we have reached Europe….?