Musings on travel, coming home, and life in retirement

Travel is grand, but it's such a delight to settle back in at home and spend time in my sunny kitchen. 

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If it weren't for the photographs, I might not believe that over the last two and a half months I have spent time in London, Whitby, Cumbria, Northumberland, County Durham, London (again), Zurich and Paris (ever-so briefly), followed by Budapest, Sátoraljaújhely in northern Hungary, then Budapest again and, finally, Sydney.

While it seems a lifetime ago, I shouldn't forget that I spent 18 months prior working on my book, which was published in November last year. To my huge delight, almost all my books sold in the weeks and months before we left for overseas. (Thank you so much if you bought a copy, you are so kind!). Honestly, I'm still pinching myself!

On the flight home from Budapest, I told Peter that I was dreading travelling to Sydney a week or so after arriving back in Australia. Sure, I was very much looking forward to The Fresh Awards gala, but another trip seemed all too soon and I was feeling overwhelmed.

In hindsight, it was a good thing. The temperature in Sydney was ten "delicious" degrees warmer than Canberra, maybe more. And spending three days in "the big smoke" took our minds off the fact that we really missed being in Budapest.

Now we're back home in Canberra, it's time for me to catch my breath and simply relish life in retirement. There are heartwarming winter meals to be cooked and recipes to be developed and explored; post-travel thank you notes to be written; photographs to be sorted; and cupboards to be (further) decluttered. On the bedroom floor there's already a huge pile of clothes and shoes that will be donated to Vinnies, a local op-shop/charity. (It's amazing how enlightening it is to live out of a suitcase in minimalist apartments. We have way too much stuff!). 

I've been catching up with loved ones, lunching regularly with my beloved son and my darling daughter; as well as dining out with friends. I'm keen to get back into swimming, cycling and bushwalking. The garden and vegetable patch needs tidying in readiness for Spring; and I absolutely must make time to go through my paperwork in preparation for a meeting with my accountant, who will lodge my income tax return.

​At some stage, I would like to sit quietly in my favourite armchair in our sunny library-come-front-room and dip into the pages of some of the books in my reading pile. Phew! When did I find time to go to work, I wonder?!

Towards the bottom of my "To-Do" list is "write blog posts", "visit your favourite blogs", and "catch up on social media". I'm not quite sure when, but I'm hoping to find a little time for this.

So, forgive me, please, if I don't post recipes and articles here nearly as often as I might. And, (for my blogger friends from around the globe), apologies if I don't stop by to comment on every new post on your blog, or "like" every post on Facebook and Instagram.  I do enjoy reading them, but I don't always have time to comment, or press the "like" button. 

I know you will understand as you, too, spend precious time enjoying the here and now of real life. ​❤

More on The Sydney Markets Fresh Awards, and our travels in blog posts, which will be written, compiled and published in the fullness of time. Incidentally, if you would like to buy one of the last few copies of my book, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. 

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Your turn dear readers (if you feel like adding a comment), do you love to travel, and what are your favourite things about coming home? And how about social media? Do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, Twitter or Facebook? Or have you managed to switch off?