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The flight home felt really really long... I was excited to be returning to a world of clean clothes and knowing where I'll be sleeping each night. I was not so excited about leaving the relatively responsibility-free life of traveling and the fun of meeting new people every day.

Some final thoughts on things I saw in Europe... there were a few things that I noticed in much greater abundance all over Europe compared to at home. In no particular order, here they are...
1- Coloured/patterned toilet paper. Much moreso in eastern than western Europe, it was always a fun surprise to see what the bathroom would display. My favorite was probably the pastel blue with butterflies..
2- Smoking. Not a surprise, but took some getting used to. I thought my days of returning home from a bar smelling like smoke were long gone, but apparently not. Interestingly, in the time while I was away, Gatwick airport became entirely non-smoking. So the E.U. is working on improving their collective health.. just a little bit behind us.
3- Public displays of affection. At home, when people are all over each other in public they are usually either young or very drunk (or both). Not so in Europe.. young and old, sober and drunk, many people seemed eager to display their affection (openly and loudly) in all sorts of places. Not necessarily a bad thing.. just different.
4- Public urination. Is the whole of Europe a freakin' toilet??? Again, it occurs in small doses at home, mostly late at night and usually somewhat discretely. In Europe, guys were peeing EVERYwhere and at any time of day. While I commend some cities for creating public urinals in busy areas, other areas have a lot of work to do.. that is, unless you like the smell of urine and the surprise of finding someone urinating in a public place in broad daylight. Gross.

And with that, I thank you for reading.