Going home this evening

I can't believe our departure date has actually arrived.  This has been one of the best vacations ever, despite the physical discomforts experienced on the trek.  Actually, it's those discomforts that will help to define the experience - getting through to the end despite them.  Everything else will seem easy by comparison.   I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving for home.  On the one hand, I've very much enjoyed the experience of trekking, making new friends, learning about Nepali culture - especially the Sherpa (Sherwa) people - new sights, sounds, and smells (some more pleasant than others).  On the other hand, I do have a real world to return to and obligations awaiting my return.  It was so simple to not think about deadlines or other pressing matters while on the trail.  I liked that very much.  I've not felt so relaxed in decades - no tension headaches, no anxiety attacks.  All I had to worry about was whether the rock I next stepped on was stable or not, and whether I could make it up or down a particular hill on the path.   My focus was definitely on the moment and not the future all during the trek.  I'll have to do a mental checklist for what I need to do when I return - probably on the long flight between Hong Kong and New York.  I have a feeling that I will be daydreaming of the high Himalayas, hearing yak bells and snatches of Sherpa folk songs in my head.  I will really miss Nepal, but in a way different than any of the other countries I've visited.  Nepal will always means something special to me, primarily in the sense of what can be done under extenuating circumstances, and that I am physically and mentally capable of reaching a difficult goal.   I know that there are thousands of tourists that do this trek each year.  I suspect that each of us have an experience that reaches deep into one's soul.  There's just something very special about the biggest mountains in the world.  I have no desire to climb them, but it was a real privilege to see them with my own eyes.