Some travellers like to check places off a list and never return. I actually love returning to places that I've been before: it's interesting to see what has changed, to compare it to my memories, to catch up with people I met there. I also love visiting brand new places, of course - that's how …
Japan
Saying goodbye to a country is hard – I know, I’ve done it three times
I am NOT a good goodbye person. I'm way overly sentimental, I'm all too acutely aware that once you say goodbye to a place you've lived in that even visiting will never be the same again, and I miss both people and things long and badly. I blogged just recently about the sadness of leaving …
The sadness of leaving new homes abroad – the perils of expat life
It was a week or two before I would leave Japan, and I was teaching a one-to-one lesson with Ami, a little girl who'd been coming to individual English lessons at our school for a year or so; she was three by now. At two she had absolutely hated coming to our lessons and we had spent many lessons …