Post-Processing

(and I'm not talking about the photography kind)

Rest assured, a full Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu re-cap is coming next week, but I’ve been home for 48 hours of post-travel integration.

And the first 72 are always the weirdest.

It’s weird to spend extensive introspective time alone with your thoughts, completely disconnected from the outside world, only to abruptly re-enter daily life and relationships as if you haven't returned a different version of yourself.

It's weird to go from weeks of minimal contact with your partner and child, to the same routine bedtime arguments you’ve had half-a-bajillion times, like you never left.

It’s weird to spend 75% less time in front of a screen and then come home to the familiar pressure of unread texts, emails and social media alerts.

It’s weird to share so much vulnerable and intimate space with travel companions for so long, and then not see or speak to them every single day after you get home.