not all who wander are lost

and so it could have been a four day long weekend that i would spend somewhere i've never been.. or i could have wasted a day looking at last minute deals on vacation packages and just fly out of here.. or perhaps i could have joined a roadtrip to another city.. or a tour to the next island.. or a bike trip across trestles and lakes.. many things i could have done this weekend, but im choosing to just stay in place.. enjoy the vancouver sun and spend time packing my things for the nth time,

i'm leaving for home in less than two weeks, not the best time to get away from this city especially now that it's all bright and sunny, and back home is grey and typhoon season. but who cares really? i miss my people, i miss my mom who loves me unconditionally, i miss my dogs who think i'm the greatest person on earth, i miss being me, speaking my own language, riding a jeepney, playing around with my brothers, debating about the world with my dad, catching up with old friends who chose to stay.. because in the end, its not about the number of stamps on your passport that counts, nor the amount of people you've talked to from all over the world, nor the different cultures you've immersed yourself into, in the end it all boils down to one thing... i belong to home, home is where my family is, and that is not here.

it's times like these when i need quotes to remind me why i chose to wander.. and here are some of my favorite ones:

“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference” - Robert Frost

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Travel Light: Own only what you can carry with you, know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.”
John A. Shedd,

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing” - Helen Keller

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain

“If you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much room.” - Howard Jayne

“Look at the stars lighting up the sky: no one of them stays in the same place.” - Seneca

“Somewhere on your journey don’t forget to turn around and enjoy the view”

“Cover the earth, before it covers you.”