I like to engage in earnestly making fun of ourselves. I think it is healthy. Which is why you can often find me smirking as we roll out our yoga mats side by side, order plant-based milks instead of dairy, and confirm that the coffee is not Nescafe before ordering—otherwise we pull out the travel-sized french press Jason’s been toting around the world for such coffee emergencies. As our patterns have morphed and settled throughout the year, I am as aware as ever how well Portland suits are interests, desires, and dare I say ‘needs’ even more than when we left. While traveling around the world, we have grown even more into the stereotypes of true Portlanders.

Allow me to explain…

Many months ago Jason wrote a blog post about his journey to vegetarianism and after further discussion we’re both going to try to avoid eating animal products when we move home. We try now but it is hard to avoid all animal products while traveling, especially if you don’t want to enjoy a steady diet of fried brown and white foods. Soon we will return to the land of almond milk lattes, smoothie bowls, and one of the cities with the highest per capita of plant-based restaurants in the world. Yes! As we have been reflecting on life and how we want to live it, we’d like to enjoy it for a long time and in good health, which is why a plant-based diet is in our Portland future.

Jason’s love for yoga has grown over the past two years and we are excited to join the local yoga studio when we move home. This far exceeds my wildest dreams. We did yoga throughout our year in Dar, and my stealth move of buying him his own yoga mat for our anniversary has really paid off. While yoga has been a love of mine for over 7 years, it is now something that has entered the rhythm of our life together. I try not to smile too big when he wants to discuss his form in chatarunga or assess the flow sequence of a class.

Our month in Patagonia also ignited a passion for exploring the mountains of our own backyard, the surface of which we have hardly scratched. Neither of us would describe ourselves as ‘outdoorsy’ and we are the only lushes we know (except you Tom!) who stayed inside the refugios while hiking the W. Everyone else camped like proper backpackers while we were busy sleeping with clean sheets and eating hot breakfasts served up by other people. I’m not exactly claiming any of these tendencies will change—I will probably always prefer sleeping inside because I am my father’s daughter—but we do hope to spend more time camping, hiking, outside, and disconnected. It really is good for our bodies, lungs, and minds. Why didn’t anyone ever say so?

Another way we are planning to be more ‘Portland’ is biking to work! Jason will get to use his faithful bike of the last 10 years and I need a new one, as my clunky vintage very cute bike is not cut out for commuting. I’m hoping to get a used bike and definitely plan to adorn it with a basket and maybe some hip panniers. That is what Portland people do, right? Our bike commutes will take us to OHSU, where we are both excited to start our new jobs in June.

Since young people go to Portland to retire, in keeping with what the kids are doing neither of us are working full-time. Stepping outside of the American/Western cycle of working a lot, to earn a lot, to spend a lot has been eye-opening for both of us. We’ve been living off $100/day and it has been very doable, save for the fact that I’m in serious need of some new underwear, a teeth-cleaning, etc. We decided after our year in Tanzania that one of our priorities, as individuals and as a couple, was to not get lost in the labyrinth of achievement.  So we are going to try working less, earning less, and spending less. We also have good jobs that pay well—not everyone can make such a choice. But a lot of us can. So we are going to try. What do we plan to do with our extra time? Enjoy hobbies, volunteer, walk to the grocery store, cook dinner. Try and move through the world a little more slowly than we have in the past.

Before we left, and during our travels, people have often asked us if we think going home will be hard or if we might find ourselves settling down somewhere outside the states. We dream of it sometimes, the loft in Mexico City or opening a B&B in some charming town on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. Yet the things we find most rewarding and life-giving are the connections we’ve formed with other human beings—friends, family, and other travelers that we spend an afternoon or a few days with before saying goodbye. We want to dig into these connections, with all the people who are home. Seeing the world has been a breathtakingly beautiful experience, both in its rugged physicality and the kindness of people.

We have learned so many different ways to live: how to not walk past a stranger without smiling and greeting them good morning, how to lean into making new friends and then saying goodbye, how to purchase the bare minimum amount of spices and groceries to make a different meal, and how to wash our clothes by hand, knowing which items can be depended upon to dry by morning before stuffed back into a backpack. We’ve grown in our resourcefulness of living with less, using less, needing less. We’ve been practicing minimalism of things in favor of connection with human beings and are hoping to continue this practice.

We have also learned so much about each other. I have learned not to speak when I am hangry because that will never end well, we often can finish each other’s sentences and predict each other’s thoughts, Jason points out the clothes on women passing by that he assumes I like and he is nearly always right, he will sometimes pause outside a shop and ask if I want to go in, again correctly guessing which cute succulents and clean lines I’m going to be drawn in by. Anyone who has joined up with us this year knows we can communicate any situation to death and detail out together each penny of our finances, our analysis of an interaction, and our dreams for the future. It is not noticeable to us until a second or third party makes us well aware of the ways we have lovingly morphed into each other. It is great. It is also a different us than when we left Portland, who showed up to a party and then naturally split to socialize independently. I guess this doesn’t exactly make us more ‘Portland’ per say, but these are reflections of the people we are coming home as.

The things we have learned through connecting with others, and each other, have only served to light the path on the road that takes us home. We are so excited to return to our community and to continue building it. It has been a privilege to be a guest in so many countries, cities and home for the last few years. Now we are ready to be home.