It's Almost Unreal

Singapore

No, this is not about the song by Roxette. But I do feel like this at the moment.
The realisation is hitting home that I have only 2 more days to my long holiday and this trip to the other side of the world. If you're going away for so long the end, going home, always seems to far in the future. You think that you have one entire year - such a long time to be away that it seems forever. You can stay in a place for a week because you like it, get stuck for another day or two because there are no train tickets available. Or in a single week you spend nights in three different hotels in three different locations, cities or even states. You think about your next destination, what you'll see next or about all the things that you have already seen. You meet some many people, some you get to know better because you hang around for a while, others are just brief acquaintances. Thus, being on the road becomes your life. You think in terms of hostels, train or bus connections, sights or activities. Like one new friend said, it would be cool to spend your entire life just wondering whether you'll go diving today or take a boat trip or which sights you'll visit. Home becomes a distant memory, the life you used to live. Sometimes missed, sometimes happily left behind. But to think "I'll be home soon" is just unreal. Surreal. I look outside and I see Singapore with its Chinese and Tamil street and shop signs, its food centres that serve curry and chicken rice; I sweat in the warm breeze even at night as I listen to people speaking Mandarin or Bahasa Melayu or Tamil. How could I be in Germany in just three days? How could all this change into German speaking bakeries and soon-to-open Christmas fairs?
The thought of going back to the old life evokes both a sense of relief to have a home again and sadness because the free life is coming to an end. It's bitter-sweet. It's the return to the real world. I knew it was coming of course but that's the point: it was always so far in the future. I've been in Asia for so long that I actually don't feel that much as a stranger here anymore. I feel comfortable. It's going back to Germany that makes me wonder whether I'll fit in, whether I'll feel restricted or confused by the way things are done there. It'll certainly be interesting.