I was back in Montreal.

One of my favourite cities on my trip around the world. I went there to see the launch of Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour, (reports and pictures on my new travel site TheWaywardTraveller.com).

It was really weird to travel again. And natural at the same time.  My first long-haul flight since I returned home, a 10-hour lift to Miami.

Followed by a few days in Fort Lauderdale under a tropical rainstorm, a few days exploring Atlanta, then10 days in Montreal and finally, Washington DC.

I was back in travel mode immediately. The airport, check-in, jet lag, rental car, the new city, getting a new public transport card… all that stuff I had done every four weeks during my journey.

God, I have missed it. As I wrote earlier, it’s like an adrenaline rush for a travel junkie. I get this energy boost.

And yes, it makes me tired, too, the jet lag, the change of climate. The partying…. but I feel like I double my energy output, in comparison to home.

It felt as if I hadn’t stopped travelling, and was still going on.

The feeling was strongest in Montreal of course, when I found my friends again, hung out at Picnik Electronik  with them, or just slept a round in the sun in Parc Lafontaine after a long night out.

It felt so familiar. I was just back in Montreal. Different Airbnb this time, but same area. A bike, my friends, my bars. The park. La poutine.

When I closed my eyes, I could just pretend that I was still travelling, that the journey hadn’t ended, that I had still nine months ahead of me with all the possibilities and freedoms…

That it wasn’t just a two-week hiatus from work life.

Listening to some of the songs on my play list from last year, that so represent me and my trip, looking up at the Montreal blue skies, damn, I was getting really nostalgic. I might have shed a tear, or two.

I don’t know what to do with this, I realise I have to work, at least for a little while. There’s time to play, and time to work.

But damn me, I miss that freedom!