How long has it been since you left home?

Six weeks? Six months? A few forgotten years?

Without stretches of routine before and after our vacations, they would become indistinguishable. And yet, how scary are those in-between times – borders demarcating the people we become when scenery changes.

Is traveling like riding a bike, does it come back naturally? Or do you have to force it, start from scratch and re-learn to speak the language, double-check directions and always carry handwipes?

Sometimes, returning to the role of a traveler brings on the same questions and doubts it did the very first time that passport opened.

So may the following quotes give us confidence to return – to destinations, to people we have been before – navigators always, no matter how frequently we practice…

I haven’t had the time to plan returning to the scene because I haven’t left it yet. – Mick Jagger

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. – Nelson Mandela

It is always the same. Whether you are walking or going by train, the way always seems shorter the second time than the first. (And that is true of distances that are not to be measured in miles and yards.) – Erich Kastner

The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to close it again on something solid. – G. K. Chesterton

Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will. – Vernon Howard

As we travel through life, life will not only take us to unexpected places, but it will also take us to places that we already know. – Anthony T. Hincks

To feel is to go to the places you were. – Will Advise

If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong. – Masaru Emoto

What (or where) are you returning to this year?