Last year, I came back to London and basked in the glow of reimagined familiarity and nostalgia.

This year, I still feel that warmth but after spending only a few days here, I know that I’m not ready to return. Whisper it quietly.. But is this progress?

Clichés exist for a reason. There is a crude truth to the generalization, which persists so steadfastly that it becomes glib and appears cheapened in value. But it doesn’t make it any less true.

And here’s that tired old cliché in question. I’ve learned a lot about myself since both moving to Hong Kong and returning periodically back to the UK. As Francis Bacon once said (mmm.. Bacon) “all colours agree in the dark”. But it’s only once you take yourself out of that all too comfortable environment that you get to see your own real colours – your shape, your compound reactions and interactions with the unprecedented variables around you.

Perhaps I’m over exaggerating. I’ve by no means had a tough time of it. In fact I’ve been incredibly fortunate both to get this chance to start Life 2.0, as well as getting the premium deluxe starter pack when I started it. I haven’t had to deal with a lot of the ” lost in translation” issues many people do, but I still find some pride in the fact that I was willing to step out of the dark in the first place.

Blogs about traveling are about transient moments and escapes from reality. So I’m glad I posted something firmly based in Real Life. I think unconsciously, I’ve just made an upgrade to Life 2.1.