As we've said before, but it's always worth saying again, what has marked this trip the most are the people. People we set out to visit, people who showed up along the way without warning, people who helped us. Sitting down, talking, staying a while. No social media noise, no rush of big cities. Just the presence of being there, in a time that isn't chasing anything.
And very often we hear the same question: "So, are you heading back?"
It sounds like a question with a simple answer. But it is not. Not for us, anyway...
If we say "yes, we're going back to Brazil," that seems right, as we are Brazilian after all. If we say "no, this is just a long trip," that also seems right, as we're Canadian too. Both answers make sense, but neither one gets at what's really behind the question.
Because the question often carries an assumption: that being somewhere is a fixed, final thing. We moved to Canada, full stop. Now we're going back to Brazil, full stop. But our life has never been that way. We've lived in five different cities, in houses we can't even count anymore. Changing and moving has always been part of who we are and how we live.
Maybe a more precise question would be, "Are you going, or coming back?" And the truest answer we've found is: We're going. Always going.
There's something funny in that, too. In Brazil, after 13 years abroad, we are seen as foreigners. In Canada, even after all that time, we are also foreigners there as well. Being constantly on the move, and conscious that we do not belong fully to any one place, gives us a certain flexibility moving between contexts, without the weight of needing to fully belong to either one.
None of this is new for us. We reinvented ourselves so many times - from in-person training to online facilitation, from client consulting to training other facilitators, from English to Portuguese, from fixed to mobile. It's no accident that the company we founded in Canada is called Flow Ahead. Moving forward can also mean going back, depending on where you're looking from.
Here's another fun fact: having Starlink gives us a huge amount of freedom, being able to connect whether we're working or not, without having to arrive anywhere in particular. But even a satellite internet company asks for a "permanent address" before they'll ship you the dish and let you sign the contract...🤣
So when someone asks us: are you heading back? The answer, for now, is: We're going. Always.
And here's a thought that came from a US border officer who asked us, almost poetically: Where is home for you?
If this question echoes with you in any way, tell us in the comments, by email, on WhatsApp, or over on PolarSteps, where we've been documenting our Crossings in photos, videos, and the whole route on a map. It's been really good having this close contact with everyone following along. 💜
Carolina, Miguel and Fernando
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