The fat lady is singing, and it's all over but the crying. 400 days have come and gone, but wow – what an adventure! 6 continents, and 44 countries in all. We met so many great people, saw a lot of things, enjoyed many new experiences, and learned a ton. Indeed, these were the purposes for doing this trip.
Although this does not come as an epiphany, I think the strongest impression this trip has made on me personally is to recognize and really appreciate the degree of poverty in which most of the world lives. Life in Canada is pretty good, even when it's bad. I'm not saying we should grow complacent – indeed we should agitate for improvement, but all the while recognize that we have it pretty good.
We saw first hand the cruelty people can exhibit against one another, but also incredible acts of kindness. Some of our best memories are those spontaneous acts of kindness that complete strangers showed us. I hope that from this we can learn to live with open minds and kind hearts as well.
Other major themes of the trip were to take in all the cultural nuances we could – food, drink, arts, religion, clothing, social practices, language, etc. Oh, and almost missing a lot of our flights, buses and trains. That was another common theme of our travels!
If anyone is interested in the chronological list of countries, here's where we spent our 400 days:
Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, North Ireland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Poland, Scotland, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), USA, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and Mexico. Phew!
And so it is with mixed emotions that I am back home. Am I ready to be back? No way! There's still so much of the world to experience. I've never been to Antarctica before, and I'd like to go to Holland with my dad, and it would be nice to visit Russia again, and of course there's Central America, Iran and the Middle East, etc. In fact, I think we need to do this again! Having said that, it's fantastic to be reaquainted family and friends.
One of the best parts of the trip was catching up with our international friends. It was so much fun to see familiar faces once in a while – especially when it was on their turf. While on tour we managed to meet up with:
1) Stuart and Anita in Mollymook, Australia (for their wedding)
2) Kouros and Fereshteh in Mollymook, Australia (also guests for the wedding)
3) Asha in Gold Coast, Australia (hmmmm)
4) Reinhold in Papa Moa, New Zealand
5) Daniel and Carmen in Sydney, Australia
6) Ian (but not Danielle) in Ireland
7) John and Arranny in Paris, France
8) Axel in Dresden, Germany
9) Daniel and Carmen (again) in Berlin, Germany
10) Khristi and Tim in Munich, Germany
11) Inita in Cologne, Germany
12) Shauna in Arusha, Tanzania
13) Dave and Sarah in Istanbul, Turkey
14) Gaietry in Bangalore, India
15) Mark and Laura in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam
16) Claire in Shanghai, China
17) Bao Demei in Nanjing, China
18) Xu Tao in Nanjing and Xi'an and Beijing, China
19) Katsunari, Yumi, and family in Oita, Japan
20) Akira in Tokyo, Japan
21) Luke in Tokyo, Japan
22) Amanda's family in New York, USA
23) Carlyle in Curitiba, Brazil
24) Stuart and Anita (again) in Quito, Ecuador
25) Duncan in Lima, Peru
26) Pat in Lima, Peru
27) Amanda's aunt Gloria in Chicago, USA
28) Fabian, Elsa, and family in Bogotá, Colombia
2) Kouros and Fereshteh in Mollymook, Australia (also guests for the wedding)
3) Asha in Gold Coast, Australia (hmmmm)
4) Reinhold in Papa Moa, New Zealand
5) Daniel and Carmen in Sydney, Australia
6) Ian (but not Danielle) in Ireland
7) John and Arranny in Paris, France
8) Axel in Dresden, Germany
9) Daniel and Carmen (again) in Berlin, Germany
10) Khristi and Tim in Munich, Germany
11) Inita in Cologne, Germany
12) Shauna in Arusha, Tanzania
13) Dave and Sarah in Istanbul, Turkey
14) Gaietry in Bangalore, India
15) Mark and Laura in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam
16) Claire in Shanghai, China
17) Bao Demei in Nanjing, China
18) Xu Tao in Nanjing and Xi'an and Beijing, China
19) Katsunari, Yumi, and family in Oita, Japan
20) Akira in Tokyo, Japan
21) Luke in Tokyo, Japan
22) Amanda's family in New York, USA
23) Carlyle in Curitiba, Brazil
24) Stuart and Anita (again) in Quito, Ecuador
25) Duncan in Lima, Peru
26) Pat in Lima, Peru
27) Amanda's aunt Gloria in Chicago, USA
28) Fabian, Elsa, and family in Bogotá, Colombia
While acknowledging those friends we met up with, we must also say thanks to our families at home who really went out of their way to make this trip possible. Amanda's father, Ed, thanks so much for looking after business while we were away. Your role in all of this was absolutely pivotal in us being able to do this trip. Mom – you too – thanks for taking on a big chunk of the paper work while we were gone! And thanks also to Amanda's mom Carol, and to my dad for the assistance you also provided! And one final shout out, which goes out to my incredible wife for tolerating me 24/7 for a year straight. I don't think there are many people capable of doing this, but you did it with a smile. You're the best!
Thanks also to CouchSurfing.org Wow – what a fantastic web site; it brings together hosts in their home city who are willing to accommodate total strangers who are passing through (like us) – and it's totally free. We Couch Surfed maybe 50 nights which saved us thousands of dollars, but even in countries with inexpensive hotels we Couch Surfed for the cultural exchange. We made some really good friends this way.
While signing off, I also want to say thanks to everyone for following along with my blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did sharing this with you all. I'd love to hear comments or questions from anyone who'se willing to oblige. I love hearing back from people.
Peace out...
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