Two hours from Melbourne to Sydney, thirteen hours from Sydney to San Francisco, and then.... five hours from San Francisco to D.C. We're finally home.
Nine countries and 184 days later we have arrived home during the coldest cold spell that D.C. has seen in seven years. Coming back was like jumping from the frying pan into the freezer.
I've been doing a lot of contemplation about the trip these last few weeks. It's been one of those trips of a lifetime full of every imaginable extreme emotion. My memory is a photo album full of places and things whose beauty will stay with me forever and I saw some scenes that will always haunt me. I scraped the surface of getting to know and understand some countries that I had only read or dreamt about. I learned a lot of geography.
People often come back from long trips with a horror story or two about their health or being robbed or something. But despite the places we were and the ubiquitous travel advisories we both stayed very healthy except for the odd sour stomach and my bout with Typhoid. We were never robbed (though we were humourously duped more than once) and never harmed in any way (though we weren't expecting to be).
On the last flight home we took some time separately to write out ten highlights of our trip. Though we did it independantly the lists are very similar. I thought I'd share them with you.
*Neither list is in any particular order
Magi's Highlights
1. May Kaidees red curry in Bangkok
2. Shopping for textiles in Luang Prabang, Laos
3. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival food in Thailand
4. Meeting the animals at the Healesville Sanctuary outside of Melbourne, Australia
5. Renting scooters in Pai, Thailand and taking them to the hot springs
6. The beaches of Ko Tao, Thailand
7. Bungee Jumping in Phuket, Thailand
8. All of the beach dogs we met
9. Indian food in India
10. DVD shopping in Manila
Krishna's Highlights
1. Diving in Ko Tao, Thailand
2. The Healesville Sanctuary outside of Melbourne
3. The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand
4. Markets in Luang Prabang, Laos
5. Going to my great uncle Harry's grave in Manila
6. Riding a scooter in Pai's misty mountains
7. Indian food in India
8. The Cu Chi Tunnels outside of Saigon
9. Bungee Jumping (my first and last)
10. Jeepneys in Manila
I couldn't stop at ten so I gave an honourable mention to: May Kaidee's Restaurant (Bangkok), the smiling faces carved in Angkor Thom (Cambodia), South Indian schoolkids, The Taj Mahal (India), Ao Dais (Vietnamese national dress), Singapore Airlines (they give you free socks and their vegan meals are the best!), driving in a "backwards" car in Australia, meeting Palden and having him show me how to cook Tibetan soup (India), and visiting the place where Buddha gave his first sermon (Sarnath, India).
Looking back, I'm feeling very nostalgic and I'm sad that I won't be updating ToTheSea anymore. Oh, maybe I will anyway to prevent the inevitable post-trip depression.
Thank you to everyone who tuned in regularly (or once in a while) to see what we were up. An extra special thanks to those who worked to keep our guestbook alive (I'm looking at you Emerson!).
Until next time.
Love from us both.