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| Statistics |
| 134 beds slept in 255 days away 6 baby girls born to friends while we've been away 37 flights taken 14 countries visited 1 bone broken by Christian |
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| Christian's final thoughts, added 2nd August 2003: I have been putting this off. I know now that my adventures are at an end, and that this website has reached its conclusion. My feelings for the blog are mixed. On the one hand, I am proud of all we have achieved - of how sprawling the site is, of how persistent we were in updating regularly, no matter where we were. Then on the other hand, I hoped that it would be more. There is little doubt that the standard of writing decreased as the journey went on. Some of the initial entries, I think, were of a fairly credible literary standard. Alas, this could not be sustained. As soon as we touched down on foreign soil, I am ashamed to say that we “dumbed-down”. Aaron explained to me that there is a time for doing, and a time for reflection, but they cannot be achieved simultaneously. I shall adopt this as my defence: it is certainly true to say that we were Too Busy Having Fun. I can only apologise to those readers who had to put up with the bad spelling, the poor grammar, the slang and the nonsensical. But at least the blog achieved its main purpose – to keep those at home informed of our progress, and (I hope) entertained. In preparation for these final words, with some trepidation, I peeked back at our initial blog entries to see how our expectations matched our experience. Well, I suppose that it is true to say that we failed, and also that the experience far outweighed our imaginings. Let me clarify: Did we gain insight? Find God? Achieve enlightenment? Did Donna make it down to a size 10? Well truthfully… no. But we did have the time of our lives, to an extent that I could not have predicted. We had 9 months of absolute joy: the happiest times in our life, all condensed into one short space of time. Perhaps the reflection, and the wisdom, will hit me later. I think the main point I’m making here is that we at least expected that the trip would give us a clear answer to what we should do with our lives. In fact, it has only raised more questions. Do we now feel happy to settle back in England? Well, no. We would rather live in Australia, or New Zealand, or Japan, or HK, or Canada, or Panama, or South America, or… well just about anywhere. But there are our family and friends here in the UK, and that is the reason we are going to try and settle here – if we did move abroad, we would miss them terribly. Travelling, though, is a very addictive drug, and I suspect that I will now always feel the pull of terra incognito. I can already feel my feet beginning to itch having been back here for 3 weeks. The cliché is: the more you travel, the more you want to travel. So our next plans are: to ride the Trans-Siberian express, to circumnavigate the continent of Africa, to backpack across Central America, and Vietnam. We will get around to it – in about 10 years, once our finances have recovered. Things are pretty grim here. As I write, the rain pours down on the window of my parents’ attic. Donna is out, accompanying her Dad to a radiotherapy session. And to top it all, house prices continue to rise, so that it is likely we will never be able to afford even a modest terraced. But am I glad we did it? Unequivocally, categorically, without hesitation… yes. I would advise everyone: quit your job, sell your house, and travel the world. It will be the greatest experience of your life. Donna's final thoughts, added 2nd August 2003: The experiences, places, people and pure elation of the last 9 months on the road leave me lachrymose. I am choking back tears as I write; both tears of joy at the pleasure and freedom we enjoyed that many people will never feel, and also tears of sadness, the pain of being back on a dull tiny island where everything costs the earth and isn’t as pretty as everywhere we’ve visited. Don’t get me wrong I am glad to be back; back in the arms of those I love, and love me unquestionably in return. I have learnt to appreciate my family and friends even more. The constant rounds of parties and celebrations of our return are still ongoing and each time I whip out the photo album and talk yet another sucker through our experiences, the more I appreciate the time I spent away from them perusing the times of our lives. Perhaps most importantly I have come to accept that those we love will not always be there. As many of you know my Dad took ill whilst we were away and the prognosis is worse that I imagined. At present my life is split between my Dad, Christie Hospital and the motorway backwards and forwards to Wigan. The radiotherapy has given him hope but we are too well aware that that the treatment is palliative. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere in the world but here at the moment (although I would rather be anywhere else). This is an essay of contradictions for which I apologise. The one thing that I truly know is that the last 9 months of travel have made me glad to be on this earth. I now watch travel programmes intensely to see if we’ve been there and if not make a mental note to ensure it’s on a future itinerary. I look forward to emails from people we met along the way still on their trails and greedily read them with a flash of green eyes. Perhaps for me the greatest part of travelling was having Christian by my side. I always felt safe and had someone to share all the amazing sights and experiences with. But most importantly I got to spend day and night with him for 9 months. Never again will this be the case. It has made be realise without any shadow of a doubt that we are meant to be together. I was once told that travelling for a year with a partner is the equivalent of living together for 10 years – if this is true then we have now lived together for 19 years! In reflection travelling far exceeded all my expectations and has changed me somewhat, I made a list of things I have learnt about myself that it feels right to share: § I can cope with limited personal items (a simple uncluttered life); § I don’t care if I have a bad hair day (spending time drying my hair seems a waste now) § My accent is sometimes impenetrable; § I would not be good at presenting documentaries (see video evidence); § I may be goofy or just poorly balanced; § I have an intense dislike of fast food; § I can travel by bus; § I drink too much; § My hair grows faster than Christians. Well, it’s taken 9 months and a massive chunk of our savings to discover all of that but I am sure it’s worth it. The memories I have will never leave me and are a part of a legacy I can hand down to my children and grandchildren. It will be entitled “The Best Year Of My Life.” |