Going Home

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(Dave and Gem write...)

Well, the time has come for us to catch a flight home.

To pre-empt a few questions people might have, and for our own benefit, we decided to do one last blog entry with our thoughts on the trip, cleverly divided into headings as below...

Best Moments

Here's a few highlights from each place we've been to (not exhaustive!):

- Boston: Spending time with Donna & Joe, especially drinking Joe's chocolate frappes!

- New York: Seeing 'Chicago' on broadway

- Fiji: Drinking Kava in a traditional Fijian village in the mountains.

- Australia: Sleeping under the stars in the desert, sailing around the Whitsunday islands, and completing our scuba diving course.

- New Zealand: Hiking over volcanoes in Tongariro National Park.

- Bali: Climbing Mount Batur for sunrise.

- Singapore: Living and eating in Little India.

- Malaysia: Trekking in the jungle in Taman Negara National Park.

- Thailand: Elephant-riding in Pai, and hiking to a Karen Hill tribe village.

- Laos: Hanging out with friends in Luang Prabang, and learning about the war legacy and mine clearance in Phonsavan.

- Vietnam: Visiting monasteries and learning about buddhism on the motorbike tour around Hue.

- Cambodia: Angkor Wat.

Worst moments

The worst moment of our trip was when Gem had been taken to hospital in Sydney, due to the infection in her knee that she picked up in Fiji. At one stage she was nil by mouth and hours away from having knee surgery. The doctors said she would need a knee replacement. That was pretty terrifying. Luckily it didn't come to that, but she did have to spend a week in hospital and it wasn't a very pleasant experience.

Arriving back in Bangkok just a few days ago was a pretty awful experience, right in the middle of the Songkram (New Year) celebrations. The crowds were out of control and it was very intimidating.

Sharing a house with a couple in Sydney that we didn't get on with.

Stomach bugs in Bali & Lombok, particularly when Gem was stuck in bed for three days on Gili Air (an island).

Being swamped by touts on our arrival in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Arriving at the airport in Perth to fly to Bali, only to find our flight had been cancelled and our travel agency (STA) hadn't bothered to inform us!

Most bone-shakingly terrifying moment

This one's easy - jumping out of a plane at 12,000 feet. Just talking about it still turns our legs to jelly!

Frequently Asked Questions

Cost: the trip cost us around 8000 pounds each, including all living costs, transport, spending money, everything we had to buy back home (flights, insurance, jabs etc.)

Vegetarian diet: we've had almost no problems on the trip being veggie. In fact, in Bali we were quite revered for not eating meat!

Things we've missed: Family and friends, music, cooking for ourselves (in Asia), decent quality television, roast potatoes, cool weather (might change our minds next week), hot showers (at least when we've been having cold ones every day).

Relationship: we have got on really well during the trip. Travelling basically magnifies the highs and lows that you normally experience back home, which is not surprising when you spend 24 hours a day in each other's company. However, we have actually grown closer over the last year.

Thank-yous!

During this trip we have been kindly hosted by the following people:

- Donna & Joe (USA)
- Sharon & Dan (USA)
- Sharon & Den (Sydney)
- Sue, Pete & Roxy (Adelaide)
- Guy, Anna, Rebecca and Jonathan (Christchurch)
- Clare & Adit (Sanur, Bali)

Thanks to all of the above for going out of their way to make us welcome during our stay. It was one of the highlights of the trip to see the differences and similarities between living in the UK and those countries.

Also a big thank-you to people who met up with us on the trip:

- Emily (Boston)
- Dave's Mum (Cairns)
- Gem's parents (New Zealand and Perth)
- Alex, Rachel & Lisa (Perth)

Thank you all for the company, it was especially nice to see familiar faces abroad. It was much appreciated when our parents arrived to spoil us with luxury in resorts and apartments!

Thanks also to everyone back home who kept in touch whilst we were away, and for everyone that followed our travels on the blog.

And that's it...

We're both excited and nervous about going home. Not sure how our bodies are going to adapt from 40 degrees to 15 in the space of a week, it might take a while!

(Gemma writes...)

I cannot believe that the year has come to an end. It will be very surreal to be at home, the time has flown by, but it feels like we have been away for a long time, (if that makes sense!) As cliched as it is, I can honestly say, I have had the time of my life, well, we both have. There have definately been many more highs than lows in this year and although I have sometimes felt homesick I have taken to travelling like a duck to water. I love it! I enjoy the constant movement, the new experiences, meeting people and most of all seeing and learning about different countries. I should add, it can be tiring and isn't always easy or fun though. I definately wouldn't rule out more travelling in the future, although for now I am happy to be going home to spend time with my family and then moving to York to do my PGCE and qualify as a teacher. I hope you have enjoyed the blog, I am glad that we have it as a record of our adventures. The memories of this trip will most certainly last me a lifetime.

(Dave writes...)

I'm going to miss travelling. I'm going to miss getting up at 5am in the morning and arguing with a tuk-tuk driver who claims it's 25km to a bus station that's just down the road. I'm going to miss the near-death-experiences that are an everyday occurrence in Asia. When I get home I won't be able to watch monks collecting alms early in the day, or buy food from someone cooking on the side of the road. Or fly down a dirt track on a motorbike without a helmet. But living at home isn't meant to be like travelling, and there are lots of things I am looking forward to about getting back. Like a career, or furthering my education, or just continuing hobbies that have been put on hold for a year. All in all, it's going to be a change of pace to return home, but something I'm sure we'll quickly adapt to. I have loved this year and intend to spend a lot of the next year looking back at it, collecting photos and enjoying reading our blog and the journals we've kept. Now, I'm off to catch a flight and have a nice cup of tea and a couple of digestives...

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