The one with the happy ending

---

So, here we are, home at last. It seems fitting to end our blog with another first.. I am sitting on the sofa in my PJ’s writing this blog on my laptop back in blighty..yep…no more fancy (Japan) or not so fancy (India) t’internet cafes for us. In fact the only cafs we will see for the foreseeable future are the greasy trucker spoon types, and indeed my very favourite caf in Walford on the tele. This behemoth of a trip is finally over. In a pre-emptive strike we are going to sum up, add our highlights and some of our favourite pics of the last year. Hopefully it will answer some of your questions and let our lucky bugger mates who are still away prepare themselves for their return - you are all coming back one day guys!

It has been an emotional rollercoaster but one we will never forget. There have been highs, amazing places to visit and amazing things we have seen and experiences had. There have also been lows, even in the busiest of bars, with all your “friends” around you, it is still possible to feel incredibly lonely. With over 11,700 hits, this blog has been all over the world with us, so, here we go, a whopping 29 flights (and lots of carbon footprints) through too many countries to count, 351 days away travelling in lanes, trains, planes and automobiles. This is the big one!

We have been home for 7 weeks now. How time flies…lets take a step back….

We left Los Angeles with a might of intrepidation shall we say. It is hard to convey the feelings you have when you are returning to the homeland after such a long time away. Mentally I had been there for the last month of our trip. When we came back from Indonesia it really felt like then end, even though we still had a month in Fiji to go! With every new place you always have a sense of dread……will I like it, how long will it take to get used to it, what will the food be like, what will the accommodation be like, how much will internet be…the list goes on and on. Way back in India, the answer would most certainly be no I would not like it. Even our mammoth through South East Asia was hard. Moving our homes on our backs every few days is unsettling and it always takes a while to bed in, if at all. Is that what coming home would be like?

Would we settle in? Where were we going to live? Andrew returning to the police and me being worried about getting a job. With minus thousands in the bank, Christmas coming up and the cold winter days to face, could we do it? Could we let go of our backpacks?

Of course! I am Lara, queen of the wardrobe…coming home has been like putting on your favourite pair of PJ’s, grabbing a bar of choccy and watching Eastenders. Thank God!

It was an amazing feeling waiting in baggage at Heathrow. It was like we had been away to Scotland for the weekend and not for a whole year. But when we walked through arrivals (it felt a little bit like stars in their eyes…and tonight matthew….) my family was there to meet us with banners and t-shirts and it was all somewhat overwhelming. No-one really knows what to say to each other and then there is just a barrage of questions. Not to mention the jetlag.

Seeing our friends has been somewhat weird. You are conscious not to bore people with travel tales. Some are more interested than others (usually seasoned travellers themselves) and the standard question of how was the last year is very hard to answer. Usually we say it was excellent and went very quickly before moving on to chat about eastenders/ police business / the ashes….

So, here it is in full…..WHAT WAS IT LIKE AND HOW HAS COMING HOME BEEN…

Coming home
It feels a little bit like we have woken up after being in a coma for a year. There is no place like home and reassuringly, if not a little weirdly, things have not changed a bit, and people are the same. It is weird, when people talk of last year we assume they mean 2005 and it is strange to say that in a few days it will be 2007 because for us 2006 has never really happened. This feeling is made even stronger by the realisation that for us things have changed so much, we have seen and done so much, but coming home makes it feel as if none of that has happened as everything here is exactly as we left it. That’s a good thing though. In fact, catching up on the gossip has been one of the best things. So fellow travellers, prepare yourself, your parents are the only ones who will listen to all your tales. That is good though because you need to settle quickly and there is no point in living in the past. Enjoy the memories but we have learnt that you need to get to grips with being back quickly.

Andrew and I are both back at work and back into the busy swing of things. Although temping at the moment, I start at Google on 22nd January which is really exciting. I have been to Topshop and everything!

What has changed
The Arctic Monkeys - who the hell are they - are massive, Noel Edmonds is a national hero again and Take That are back - WEHEY!!! Chip and Pin, Eastenders (although that took only a week to come up to speed on), the way you pay in a cheque at HSBC. My nephew and niece are proper little people, Andrews sister is married, my sister is divorced, friends are engaged to people we have never met, people have had babies (people we know that is), people are having babies with people we don’t even know (and it must be questioned whether they even do) skinny jeans have taken off in a way I never would have predicted and walking around in London is like being transported back into the 80’s. Oh yeah….and Dixons is now called Curry.Digital (you can see who was interested in that!)…………Is it really only 351 days??

THE STATS……..

Countries visited……
India 23 days
Singapore 2 days
Malaysia too many days!
Borneo not enough days
Thailand 2 months just shy of
Burma 15 minutes
Cambodia 10 days
Vietnam 23 days
Hong Kong 5 days
China 1 month
Japan 10 days
Australia 5 months off and on
Indonesia 6 weeks
New Zealand 6 hours (and not a prison stay thank god)
Fiji 3 weeks
America 1 week

On India….amazing experience, most fascinating and cultural place, manic Pushkar, the Taj Mahal, Varanassi, Delhi

On Singapore…ITS CLEAN! Zoo, china town and first experience in a hawker stall, first dorm experience, hot and sunny, Singapore sling at the Raffles

On Malaysia….first independent travelling, bedbugs at fathers guesthouse, horrible hostel in the Taman Negara, beach barbeques on Langkawi, crappy Penang

On Borneo…..Orangutangs, Turtle Island…realising we could live for £3 per day between us at the same time as realising how thin we were then asking for seconds of AEROPLANE FOOD!

On Thailand….The FOOD (except the pigs testicles), the bad weather, the people, Christmas dinner on a pool table, New Years Eve on the beach, learning to dive, diving on Phi Phi, ping pong shows in Bangkok, night buses for the first time, hell fire pass, Tiger temple, thai cooking class, Pai, chest infection from hell, learning to ride mopeds.

On Cambodia….The poverty, the history, the little kids selling stuff, the taxi share between Phnom Penh and Kampot, the night of the happy pizza, bumping into Fiona, travelling on bikes all the time, S21

On Vietnam….shooting an AK47, being ripped off, the boy in the sand dunes, riding along the coast of Mui Ne on the back of a motorbike driven by a smelly man, sapa and hill tribe and how fucking freeeeezing it was, being homesick

On Hong Kong….The skyline, the shopping, Dan Ryan Chicago Bar and Grill, cheesecake in the Italian restaurant, Dim Sum

On China….the spitting, seeing paddy, riding pushbikes in southern china, the bus journey with the fat Chinese man, Lijiang, holding a panda, walking Tiger Leaping Gorge, the car journey where we nearly died in Datong, being sick on the roof in Beijing, people in the parks excersising

On Japan…The relentless rain in Kyota, the Geisha district, the cherry blossom, Hiroshima, spending the night in an internet booth in Tokyo, eating sushi and eating in the fry your own tempura place

On Australia…Seeing mum and dad, Sydney Harbour, watching surfers an learning to surf, campervanning the west coast, miles of nothing on the road, swimming with whale sharks and manta rays, broome sunsets, kakadu, the sunshine and blue skies of the NT, ayers rock, diving the barrier reef.

On Indonesia…AMAZING, honing our surf skills, purchasing our own custom made boards, diving the gilli’s, hanging with Triso(honey - you made the best blog!)

On Fiji….The RAIN, the big yellow boat, SHARKS, Kava, singing, Octopus Resort

On America….The food, the lack of culture, the buffet at the Bellagio and of course..Rodeo Drive baby!

What have we learned…
The world is not really that big. You are never more than a time difference away and the invention of email and t’internet is awesome.

It is amazing to experience different cultures and learn first hand that the prejudices we hold of other nations are so ill founded. It was also amazing to see the prejudices other countries have of us and especially of the US. I guess Mr Blair and Mr Bush have a lot to answer for there. To be asked in China by a Taxi driver who spoke NO English other than Bush? We shook our heads and the journey was allowed to commence. Incredible!

Andrew learned he could finally let go and relax a little and I learned that I am not really as big a wimp as I thought I was and have developed so much personally. I conquered a lot of fears and gained so much confidence. I can scuba dive and I eat fish now. I even had a hot drink when I was away. Maybe I am finally growing up.

And here it is 100 most common answered question’s (well not really 100)

This is a list compiled together and hotly debated I might add. Would love to say we had one answer for each, but it is just too God Damned Hard!

Favourite City (or plural)…..
Tokyo, Honk Kong and Sydney

Favourite Country (plural again!)….
Thailand for the ease and beauty and the food, Cambodia and India for the culture and China for the ups and downs and biggest variety and Australia for the liveability factor

Least Favourite Country…
China for the reasons above and Vietnam for rip offs and scammers

Rudest Nationality…
Chinese

Best Adventure….
Tiger Leaping Gorge and Shark Dive

Funniest thing…
When the monkey landed on my kayak in Krabi and tried to kill me. Oh yeah..and Andrews face when he received a hot towel massage at the urinal in Thailand

Wierdest thing…
Sleeping rough on the streets in Australia…twice!

Happiest times…
Indonesia, kakadu Part 2 and Andrew reckons he found himself at Surf Camp!

Most Beautiful…
Asides of me looking in the mirror everyday (ha ha), Taj Maha, Great Wall of China, beaches in Fiji and Phi Phi Ley

Biggest Impact / Most Inspiring…
Poverty in Cambodia and India, History in Cambodia and watching the burning of the bodies on the Ghats in Varanassi, India, Tsunami impacted Thailand

Scariest Moment…
When the effects of happy pizza were wearing off and we thought we were to be killed in our beds in Cambodia

Nicest People..
Ooohhh its so hard..the staff in Rainbow café, Bali

I would never go back to….
Hanoi, Vietnam

Most memorable Journey…
Phnom Penh to Kampot for the experience, bus journeys in china for a taotally different experience

Best wildlife…
Sharks everywhere in the world

Worst moment under the sea…
Shark Dive and first night dive on the barrier reef…

Best moment under the sea…
SharkDive

Best night out
Turning 25 and neighbours night

Worst homesickness
India and Vietnam

Time we considered we would never come home…
Cambodia (see above under scariest moment), Thailand and Indonesia

Money Spent..
Too much ooops

Best thing we ate…
Seafood in Indonesia and Australia (lara), curries in Thailand (Andrew), Kangaroo Pizza

Worst thing we ate
PIGS TESTICLES IN THAILAND

Best Meal..
It’s a hard one..here goes.
Max, Bali for consistently amazing food
Na’s Kitchen Thailand - Value
Dan Ryan Chicago Bar and grill Hong Kong…so homesick and desperate for red meat!

Most useful phrase learnt in another language….
Bu yao she she - no thanks I do not want whatever you are trying to sell me and no I will not just give you my money in China

Tidak, terimakasi - See above in Indonesia

Best Achievement..
Andrew - letting go and relaxing
Lara - EVERYTHING, the canopy walkway in Malaysia, learning to dive, the shark dive, eating seafood, sleeping rough, dtayingin dorms with smelly showers, toilets in china!!

Days worked..
ZERO…we were on our holidays!

Worst Toilet…..
The road stop on the overnight bus in Lijiang (I still dry heave at the thought!)

Best Hostel….
Gilligans in Cairns

Worst hostel….
Eketon in Taman Negara

Most Luxurious accommodation..
MGM Grand in Vegas

Wierdest accommodation….
Village hut over a chicken pen in Northern Thailand

Wish we had..
Skydived, goen to New Zealand and gone to Lao

Wish we had never…
Eaten at McDonalds in Jaipur, India (if there was a needle around I would have been pooing through its eye!)

Cried the most when….
Leaving heathrow and lots and lots of times after (including the death of the magical Steve Irwin, saying goodbye to Michael in Bangkok, bus journeys in China and the night of the cockroach in India)

I thought I would never make it when…
A cockroach fell on my face in India 2 days in when I was asleep

Laughed hardest when…
Michael came out to Thailand, on the road to Alice Springs from Darwin and in Fiji

I would move to…
Australia

I would rather be dead than……
Go to the toilet in China again!

Phew, there you go….Everyday of our travels was not perfect but I would not change it for the world other than to take you with me next time!

THE END

---