Jan 5th. This is the end .(da da daaaa). Beautiful friends, the end.

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Well, I’ve put off writing this all day as I didn’t really want to accept that it was over. And believe it or not, I don’t just mean the trip, I mean the blog too. A lot of people have asked me why I wrote it, and especially why I put so much time into it. I guess the simple answer is that I really enjoyed it, far more than I expected to. I enjoyed sitting down and describing what I’d done, where I’d been, adding a picture or 2, recording it for posterity but also gathering my thoughts at the time. This last post will hopefully put it all into context.

The advent of wireless internet made a lot of it possible. I wrote in wireless-enabled bars, cafes, hotel rooms, and friend’s houses. Sometime I wrote offline then went to an internet café and uploaded it. But travelling on your own is bound to leave some quiet moments and at times it was a really welcome distraction. There were also - it must be said - times when I found it hard to be bothered (and a couple when I was really too drunk to type) - but not too many of them.

There were moments when I looked back only 2 or 3 days and couldn’t really remember the detail of what I’d done. This, I suppose, bearing in mind that my memory isn’t exactly top notch, is the real value to me of the whole thing. Sometime soon I’ll print the entire thing out from start to finish, and I’ll have a record of the whole 6 week trip which I’d really like to think I’ll keep somewhere safe and have a look at from time to time. Then if anyone ever says ‘What should I do in San Francisco’ I’ll have an answer. If I hadn’t written it all down, I’d have probably shrugged and said ‘try a few bars’. Because I did write it all down, I’ll say ‘try a few bars’ - but I’ll be able to name a few.

A lot of people also commented on the amount of time I spent trying the aforementioned bars. As most of you know, the trip was never meant to be me on my own, and so I had to adapt, and I’m not sure what else - as a lone traveller - I could’ve done to amuse myself. I was hardly likely to meet a girl with a perfect tummy, or a 21 yr old barmaid called Rachel, or a guy who looked like a bum but spoke fluent French, sitting in my hotel room watching junk TV. And I’m not the kind to hang around in coffee shops - indeed I’m not sure I’d really like to meet the kind of people who are. So I became a barfly. The act of ‘sitting at the bar’ was a real revelation in the US, I don’t know why the rest of the world doesn’t invite single people in and give them such a welcoming place to sit and chat to others. It led to a relatively high consumption of alcohol over the trip, but nothing my liver can’t handle (fingers crossed!). The whole time I was away I think I only suffered a few low-grade hangovers, 1 awkward and 1 reasonable grade 3 and 2 nasty but fairly well timed grade 4s. Not bad I think in the circumstances. No-one likes me, or even sees me if they’re lucky, with a grade 5.

Anyhow, there were many high points to such a long trip:-

- The night in San Francisco with Joe and Claire, in the oldest bar in town with the girl who was too drunk to use a dukebox but played the sax like she was born with it in her hands.

- The first night in Austin, in Fado, where I met Gareth and Sally and lots of their friends and stayed out much too late.

- My night out with Raymond in South Congress (also Austin), hugging the restaurant owner, Purists, doing shots with the wait staff, meeting the Vietnam vet who had issues with ‘Moos-lims’, and Laura with her lovely car and dubious friend.

- A night with Will in New York when we chatted to every man (well, woman) and their dog, and got over familiar with an ice hockey fan whose boyfriend didn’t want to go to Chamonix.

- All my time in the UK spent catching up with lots of old friends - you know who you are, and each night was great after so long in Sydney. Then of course my family, and their friends. The Tan Hill Inn (I hope you watched the youtube links!). The Anniversary party.

- And my final night in Bangkok, which truly was a ‘league of nations’ night.

It’s not really been 1 long holiday, it’s been a collection of shorter ones as each place was very diverse. I’ve been on 8 flights, and spent more than 48 hours sitting on planes. I’ve slept in 12 different beds. According to the map, I’ve flown over 25000 miles / 41000 km. I’ve spent more money than I care to think about just yet. I’ve met some fantastic people, many of whom are now recipients of this blog, I’ve spent some constructive time with distant colleagues (although I know there’s a few of you that will doubt that). I’ve seen some fantastic things.

Some of you have been complimentary about my writing, which is very kind. I think it tailed off a bit towards the end, but I’ve tried to make it entertaining and personal where I can. To be honest, I could’ve written much more if I’d had the time as it’s the little details that make things funny but there were times when I was conscious of burbling on.

Part of me wants to live Bill Bryson’s life, I love his books, but now I’m home I realise that spending big chunks of time on the road is not really me, and not something I’d ever want to do regularly. I hate packing and repacking the bag, carrying the bag, not buying something because it won’t fit in the bag, worrying about excess baggage charges……life standing still is no bad thing most of the time, although it’s all the better for being broken up once in a while by life with the bag.

All this talk about bags, I must compliment my bag. A Macpac ‘Zambese’ which has proved to be an invaluable piece of kit. The only thing I travelled with which was more important was my Salomon walking boots. I love to walk, I actually wish I’d taken a pedometer so I’d have some vague idea of how many miles I’d done. It’s a lot.

Of course there have been times when it wasn’t all sh!ts and giggles too. The death of Will’s father of course tops this list - indeed everything else pales by comparison - it was so great to see Will after 3 years and such a shame he had to dash home in such awful circumstances. This really dampened my spirits for the whole time I was in New York. I must go back there, as I left with a fairly negative view of the place but I’m sure it’s really down to some unusually cold weather and Will’s sudden need to depart in a hurry.

The old guy shitting himself on the plane yesterday morning did come in a close second though.

Now I’m back home, I would like to reassure you that my life will become healthier. The drinking will subside to normal background levels (admittedly not exactly tee-total), the smoking stops in the morning (fingers crossed), and exercise will be more than simply wandering about (honest).

The website gives me stats of how many people have read each posting, and I guess I have to be flattered that most of you seem to have read most of the posts. I hope you enjoyed them. I hope that maybe when some of you go on a similar trip, you might entertain me with the same kind of thing, but if not no worries. Like I said, I did this mainly for me and sharing this kind of stuff is a very personal decision.

The blog ends here. I have no doubt that as soon as I hit the upload button I’ll think of something earth-shatteringly important, but it’ll have to keep - this is it. No more spam from me.

And PS - if any of you feel the urge to make any final comments, to add to the log of the whole thing, they would be appreciated. To those of you who made them as I went, thanks!

Cheers all. Pete

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