Wrapping It Up

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Trip Start Sep 15, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End ??? ??, 2007

  Washington, DC, District of Columbia
Friday, June 1, 2007

We paused in Auckland for a 5 hour layover (can't be too careful when your flights are on separate tickets). There was plenty of time for us to walk out of the airport and have a 36 hole Mini Golf Challenge.  Right after we paid for all of it, an entire school of primary school kids came in and mobbed the course, hitting balls everywhere, climbing the rocks, and prodding the pond algae with their clubs.  The most intrepid explorer in front of us bore signs of being a natural daredevil- one sprained wrist and the other arm broken.  I imagine his game might have been affected.  Actually, it was maximum scores all around on every hole we watched, and we played slowly behind his group, talking while we waited for them to clear the next green.  In the end, we each won a round by the same number of strokes, necessitating a tie-braking round neither one of us could afford.  Mini Golf Challenge Co-Champions!

Back in Auckland airport, Cierra had a slight panic attack as we prepared to board the flight to LAX.  Rationally, she knew she had to go, but emotionally, it felt wrong to her.  She was only half-joking while asking if we had enough money to "not get on the plane and spend some more time here."  I explained patiently that that would create problems with, in order of magnitude, 1. her Mom, 2. the New Zealand Government, 3. our banking institutions, and 4., me.  I was a bit worried that I might have to wrestle her onto the plane and hold her down while they went through the safety demonstration, but fortunately the debate was soon over and rationality declared the winner. 

I wasn't rational once on the flight and confronted with a state-of-the-art entertainment system for the first time in many months.  With dozens of movies available free on demand, I decided to stay awake throughout the 11 hour flight and watch as many as I could.  By far the most powerful was "The Last King of Scotland", in which Forrest Whitaker channels Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin.  Watching that one took us right back to Africa, right down to the Swahili that we could understand snatches of. 

Bleary eyed, we wandered through LAX, changed some money, boarded our flight to Washington.  Couple of winks on the plane, then touchdown again, walking through the airport towards a hug from my father.  He leaned against a rental car counter, sipping a tall cup of coffee, eager to talk about our trip and catch us up on the news from home.  Home.  Wow.  We drove towards it, and I stayed awake, amazingly, as we all chattered away.  Home.  We really were there, the trip over, yet all the adventures we'd had were flashing through our heads as we answered Dad's questions.

 What have we learned?  Let's see...

Reservations are definitely not required...they're not even recommended.

True serenity is a beach in Thailand.

Hospitality is everywhere, especially where you least expect it.

It's possible to be perfectly happy with next to nothing, or miserable with everything you could ask for... life depends on your perspective on it.

American financial standard of living is beyond the wildest dreams of the vast majority of the world's population. 

Even after the slums of Zanzibar and the backstreets of Beijing, there may be nothing in the world as mind-numbingly depressing as American commercial suburbia.  Are fast food franchises and big box store chains becoming our natural habitat? 

Our trip by the numbers...
Number of countries visited- 21.
Days on the road- 240
Days spent separately- 3
Time spent together in years of "normal life" - 3.5
Nights spent on an island- 22
Important things lost- 10
Pickpocket attempts- 2
Jars of peanut butter eaten- 4
Stamps in each passport- 52
Organized tours taken- 2
Flights flown- 34
Delayed flights- 17
Host contacts made- 33
Hosts we returned to stay with again- 4
Family members visited or met- 7
Most kilometers walked in a single day- 35
Borders walked across- 3
Number of times through Santiago airport- 7

Now, as a special treat for those of you who have slogged through all this way with us, the final numbers and a secret revealed. 

Low End Budget for our 8 month adventure (per person, including air travel) - $11,510.
Actual amount spent (per person) - $11,748

Yes, my friends, that is the big secret.  If this kind of adventure is one of your dreams, you can do it too.  A lot of people drop that kind of cash on a flashy new car.  Me, I'll be driving a junker for the rest of my life if it means that I can save for experiences like this one.

Now, keep in mind that this wasn't a 5-star group tour around the world.  Those are in a whole different category.  But if you're prepared to put your worldly possessions in a backpack, sleep with bugs, talk with strangers, eat crackers, and have a real adventure, then you're set to find out that the world is a pretty fantastic deal. 

I hope this small novel I've written here has been an inspiration to some of you to get out there and see a world that many of us keep at arm's length.  Knowing a country's headlines on the international news is one thing.  Walking its streets and meeting the citizens is quite a different experience.  It really is amazing in the end how easy the whole trip was... in fact, the hardest part of the whole thing was deciding to do it.  That's the way it is with most of our dreams, I think, overcoming the I can'ts and all the other forms of self-doubts is the difficult part.  Once we've started to plan and execute, we find that there are tough times, but it's still a joy.
 

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