Early this morning, we started the long trip home, reversing the route we took to get to Hoi An. When we went to check out at the hotel, we almost forgot to ask for our passports back. That would have been awful to get to the airport without them. But we remembered at the last minute before we left.

Our travel agent had a driver pick us up to go to the airport. He arrived on time and got us there promptly without the drama we had when arriving. The flights went okay. At the airport in Taipei, I bought a bottle of water to take on the plane. When we got to the gate, the agent said I couldn't take it on the plane. We hadn't left the secure area of the airport, but they had an additional security checkpoint to go through that we don't have. I told the agent I wanted to have it for the plane. He had me drink it down to half full, I guess, to show that it was indeed water.

We went through customs and immigration and changed planes at LAX. Everything was fine.

This has been such an amazing trip. I was surprised and pleased several times every day by what we saw and experienced. The people we met were very friendly and open to visiting with us when we could get past the language problem. My favorite things this trip are too many to list. I have never had such a satisfying trip meeting wonderful people and having the opportunity to participate in the local culture as much as we did. I highly recommend voluntourism.