Day 365, 4 July 2013. Sydney, Australia. Home - Not Being Grownups, James and I, arrived home at 7.45 am - a whole year has passed seemingly in the blink of an eye. It is winter here - but not so's you'd know it - brilliant sunshine, 20 degrees and warm. The adventure was grand -and we will never be the same. Our knowledge of history, art, other cultures, places and peoples has expanded beyond anything we could have imagined when we were in the planning and dreaming stages. The most common question we have heard throughout the year and since we returned is "So, What was your favourite place?" The only honest answer to this is "It depends". In Africa the animals were astounding - the circle of life (and death) was up close and personal several memorable times - the leopard who'd dragged an impala up a tree to his larder; the lionesses working together to attack and bring down a water buffalo. The other end of the spectrum saw us witnessing lions making hay while the sun shone down into the crater of Ngorongoro National park (and having seen cubs just the day before, we know how that caper ends!) Whilst the animals, sunsets and sunrises of Africa were astounding, the poverty and corruption were confronting. Africa was also our first exposure to a completely muslim world when we first arrived in Zanzibar at the beginning of Ramadan. It was a month like no other for us - travelling through Africa, Egypt and Jordan during the time of fasting. A fascinating insight into another way of life and incredible to end it under the stars of Wadi Rum in a desert camp. We continued on to enjoy Turkey and Morocco over the following six weeks - and when we finally left the islamic world and entered Spain we thought we would enjoy the peace after hearing the call to prayer 5 times a day for so long. As it turns out, in the historically Catholic realms of southern Spain, it was the church bells ringing out 4 times an hour that we noticed the most! Some places are on our list of favourites for a much harder to describe reason - the magic! In terms of the world's most magical places - Luxor by night, the feet of the Sphinx and the Pyramids in Egypt, Petra, Jerash and seeing shooting stars in Wadi Rum in Jordan were incredible. There were however a couple of places where the air was somehow imbued with magic - first and foremost the fairy castles of Cappadocia in Turkey - most definitely a place we want to experience again. Seeing Mont Sant-Michel rising out of distant mists in northern France and the rushing waters of Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu were also hard to describe spots - the air was happy!
The world of course is more than just a collection of places arranged on a map. In terms of art, we have seen more masterpieces than have ever or will ever be exhibited in Australia - one of our favourites was of course Da Vinci's "Lady with an Ermine" in Krakow. To stand in peace in a velvet draped room with only a couple of other people to view one of only three portraits of women painted by the master was (almost) a religious experience. So very much more so than standing amongst 100s of tourists scrumming in front of the Mona Lisa. We have learned of new artists - Dali and Gaudi and too many others to name. Our love for Monet and Van Gogh is now almost devotional. We read somewhere that of the 2000 works Monet completed in his lifetime, roughly 6000 are in the USA - and thanks to our visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, the Met and MOMA in NY, we're pretty sure we've seen all of them. To have had the opportunity to see the Prado (Madrid), the National Gallery in London and of course the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay in Paris was sublime. If we leave for a moment favourite places and art, one of the greatest things about extended concentrated travelling was our experience of history - if you imagine the world and its history is a fly enmeshed in a spider's web - gradually we realised we were able to see the strands glistening with dew as we saw from country to country how people, religions and events have left their marks - the Spanish Inquisition, Columbus and the New World, the changes that have been heaped upon some of the worlds well known buildings - for instance the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul - the base of a pagan temple, preserved in the floor of the Christian church which then became a mosque and is now a museum - the air absolutely hums with thousands of years of happenings. Travelling is of course about more than just being in and seeing places. In terms of culture - seeing the Nutcracker just before Christmas in the State Opera House in Budapest was a highlight - at at only 4 Euros for both of us, the biggest, bestest bargain of the trip. The symphony in Prague, musicals and a play by Agatha Christie in London's West End were highlights of Europe. In New York seeing one of our favourite movies, Kinky Boots, brought to the Broadway stage and go on to win 6 Tony Awards was incredible. In Las Vegas it was Fleetwood Mac, David Copperfield and Penn & Teller that made us thankful to the casino system for ensuring top quality entertainment is produced to lure the punters in. The upshot of all these things - places, religions, art, culture and shows - is we both feel connected. Connected to the wonderful people we've met along the way who have become friends and who we can't wait to see again. Connected to places like Egypt - when we stepped off the plane this morning and heard that the Muslim Brotherhood was no longer in power we celebrated as much as if we'd been in Tahrir Square - we can only hope the political situation is resolved in such a way that visitors can once more experience this amazing place as we did. Sadly, our connectedness also includes a feeling of futility - The culture shock in many countries has been a wake up call demonstrating that no matter how "global" the world becomes, so much of the world is completely inwardly focused. If you refuse a plastic bag at your supermarket in Australia, don't worry - almost everywhere else is triple bagging, creating mountains of rubbish and burning off hundreds of acres of land. It doesn't matter how many lights we turn off in Sydney, we're pretty sure the neon of Vegas can be seen from space. We're not saying go ahead and take the bag because it doesn't make a difference... but in the grand scheme of things what is being done in Australia seems so infinitesimally small.
A Numbers Game - Quality and Quantity
Moving away from global dilemmas, let's not forget everything we have had the pleasure and privilege of doing, seeing and experiencing. Sometimes when we look at the numbers, even we can't believe what we fitted into a year. For instance, we visited thirty five countries and 20 states in the USA. We've been exposed to every scam you've ever heard of (and many you haven't) - remember the infamous gold ring con in Paris. We've been sick 3 times but thanks to carrying our own pharmacy kits (and discovering that Turkey is the best spot in the world for acquiring antibiotics, strong pain killers and lots of other good stuff over the counter) - we've avoided having to stop/slow down or visit foreign doctors. We spent roughly 13 weeks visiting with home exchange folks and friends around the world - which means 39 weeks or 273 nights in hotels (comfy bed/endless hot water/good wifi being the main comparison points). In total we kept 7000+ photos - an average of 20 or so per day. Notice I say "kept" - I suspect we took closer to 14000 photos! We are officially hot air balloon junkies ever since we took a balloon ride on our honeymoon in Queenstown, New Zealand. During our year of Not Being Grownups we managed to see the Serengeti, the Valley of the Kings and Cappadocia from the baskets of hot air balloons. We would do the Serengeti and Cappadocia again in a heartbeat, but even as we did the Valley of the Kings we could see what an inherently unsafe operation they were running - we truly felt for the families of the victims of the balloon explosion in Luxor. From one "three" to another - we never intended to have a world tour of waterfalls - but once we started, we just couldn't stop. From Victoria Falls in Zambia, to the light show over Niagara in the USA/Canada, we thought we had seen it all. It was only when we reached Iguassu in Brazil/Argentina that we discovered we had indeed saved the best for last. Now obviously getting from A to B (and for that matter to Z) doesn't just happen with a "Beam me up, Scottie" - though there were times when we'd travelled for 30 or more hours straight when we wish it did. Throughout the year we took every form of transport under the sun - planes, trains and automobiles just to begin with. Then ferries, 4x4 safari trucks, horses, donkeys, camels, taxis, horse drawn carriages, monorails, metros and nearer the end of the trip of course a limo in Vegas and a helo over the Grand Canyon. When it comes to means of transport, sometimes that in itself it is part of the journey - for instance, it was the first time cruising for both of us. The cruise down the Nile was actually quite unexpected - it was only when we heard in graphic detail how basic the sail boats would be and met the crazy individuals that would be joining us that we realised the extra money to go down the Nile in style was likely to be worth every penny - and it was. After all, it's not every cruise ship stateroom that has a bath tub and then there was the luxury of swimming in the pool on the top deck at sunset - which was sublime. The following two cruising adventures were completely different again - seeing the Christmas markets from Budapest to Prague via the Danube satisfied every white Christmas fantasy we've ever had and waking up to the river freezing around us certainly added an edge to the adventure. Then there was the final cruise of the year - one week, 4 countries and 2,500 hard partying Americans - it was a trip, that's for sure! It's not enough to just get from one place to another however, where we laid our heads when we got there was a major part of our experience of the world. And we've certainly run the gamut - from a run down hostel in Istanbul to a stunning 5 star mini-suite in Vegas (for barely 3 times the price). We stayed in a cave in Cappadocia and a broom closet in Paris (seriously, it was poky - but it was Paris!) We experienced budget London's Tune hotel offerings - which for 35 quid a night were great value and have decided that for B&Bs Ireland wins hands down - our only regret was not allocating longer to that beautiful country. We stayed in a converted monastery in Cuzco, Peru and in a house that incorporated the city wall and was built 500 years ago in Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic). We've stayed in the noisiest of places - between a roaring river and a rail line in Aguas Calientes, Peru - that was nevertheless incredibly soothing being near the water. Then of course there were the safari tents of Zambia - perfectly safe "permanent" tents. Just don't wander about the camp after dark - hippos have no night vision, travel in packs and seriously wouldn't notice if they stepped on us! Then there were three nights in the luxury lodges of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater - if it weren't for the lure of the game drives, we never would have left the lodges.
And now? Now we are permanent (hopefully) vagabonds. With no urge to settle down too much or too soon we have returned to Sydney for at least another year. We are house-sitting, pet-sitting, plant sitting - you name it, we'll mind it in return for free accommodation. It'll be just like travelling in our own back yard - until the next adventure begins. Thank you so much to the friends, family and fellow travellers who have joined us along the way - until next time.