Day 58 - Thats a Wrap - and Some Final Thoughts

The flight back from Hong Kong all went smoothly (at least as far as 15hr flights go) and we got home around 1am Saturday local time. We don't want to even think about what that is HK time. We'll see how the jet lag goes on the return; hope we can do as well as on the trip out.

But we're already mostly unpacked, laundry done and as you can see Steve did get that burger he was craving!

Here's a few final thoughts from both of us on what will be the final post! Hope you've enjoyed tagging along with us!

Lauren -

The thing I am the happiest about this adventure is that it has fulfilled all of the intentions we initially set out for the trip. By touring New Zealand, Australia and four countries in Southeast Asia, we have gotten a true flavor of these different cultures and their people. Steve and I have agreed already that we wouldn't have changes a thing about the trip!

I was personally nervous about going so far away (both physically and culturally) and for so long. However, it has been a privilege to meet so many kind, hardworking people, eat their delicious food and learn about their values and traditions. Surprisingly, the time went by very fast, and I did not pine for home at all.

We were well taken care of with our fabulous guides and drivers which I give great credit to our travel planners, Charlotte Fisher (Kensington Tours) and Jim Hutchinson (Wild Frontiers). Please look them up if you are ever considering these destinations. Thank you also to all of our readers. We appreciate you following us along and sharing our journey together. I look forward to connecting with everyone real soon!

My Favorites:

• All of New Zealand - especially the scenery and the people!

• The food in Melbourne

• Aussie Rules football game

• Blue Mountains trip in Sydney

• Our day with the Elephants in Thailand

• The White Temple and The Blue Temple in Chiang Rai (Thailand)

• Si- our guide in Laos

• The people of Laos

• Halong Bay (Vietnam)

• Hoi An (Vietnam)

• Quy and Lee - our Vietnam guides

• New Year in Siem Reap (Cambodia)

• All of the amazing hotels including The Jaya House (Siem Reap), The Rees (Queenstown), The Legend (Meekong Delta/Vietnam) and many more!

• SONG SAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

  
  

  What I Will Miss Most

• THE AMAZING FRUIT!

• The delicious food in Southeast Asia (I thought I would be sick of it)

• The lovely gentle people of Sout East Asia

• The scenery and the people in New Zealand

• The views at Song Saa

  
  

  What I am Looking Forward to the Most:

• Seeing friends and family

• Not putting on bug spray and sunblock every time I leave the house

• Not having to brush my teeth with bottled water

• Nespresso, bread, fish and salads

• My hairdresser!

  
  

Steve -

Have to agree with all of Lauren's comments above. Certainly kudos to Charlotte and Jim for helping build the itineraries but a big shout to Lauren who for much of the early planning was primarily involved, which goes all the way back to when I was still working full time. There was so much back and forth to make this a tailored experience that fit our needs and expectations and as she said there's really nothing I'd have missed off if we had a do over. We had a good mix of the highlight spots and landmarks that you 'have to see', plus some really unique and personal experiences and interactions. And a lot of exposure to local culture, ways of living, religion and even politics. Surely not something we could have self-organized anywhere near this level. A lot of this was down the planning but also was due to the local guides and we certainly had some great ones that made the trip special.

We had some kinda "out there" moments and places we've visited, at the edge of our comfort zone but again with the luxury of local guides to make sure all went off as scheduled. We felt very chaperoned in a way but also in at the deep end culturally.

The biggest shocker for me was our collective resilience as I was quite anxious we'd hit a wall after 3 or 4 weeks or feel homesick. The moving hotel usually every 3 days was a big plus as we had a chance to settle in somewhere and the density of the itinerary meant we didn't have a lot of down time.

So additional highlights for me in terms of experiences

• The helicopter flight into Milford Sound with the glacier landing - huge!

• The Sidney Harbor Bridge walk - awesome

• Scooter rides in HCM City - freaky

• The Aussie rules game in Melbourne - bizarre

• Song Saa Island - idyllic

Unexpected pluses/observations

• The people (especially in SE Asia) have all been so unbelievably and genuinely helpful, kind and polite.

• I'm glad we made this trip into the extravaganza it became, surely something we could only do once I'd retired from full time work.

• Only one incident of gastrointestinal distress (phew)!

• Despite my angst and flagrant mosquito-phobia I can honestly say I've seen more mosquitos on a summer evening on our deck at home than I have on this entire trip (also phew).

• Spending 24/7 with your spouse for 8 solid weeks can bring out the best in a relationship, with good teamwork required!

So.....Hope you all enjoyed the Blog. It took a lot of effort to create it (thanks again to Steph) and populate it. But the act of picking our favorite pics and capturing our highlights and thoughts, usually at the end of each day, brought everything into focus, made us appreciate our experiences, helped us be more in the moment and not have everything blur together.

And that's a wrap on Lauren and Steve's Big Trip!

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