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675 days ago
We’re home. It’s hard to say how I feel about it; I’m happy, but a part of me misses wandering already. There aren’t many surprises here at home. Richard was able to put it into words when he said, “It’s like we never left, isn’t it?” Yes it is. Looking back, it feels like we were gone such a short time, such a long time ago. My memories are already starting to fade. I think back to our time in Hong Kong and it feels like a trip I took as a child, or a movie I saw once. But not everything is as it was when we left. The car battery was so dead the car wouldn’t stay running without a new one. I can’t find any of my things and the memories of even owning them are so fuzzy that I can’t imagine where I would have kept them. The worst was locating a pair of socks. It’s been three days and I just discovered my sock drawer an hour ago. I’ve been slowly adjusting my sleep schedule; I couldn’t stay awake in the evening and today, when I slept past 6am, I considered it a huge achievement. ...
680 days ago
This is it. The end of our journey. Our last evening abroad. I can't believe it's over. Finally. Already. I feel relieved, but sad too and definately confused. I have no idea what I'll be doing when I get home. Not tomorrow. Nor in a week, a month, a year. I'm starting to think that the real journey will begin once I'm back in Calgary. But I do know one thing for certain - it's cold in Calgary. So mom, if you read this in time, could you please bring my long winter coat to the airport with you? I do intend to write one more blog once I'm back (all kinds of interesting things can and do happen on international flights), and I still need to write a 'conclusion' as I was taught in English class. So in the next few days I'll post one final entry. I'll make Rich write one too. We fly out of Heathrow tomorrow and I'll be seeing some of you very soon!
683 days ago
Actually, they're cousins, not leprechauns. I found out today that some of the Irish actually believe in leprechauns. Speaking of the Irish, we’re in Ireland right now. We really haven’t done much and haven’t seen much. I’ve got cousins living here and we’re hanging out at their place. We have seen some of the countryside north of Dublin and it’s quite lovely. Cold though. We’ve had frost the last couple of mornings. Not much else to tell you really… We’re just 3 days from going home and we’re looking forward to it, but we’re not getting too anxious or anything, just chilling out ‘til then. We’ve posted a few pictures, but the Leprechauns kept running off before I could get a picture. See you soon!
689 days ago
Greetings from London. It’s chilly, but we had a dry and nearly sunny day so we’re not complaining. It’s a big city and by big I mean really huge. It took something like an hour to get from the airport to our hotel in the tube – otherwise known as the subway. We’re getting the hang of the lingo. It’s weird though; it’s our first English country since Singapore and we’ve actually had trouble interpreting the signs here. Sure, it’s English, but what does it mean? The city has a strange feel that I can’t identify. There are a few little things that stand out: the tabloids that everyone seems to be reading on the subway, the city wide video surveillance (it’s creepy). The police do carry guns, by the way. I even saw a machine gun today. It’s a nice city, well maintained and clean. The people seem friendly. But there’s something odd about this place and I’m not sure I like it. But it’s been a long day. We saw the sights: Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Buckingham and ...
692 days ago
We crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangiers to Tarifa, Spain because some guy at the port told us to. Really, this goes against everything we’ve learned this year, but when we did some digging of our own, it turned out that the guy was telling the truth. Tarifa was closer, cheaper and there was a free bus from there to Algecieras (our original destination). But when we got to Tarifa, we didn’t want to leave. It’s a really nice little town with a great beach, lots of cafes and restaurants, a huge grocery store, a tourist office and we found a great hotel that didn’t cost too much. We ended up staying two nights. We spent an afternoon on the beach – it was quite relaxing. We then went to Seville for a couple of nights, one of them bringing in the New Year. One of Spain’s traditions is to eat twelve grapes at midnight, one each second as the bell tolls. The grapes represent the twelve months of the year and if you manage all twelve in twelve seconds, you’ll have twelve months of ...
