So here it is, our final blog (for this trip!)! It's hard to summarise six months of your life when you have been lucky enough, as we have, to do and see so many things! However we have tried and have had A LOT of fun doing so. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did remembering and writing it!
I love travelling when:
-I experience new sights/cultures
-I have money
-its hot, but not too hot.
-I am treated like a local
-there is air con involved
-western travellers are at arms length
-I'm covered in 80% Deet
-Something is free
I hate travelling when:
-I'm being ripped off
-I'm on a bus
-Lady boys are invading our personal space.
-underwear reversal is necessary for cleanliness
-all of my clothes smell like mouldy sweat and insect repelant
-there are more deadly animals per square km than people!
-We can't eat for three days due to paying entrance fees
Our 'ewwww' moments!:
-Female Communal squat toilets
-Most toilets in Asia
-Eating pigs trotter and chickens blood soup
-When someone tried to convince us Milo was the same as hot chocolate
Best Journey:
-Cruising Hanoi daily on our own motorbike.
- Cruising Ha Long Bay on a traditional junk boat
- Sailing around the Whitsunday's on a tall ship
Worst journey:
-26 hour bus between Vientiane and Hanoi
-2am flight from Melbourne to Cairns that landed at 4am
I almost cried when:
-(Alec) someone told me I looked like Wayne Rooney
-(Alec) I confronted a deadly animal inches from our tent.
I laughed so hard when:
-(Emma) someone told Alec he looked like Wayne Rooney
-(Emma) The "deadly animal" that Alec confronted turned out to be my toiletries bag.
Emma's most annoying habit:
-moulting hair everywhere
Alec's most annoying habit:
-having sneezes that register on the richter scale.
I saw my life flash before my eyes when:
-We jumped out of a plane at 15000ft!
Longest time we went without washing clothes:
-Too long...
Favourite travel songs:
-A pub with no beer - Slim Dusty
-Les Miserables-Any
Most painful moment:
-(Alec) breaking my toe during a Vietnamese football training session (and ignoring rest/ice procedure)
-(Emma) jumping out of a plane at 15000ft with a cold.
Things we miss about home:
-A bed with springs
-(Alec) Mums Sunday Roast
-(Emma) Mums Shepherds Pie
-A currency we understand
-Fixed pricing
-Limited ladyboys
-Democracy!
Things that we think should be brought back to the UK:
-Hanoi's Bun Bo Nam Bo
-Hanoi's Bun Cha
-Queenstown's fergburgers!!
-Lemon Ice Tea
-Kangaroo steak
-Kangaroo/buffalo jerky
A few places we want to go back too:
-New Zealand (all of it again!)
-Vietnam (south)
-Australia (west coast)
Countries we could live in:
-Singapore
-New Zealand
-Australia
Emma
The last six months have been some of the best times in my life! I've scaled volcanos, crawled through caves, jumped from planes, snorkelled 'THE' reef, kayaked fjordlands, partaken in a foreign wedding, lived like a local and made new friends around the world, to name a few! We have done some really amazing things and even day to day things have been a new experience. It's hard to explain a lot of the small things that ill remember so I'm glad that I have someone to turn around to and say 'hey remember that time when...'! And while I haven't yet arrived back from this trip, I am already thinking about the next one...!
Alec
6 months, 7 countries and 9 flights later and we are heading home! Emma is right in saying that we have done some truly amazing things in that time. Some of them we had planned to do (Skydive), and some of them were spontaneous (teaching English in Hanoi). All of them (even the inevitable lows!) have been so worthwhile, and we are finishing this chapter just about ready to go onto the next. I hope this blog has provided some mild entertainment since last Dec and thanks to everyone who has read it. (Especially all of the unusual traffic we have been getting through Russia and China-we don't think we know you, but enjoy!)
Well there you have it folks, we leave tonight at 21:15hrs and land tomorrow at Heathrow at 1900hrs, see you all soon!!
Love Emma and Alec!!