And for my final post, as we head out this afternoon, I want to write about the amazing people we encountered during our circumnavigation of the planet.
Sure, seeing the Taj Mahal was breathtaking. And watching four female lions devour a wildebeest was a once in a lifetime experience. And eating street pad thai in the middle of Kho San Road was definitely a treat for my tastebuds. And driving through the highlands of Scotland completely blew me away....until I went to Iceland :)
But trumping all the unbelievable things I saw and did was interacting with the people along the way. Whether it be other backpackers or locals, tuk tuk drivers vs. fellow tubers in Vang Vieng, the hostel owner in India who invited us to his wedding after knowing us for 5 minutes or the guy who we hung out with in Turkey for 48 hours who offered up his apartment to us for his final 3 days of his study abroad in Athens (which we definitely took him up on!), it truly is the people who were the most important part of this trip.
Katy and I hate to be asked what our favorite country, or city, or day was in this trip, because it really is comparing apples to oranges. But if we absolutely, with a gun to our head, have to pick and choose....the memories that we are most fond of always revolve around the people that we were with at the time and the relationships that we formed.
My original intention of this post was to write about ALL the amazing people we encountered on this trip. However, I started doing that and it might be 20 pages long if I continue at the rate I was going. So in lieu of that, I will just thank a few very special people that helped make this trip everything it was:
In order of country.......
Tom Russell, it was so nice to meet you right at the beginning of our trip.....your long term travel plans were inspiring to me despite the fact that I was also on my own journey, and your words of wisdom that, "we will hit a few places where we don't make a lot of friends and things slow down, but not to be discouraged" were honestly something that Katy and I remembered when we were having a few down days here and there.
Pras, I think you are one of the coolest, open-minded people that I have ever met, and I can't wait to hear more of your thoughts when I come to San Fran sometime in the near future!
Nick and Dominic, thanks for giving us a "family" for our five days in Vang Vieng. I'm so glad we made it out of that cave alive...... :)
Jesus! Thanks for shacking up with us in Chiang Mai and it was hilarious to run into you again in Vang Vieng in the midst of chaos!
To Sam and Shi, the perfect tubing buddies AND two great blokes to share a pint with in London :) (see what I did there?)
Megan, you were the PERFECT person to join us for our 2 weeks in Vietnam. I can't think of a more carefree, go with the flow friend....one who tolerated more overnight buses in two weeks than anyone should in their whole life, and shook it off (literally) when you woke up with cockroaches crawling all over you :)
Mike and Carter, it was great to see you guys up and down the coast of Vietnam....and I definitely learned more about hockey in Vietnam than I will probably know in my whole life!
Sammy and Steve, so sad the Halong Bay attempt failed but I think we made up for it back in Hanoi!
To Rajendra and his staff at Chitwan Village Resort, you were the most welcoming bunch we encountered anywhere.....your hospitality blew me away and I am so thankful that you were able to share your national park with us.
To my Nepal group: Hiking Annapurna Sanctuary was an amazing experience to share with all of you and I will never forget our morning at base camp...and to our guides, Bharat and Krishna, two of the most motivating, hard-working, individuals I have ever met.
To Vinay in Varanasi, thank you for giving us a taste of what your city is really like, for showing us around, educating us, and genuinely caring about us.
To Johnnie, James, Juma, Nyamaissa, Boniphace, Aloyce, Christopher, Kasian, and Robert.....you are now burned into my brain as the crew who helped me do the most monumental thing in my life thus far...make it to the top of Kilimanjaro. THANK YOU for taking care of us every step of the way, from coaching us up the mountain, to having warm tea ready for us seconds after we made it to camp each evening, for being our alarm clocks, our friends, for the smiles that you gave us after we made it down from Uhuru.....
And to Johnnie specifically- thank you for being who you are. I honestly don't know anyone with a heart as big as yours, and I genuinely hope we stay in touch for a very long time. Your stories about your family moved me to tears and the birthday card and letter you gave me will forever be treasured. Stay safe on that mountain and hopefully I will be back in a few years!
Santi and Aaron, I couldn't think of two better roommates to meet our first night in Istanbul....I was on sensory overload during our food tour of the city, and will never forget our fort party :)
To Nick, a fellow Midwesterner who met Katy and I while we were actually have a brief argument re: flights...however he then proceeded to spend his two days in Cappadoccia hiking and hot air ballooning the valleys of Goreme with us, and then kindly offered up his spare bed in Athens for us to share when we arrived there a few weeks later. We took him up on his offer and not only was he a great host, but he was gave us a stellar tour of Athens and let us partake in his end of semester festivities with him and his friends! We hope to return the favor when he comes to Chicago (hint, hint) :)
Em and Kelli, I am SO GLAD you joined us for our cruise up to Norway! It was so nice having some girlfriends around, and Pulpit Rock is one of the coolest hikes I have done!
Elise and Dennis, I cannot believe that 4 Americans, a Norwegian, and a Swed randomly met up for lunch one day in June in Oslo....but I am so glad that we did-it was great to see you both again!
And finally, to my piece of home in the UK: Brandon, Harry, and Shauna. Harry and Shauna, thank you for letting us crash for over a week after not knowing anything about us except we were two American girls
that Brandon had met a few months back on his trip to Patagonia. And Brandon, we can never repay you for all you did for us while in the UK.....taking us around to all the sights, letting us make a home in your room for an entire week, meeting up again with us in the North of England and then again in Wales, being our guide in Dartmoor National Park, offering to follow us 45 minutes in the wrong direction of your camp just to make sure we got back to our hostel safely on the scary dark teeny roads, and then actually driving us 2.5 hours out of your way to our ferry terminal in Dover when you had a million other things to do that day. Thank you for introducing us to your family and I am grateful to them for making us feel so welcome in their home. You have become like family to both of us and there is no doubt in my mind that this friendship is a lifelong one. See ya in Chicago...........
And I think that about covers it for now.....there are really no more words to express how thankful I am to have met such wonderful people.......
In conclusion (ha, didn't think I would ever get there, did ya?) THANK YOU to everyone for reading. I know some of these posts were (very) long, some were me giving opinions that I am sure many of you don't share, and lets be honest, some of them were really funny :) I sincerely appreciate all of you reading this blog. Not only did it act as my main communication line between home and whatever city I happened to be in that day, but it will also serve as the most in depth journal I have ever managed to keep while on the road (and there have been numerous attempts). And on a less selfish note, I truly truly hope it inspired at least one person to consider (and hopefully embark upon!) a long term travel stint. I know most people say its not feasbile....thats what I always said. But if the circumstances start to line up, you are a good budgeter and saver, and you take a few risks here and there, it really is possible for many people to do.
I will hopefully post many more more pics and Iceland updates once I return home, and please remember the quote I threw on here months ago:
Sab Kuch Milega!!
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| Maruf, from our hostel, in Bodrum, Turkey |
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| Santi and Aaron in Istanbul, Turkey |
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| Kili porters and guides |
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| Elise (our Norwegian friend that we met in Peru last year) and us in Oslo, Norway |
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| Found Dennis in Oslo, Norway! |
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| Jesus, our roommate in Chiang Mai |
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| Em, Kel, Katy, and I on our way to hike up Pulpit Rock in Stavanger, Norway |
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| Nick, Katy, and I in Athens, Greece |
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| Feeling at home at the Witkowski's home in Bromsgrove, England (Brandon's mom, dad, and sister!) |
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| The staff and owner at Chitwan Village Resort in Nepal |
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| Failed Halong Bay attempt Crew- Hanoi, Vietnam |
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| Vicki, our buddy in Phnom Penh |
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| Meeting up with Mike and Carter in Hanoi, along with Lucy, our Australian friend from Chile's sister! |
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| Annapurna Sanctuary hiking group |
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| Vinay in Varanasi, India |
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| Gavin, Katy's bartender from when she was studying abroad! Dalkeith, Scotland |
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| Nick and Dominic, Vang Vieng, Laos |
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| Most of our Kili crew, Tanzania, Africa |
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| With Brandon in Dartmoor National Park, England |
