Last blog for my Round The World Trip


And really I feel like I have been all round the world and experienced so may cultures, more than that I cannot say.
A very wise man said to me when I returned that I must remember that the last year was for ME and I cannot and must not expect other people to understand what I had been doing.

Interesting but true................most people asked me 3 questions on my last year!!

I spent the last days of my year long trip in Nairobi. I shopped till I dropped, went to a giraffe centre, went to an elephant orphanage that also played host that day to a bad tempered rhino and wart hogs. We also went to a bead factory opened for single mothers. See flickr for details!

In the last few days of my trip I can honestly say that I did very little in regards to 'seeing' or 'doing' but I felt that I was exhausted! Not physically but emotionally and mentally. I also knew that coming back to a life in the western world would be very difficult. Especially when I thought about the life I had before I left and the way that I thought about things and the ideals and opinions I had about things before i left the UK.

I think that when people go travelling they expect themselves to 'change' as a person and simply that doesn't happen. You are who you are, you just learn a lot about yourself in a year and you learn to deal with situations differently.

I was amazed for the year that people were just as fascinated about me as I was about them and that the reason they hadn't been to the UK was mainly financial (apart from some countries that didn't care about 'the west')

My home country of Scotland was spoiled for me a bit by travelling , yes ok its Scotland and I will always love it as it is a beautiful place and people are friendly. I can assure you they are only friendly by European standards. The rest of the world wins hands down for friendliness.
In terms of beauty, I have seen places that match and excel Scotland's beauty and although its not Scotland when i look at it - it could be.

I always thought that coming back to my previous life was hard.And as it turned out I was right...............................! It was very hard indeed.

The 3 questions i mentioned earlier were
1. Where did you go?
2. What was your favourite & worst place or best & worst experience? (variations on a theme)
3. What are you going to do now?


Last but not least I have uploaded more pictures to Flikr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25554642@N00/

Thank you so much to those of you who kept in touch over the year and who sent letters and emails. It was appreciated more than you can imagine, unless you have been there yourself and then you know EXACTLY what its like to go to the post office and have stuff there for you!
I will be sorting out all my pictures and printing them for albums. I will tell anyone who wants to listen about anywhere that I have been.
Tickling itchy feet is a tricky pastime, no matter where you go, you don't have time to see it all or the town next to it. No matter where you go you realise that you could travel forever and not see it all no matter how hard you try.

Thought I would stick in a few quotes at the end here, some of them I heard when I was away, some of them I got from a book and some of them I don't have a clue where they came from!

'In the mountains we forget to count the days': Nepal

'Recall it as often as you like, a happy memory never wears out'

'Never let your past interfere with the flow of present day life' Thought about the past for the first week and then realised i was in AMERICA and that my past didn't matter at all!!!

'The future belongs to those who who believe in the power of their dreams' I never thought I would leave, but I did!

'Some things are so transparent they don't need evidential proof' Love Actually, watched on nearly every aeroplane I was on, except scary domestic ones in India

'What is more beautiful than a road?' Route 66 New Mexico

'As I passed a window, a young woman with a glowing tan, bright smile and confident gaze stared back at me. I was looking in a mirror' - this may sound corny but it happened to me and it was a fantastic moment!

'Everybody dies but not everybody lives'

'Travelling alone is not lonely, it is an extremely powerful feeling, very similar to love - it is that kind of strength' Told to me by a guy who'd been travelling for 3 years.

'If you travel long enough and far enough, one day you will recognise yourself coming down the road to meet yourself and you will say YES'

'It was like coming home, although to no home I'd ever been, and I felt more at home there than anywhere, even though I was no-where' Sleepless in Seattle although not quite the same

'I questioned the luxury we have as westerners to pop in and out of other peoples lives' Quote from a book i read in India

'It was like seeing the earth for the first time and I felt less homeless that I felt anywhere'

Lastly I need to say thank you to all the people I met and travelled with in the course of a year, I cant mention everyone (even though I could and go on forever!) but I especially want to say thanks for being GREAT travel buddies to Suzanne in New York, Ron in Nashville, Amanda in Florida, Margie and Repete in Oklahoma and Paul in San Francisco.
Dan and Emily in Mexico City, Judy in Puebla and Damu and Stuart in Mexico wilderness.
Jon in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Aiyana in Merida and Amandine in Mexico city.
Jim, Adele, and Bethany in Mumbai, Olaf and Edis in Hampi, Raole in train from Hyderabad to Varanassi and Jim, Debbie, Jean and Ronan in Varanassi.
Jean and Ronan in Nepal (and India holding my head out the bus window for me to be sick), Doug, Morley and Debbie in India again
Jon in New Zealand, Nicki in Cape Town, Matt, Luka and Olaf in South Africa and Lesotho, Patric, Keeara, Carula and Yannis in Namibia, Botswana and Zambia
Will and Michael in Tanzania and Caroline and Kirsten in Kenya.
I know there are loads of people here I have forgotten and I cant mention everyone but without you this trip wouldn't have been half as good so thank you