On the evening of August 15th we headed to the airport to catch our flight. We left Edmonton at 11:55 pm and arrived in Goose Bay at 8 pm on the 16th. After almost 13 months away we were finally home again.
When you come to the end of a long trip people often ask you the question, where was your favourite place? This can be a difficult question to answer. After a year of travelling how can you pick just one place? How can you even settle on a few? It's difficult to compare places and experiences that were so amazing and yet so very different.
Can you compare experiences like visiting the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg with lounging on beautiful beaches in Thailand? How can you compare volunteering at an orphanage in Ghana to staying at a Buddhist monastery in Korea?
During this past year we saw many beautiful places like the Calanques in Southern France and the Fjords of Norway. We saw temples in Bali and Tibet that were like nothing we'd ever seen before and the landscape of Jonggeegae, China was simply out if this world. Comparing the exploring of alleys in Fez, Morocco to spending a night at over 5200 meters at Everest Base Camp simply can not be done.
This year we had the pleasure and freedom to move from place to place at our own pace. Whether it was chugging along the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok or slowly floating down the Mekong River, we tried to savor every moving moment of it.
Going from place to place was of course a big part of the year. During a couple of points we simply moved by foot. We managed to somehow make it through a three day trek that took us 47 km around the Kathmandu Valley. Travelling by foot, along paths through Himalayan mountain villages was an incredible experience. Those days left us in awe, feeling proud of ourselves along with some very sore muscles. At a later date, we rewarded ourselves with some luxury by cruising in style aboard the Celebrity Millennium from Yokohama, Japan to Vancouver.
During the year, we managed to travel by land or sea all the way from Casablanca, Morocco to Hong Kong. By taking trains, buses, boats we moved from place to place without stepping onto an airplane. Moving this way is not only more comfortable, it gives you a much better concept of distance and perspective of where you are. The more you travel this way, the more you realize how much more there is to see once you get beyond the tourist hubs.
Visiting world famous sites like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China are on many travellers bucket lists; however, it's often the lesser known places that offer the most rewarding experiences.
We took yoga classes surrounded by rice terraces in Ubud, Bali, and we volunteered to help paint a school in a small village in Nepal. In both places we stayed with peaceful and friendly people who welcomed us into their homes. We were able to see first hand the great work the Christian Children's Fund is doing in Northern Ghana and we enjoyed some of the best scuba diving we've ever had in the Gili Islands of Indonesia. In many cases we were off the beaten track as we tried to go outside the most popular travel guide routes.
When it came to eating, we did indulge in old favourites in Korea as well as try new meals in other areas. We ate banku with our hands in Africa and survived on dal bhat every meal, week after week in Nepal. We asked for food using pictures in China and we learned to adapt to the uniquely itemized style of ordering in Russia. Although we over spent at a couple of Hard Rock Cafes, once we paid only a dollar, for an all you can eat buffet in Laos. One day we actually ate at least six meals. It was the day we lived twice and dined on Lobster tail as we crossed the International Date Line.
We enjoyed extended time with family in Germany, Korea and Canada. It gave us time to be around for birthdays and special events we would normally have missed. We helped out at the family spinach farm in one of the most rural parts of South Korea and we got to spend 16 nights in a tent in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
So once again, to return to that question about our favorite place, I would have to respond in this manner. Our favorite place was a wonderful spot, which isn't actually a physical place at all, but rather a feeling, a spiritual feeling. It's a state of being happily lost in the journey you are traveling. It is that moment when you feel your senses are completely open and you are taking in everything around you. You are completely content and immersed in the nomadic lifestyle. It is what I call the travel groove. You have been traveling so long you are completely comfortable with life on the road. You are together with the one you love and everything you own is in your backpack. You are at a point in your trip where you can hardly remember life any other way. The start of the journey is a distant memory and you can't imagine the trip ever coming to an end. It is a state of pure travel bliss.
During the year we spent 6 days in Germany, 6 days in Morocco, 7 days in Spain, 15 days in France, 17 days in Russia, 20 days in Indonesia, 21 days in Ghana, 24 days in Nepal, 30 days in China, 57days in Thailand and 77 days in Korea. All in all, we covered quite a bit of ground.
The tour was called the Loose from the Goose World Tour and yes we were very much loose from our home in Goose Bay. In many ways we were outside of our comfort zone. People are often nervous about the unknown. At times, I know we were, as we went to new places, met new people and tried new things. Throughout the year I kept this blog, something else which was new for me. I kept it in order to record some of the experiences we were having. The blog became a travel journal with this being the 58th and final entry.
Experiencing new things is really what travel is all about. It is something we enjoy now more than ever. I still have as much interest in learning about different places and cultures as ever. This curiosity can not be satisfied by reading a book or watching a show. I believe the only way to really understand the world is to get out there yourself, and experience it as much as possible.
Now we are home in Goose Bay and happy to be here. It has certainly softened our landing to be welcomed so warmly back into the community. Obviously, in one way, our trip has come to an end and the planning for the next one will now begin. In another way, the trip never really ends because the experiences are replayed over and over again in stories and memories. Either way, we still have a long way to go, a lot more to learn, a great deal to see and therefore the journey continues.....
It has been quite a ride!
Thanks for reading...
Peace,
Dave & Jueun
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