One more post

It's been two months since we've returned from our amazing trip around the world. Going through the pictures on this blog yesterday, I felt like adding a decent end, a proper goodbye to this journal of our travels.

Leaving everything behind and discovering the world for a couple of months has always been a dream of mine (and my boyfriend). Some events in the summer of 2011 made us realize that there's always going to be room for dreams but not always room to realize them. We felt that we were in the right time and place to just go and we didn't want to let that feeling slip away, so we started preparing, saving and motivating each other for what turned out to be one of the most interesting and fascinating parts of our lives.

I think many people considered our project as a very long vacation and so did we at first but this couldn't be any further from the truth and you might not believe me when I tell you that traveling is often quite hard work! I know, the pictures say otherwise but I only documented the interesting stuff of course. Traveling for such a long time means constant preparation, not only for the next day but also for the next week and next month. You are constantly organizing and figuring things out; in countries where you don't speak the language, where you don't understand how public transportation works or where you have no clue what to order in a restaurant. Trying to find out how much something is worth in a different currency, where the next petrol station in the outback is or where your couch surfer lives when he's given you his address in Korean will have your mind on overdrive, all the time. There are not many days when you're thinking about absolutely nothing but I have to be honest; it's not something I disliked. In fact, every new bus ticket booked, every new couch surf request accepted meant a new experience ahead of us!

And experience is what this trip was all about. To see, taste, discover and learn new things every single day is what I am missing most right now. Some of all that might seem trivial and not worth mentioning, like spotting a kiwi (bird) in New Zealand or trying green bean soup as desert in China, others were more monumental, like walking on the Great Chinese Wall in a place with no other tourists around or climbing Ayers Rock in Australia (even though I know I shouldn't be 100% proud of that). No matter how big or small, every day was filled with impressions and experiences that have made this trip so much more than just visiting a lot of countries.

I didn't want to repeat how much I have valued our couch surfing experiences because I have written about it quite often but I feel so strongly about this way of traveling that I might add a couple of lines. Only three weeks ago, the french TF1 news dedicated a small documentary to the phenomenon of couch surfing and I wasn't very convinced about their way of portraying the whole idea. They filmed a bunch of sleeping travelers, spread out over several mattresses in a tiny, dirty flat somewhere in India. I don't think this will encourage many people to check out the website and become member. Some people had told us that couch surfing is for hippies and that's totally how it looked like. We have had quite different experiences. Of course, we have slept on couches and mattresses because that is the idea after all, but most of the time we had our own bedroom and in a couple of places even our own bathroom. We have stayed in beautiful, clean houses and apartments and always had the feeling that our hosts were interested in meeting us and not in having as many foreigners around to get high or drunk with. Yes, there are some people who use the site for this purpose but they are very easy to avoid or to find - depending on your interests :-) 

We haven't been couch surfing all of the time because I also believe that if you can, you should contribute to the economy of certain countries by supporting their tourist industry. Especially in Asia, it is so easy to find good quality restaurants and hotels at very reasonable prices, that it would be silly not to enjoy them. Of course, you don't get the 'local', 'inside' experience by staying in a hotel but it's not something we were continuously pursuing.

Traveling means being outdoors for the majority of the time which has had a great effect on our bodies. Not spending eight hours a day on a chair, in front of a pc has made us quite fit. Of course the cheapest way to discover certain sights and places is on foot so we've been walking our asses off! There were days we've been hiking for six or seven hours, especially in the New Zealand and American national parks and, being rather the unsporty type, I have quite enjoyed this because for the first time in my life I almost felt like a sportswoman, being more energetic and with more endurance. Oh yeah! My only problem is how to keep this up being back home...? Walking up and down Geneva's Old Town every day seems a little pointless. 

There is one thing I am being questioned over, again and again, especially by girlfriends: packing. I really wish I could write a paragraph full of 'tips and tricks for packing light' or something like that but I would fail miserably. There's only one thing I was sure of before leaving: there's no way I'll be wearing practical travel gear in all of my pictures. Yes, I am that vain. So of course, my backpack was always heavier than Benoit's, I had to ship some of my stuff back home at certain points but only weeks later the bag was back to its original weight:-) Before we left, a friend gave me a fancy lipgloss as goodbye present, saying: it's not because you go traveling that you have to look like a beggar. I couldn't agree more. 

One condition we've been so lucky with, I still can't contain it, is the weather. 90% of the time we've had dry, agreeable weather wherever we went. A couple of snowy days in New Zealand, two days of rain in Laos, a serious shower in New Orleans...the 'bad' days can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Also health wise, we've been very fortunate. Apart from the second week in the Philippines where I spent two days in the hospital and Benoit stepped on a sea urchin (hehe) we've had no other accidents. And no missed or (hardly any) delayed flights; what are the odds on a seven months travel?? 

One more thing,  although I don't think anyone has read until here (I know it's hard when there are no pictures, but I am a forgiving soul): I really enjoyed updating this blog even though it could be very time consuming. I feel like this way I've made those at home part of our trip and let them discover some amazing places with us. I almost feel sad saying goodbye but I'll leave the blog online for as long as possible. Who knows, there might be  Part II one day!