Finale

It’s been a week and a half since we got back from Australia and it’s funny how things just don’t hit you fully until it’s over.   I had a lot of fun but I think I just didn’t truly appreciate how much of an awesome experience this whole trip was.

When I look back I travelled over 40,000 kilometres to the other side of the world and back, I tasted wine that was like candy to my lips, trekked through the tropical jungle and saw an endangered species in the wild, I swam with parrotfish in the great barrier reef, walked through the arid desert-like conditions of central Australia, and touched one of the greatest natural wonders of the world with my bare hands, I looked at the stars with the wonder of a child, I splashed in the 10 foot waves of the South Pacific, and I watched the sun set behind one of the most amazing architectural masterpieces of modern time.

Would I do this again?  In a heartbeat, even if it means I have to endure the long flights, the jet lag, the giant spiders, the flies and centipedes,  the expensive food and the terrible coffee.

As I say hello again to all my friends and colleagues at work, as I pass them in the hallways and meet them on the stairs, my mind is still thinking of Australia. I have been bitten by the travel bug, every other place in the world now seems like next door compared to this far-off land where “no problem” is “no worries” and they pronounce “no” in two syllables.  I wonder where all the people I met are doing now and if by chance we will ever cross paths again.

I am looking forward to my next big adventure, will it be Egypt?  Japan?  South Africa?   I don’t know, but I do want to say hello to all of those places before I leave this planet for good.