Back to the United States of America!!

Thursday, November 19th, 2015

Home Sweet Home

Look where we're going today!!

We are on the plane heading back to the United States of America.  

In summary, I've just visited ten countries on 4 different continents, crossed the international date line,  as well the Equator 4 times,  travelled through 24 different time zones while circumnavigating the globe over 30,000 miles on this journey in just 24 days.  It took Magellan 3 years to accomplish this.  He probably didn't ask anyone for directions!

This has been the most interesting trip I've ever experienced.  National Geographic is an excellent group to travel with.  They didn't overlook a single detail, making certain we had the time of our lives.  Amazing, really.  When I think about how they managed to move 76 people and all of their luggage around the world and make it look so effortless is mind boggling!   Nobody was left behind, (although, there were a few that I wish we could have voted off the island!)  no bags were lost, there were no major disasters, no task or request too large and they never lost their smiles.  I can't say enough about the NatGeo staff.  

From the "pillow gifts" to the detailed itineraries that awaited us at each hotel, where our luggage arrived before we did, to the $10.00 in local currency that was issued to us in each country, and pre-stamped post cards awaited at each stop and after we wrote these cards, we simply dropped them with the staff and they made sure they were mailed.  They did it all!!  Well, we did have to write our own postcards. 

No matter where we traveled by plane, bus, train or car, there was always cold bottled water available.  Oh yes.  This is huge ... upon arrival at every country, they passed out our immigration cards ALREADY COMPLETED.  All we had to do was sign the card and zip through immigration.   We didn't want for anything.  They even had engineers on board to replace batteries for us and repair iPad problems.   

Dr. Nelson kept us all healthy.

And how about having a doctor along to care for all of us.  I'll be forever grateful for Dr. Nelson's help at the Cambodian hospital.  

The NatGeo experts were incredibly informative.   One was an excellent "sleeping aid."  After two sentences, most of us were off to dream land.  Although he is a brilliant historian, he definitely lacked the ability to read his audience.   Today, he passed out a summary of the places we visited and I noticed Pat fell asleep after 
reading the first paragraph!!  True!!

Even Jack's handouts put us to sleep!  Better than Ambien.

I can't say enough about how well organized these folks are.         

Fly-swater Hat for the Serengeti.

The flight attendants were incredible.  They kept us fed and entertained.  My favorite arrival to our plane was Halloween, when they were dressed in costume and decorated the plane.  When we boarded from India, they were dressed in Indian regalia.  

Our Flight attendants dressed Indian style.

They captivated our attention with interesting ways to present the pre-flight safety information.  In fact, they opened the presentation this morning with the following:  "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 8 ways to leave this plane."  This afternoon, after a brief fuel stop in the middle of the Atlantic at Terceura, Azores, one of the passengers opened the overhead compartment to place a bag in the overhead and a flight attendant was hugging a Panda and taking a little nap.  

SURPRISE!!  Our Flight Attendant was hiding in the overhead compartment.

The passenger screamed and the rest of the plane screamed with laughter.  They did so much for us, including storing all the treasures that I bought ... someplace.  It's just been a wonderful experience.  

There are still some places I haven't visited, but I think I've put a pretty big dent in this planet of ours.  Waking in the morning to the beautiful Taj Mahal to wandering the Serengeti Plains the same afternoon.

Serengeti Plains in the afternoon.

Sunrise at the Taj.

Pandas

Prostrating Pilgrims.

We've seen everything from Pandas to Prostrating Pilgrims.  Hugged Koalas and Kangaroos to SAMoan Chiefs.  I've seen a lot, but I've missed a lot, too.  I think the most special thing about this whole wide world, and the greatest gift ... my friends and family.  I can't wait to see you all again.  I'll be looking at you through different, more appreciated and grateful eyes.

Hugging Kangaroos in Australia.

To SAMoan Chiefs

And Koalas.  

That being said, when I was a child, my mom would sing a song to me called "God's Beautiful World."  I believe the author of that song must have written it about the United States of American.  To quote my friend, Haynes, "IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!"

  

On that note, I also need to add that I feel I've gained a new friend, Pat.  I've enjoyed traveling the world with her.  She's a great traveling companion.  She has great spirit, no drama, low maintenance, generous, helpful, and she has a wonderful sense of humor and is just fun to be with.  My favorite "Pat" quote came early on at a dinner in Tibet, when the waiter informed our table that we were out of wine.  Without a moment's hesitation, Pat responded, "Well, are we out of money?"  The NatGeo people responded by miraculously turning the water into wine. Thank you for joining me on this trip, Pat.  I hope we enjoy many more!  Where to next???

Bruce and Gail, who invited me to go on this trip with them, couldn't have been more fun!  Being thrown together for weeks, hopefully, I didn't wear out my welcome with B&G.   Bruce was so generous with his time and sort of adopted Pat and I.  He must have felt like a Bedouin man with 3 wives ... all giving him instructions.  But he was such a good sport and took such good care of us and made us all feel welcome and special.  Thank you Bruce.  

Gail, I can't tell you how much fun I had with you and how much your friendship means.  We just connect on a different level.  With the raise of an eyebrow, you speak volumes and I totally get it.  You are such a dear friend.  I'm blessed to know you.  My world is a better place because you're in it.  Thank you.

To my other friends and family, thank you for joining me on this journey.  I hope you shared my joy and laughed along with me.  And for those of you I've offended with my political or religious remarks ... I'm kind of sorry.

I am on my last flight of this journey from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, where Jacqueline will arrive tonight for a Thanksgiving visit.  Boy, do I have a lot to be thankful for!!  This brief summary of my National Geographic trip doesn't do it justice.  But I don't want to be like historian, Jack and loose my audience.   

As the airplane banks hard left to land at LAX, I am listening to my music ... One Republic's song, "I Did It All."  We sure did!! 

Interesting folks we met along the way. 

Young girls sell necklaces in Petra

Peru

Check out this little girl in Peru

This little boy was checking out the Pandas in China sporting a NY Yankees cap.

We met this little boy in a temple in tibet

I love Pat's photo of this little girl in Peru.

Young boys in Peru try to make money posing for photos instead of going to school.

Spice merchant in Jorddan

Really angry merchant in Jordan

Little boy in Jordan tries to sell me a rock.

Maasai Warriors in Africa

Pilgrims in Tibet taking their morning walk.

Lady in Tibet.

Pat's photo of lady in Peru.

P.S.  Follow up to my Cambodian hospital visit half way through this trip.  I visited a Vascular Surgeon here in California yesterday only to find I was misdiagnosed in Cambodia.  I do have a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis), which is serious shit.  I've been placed on a regimen of injectable blood thinners and Coumadin and I am officially grounded until the clot dissolves.  How lucky am I that I had no major problems ... like death ... during the additional 15,000 mile trip.