A Final Chance to Touch Base Before ... Arriving Home?

This is it - the last blog post while on the road 

We are heading home ...

     We leave on Wednesday morning to fly home. It's an all day trip to Portland, and we land around 9:00 at night.  

     What a trip!

     I'm gonna miss doing this blog.  But I think I might just keep heading west ... forward? onward?      I've enjoyed writing this and I'm not ready to stop.  

     But if the trip is over ... then what?  I intend to follow up with a little review and some recap and such in the next week.  But maybe I can continue to share my thoughts on life in general.  And there will be more trips ...   

     We are going to a family wedding in Scotland in June, and that trip will include a visit to Holland.  And in August there is another family wedding in Toronto, Canada.  Followed by another visit to Senegal.  So the traveling is not done, and I hope it never will be.

Some thoughts on the blog experience

     As we were orignally preparing to leave, there were a lot of people who were hoping to hear about our trip while we were on the road.  I knew that I couldn't possibly email everyone all the time, so I set up this blog.

     Frankly, I've always wanted to write, and used to write a lot when I was younger.  I briefly pursued a career in journalism, and won an award in high school for writing.  

     And a side benefit, a big one, is that I have now recorded most of the significant events of this trip.  Honestly, when you're traveling and in the middle of things, and moving all the time, you tend to almost lose track of what happened.  

     So now I have this blog as a record, complete with pictures that Fiona and I can use to share and remember. 

     

     And really I'm very honored that so many have followed our adventure.  It's gratifying that all the effort that went into this blog generated some interest in our trip. 
     I received some wonderful  encouragement from many of you.  Thanks for reading and "listening" to the stories.  It's been great.  

     Keep your eyes peeled for a few more comments once we have returned home and had time to contemplate and process all that has happened.

     A word about writing the blog - it has taken a lot of effort.   

     one:  The interent access is pretty bad in many places and non-existent in others (China was very restricted - the hills of Sri Lanka - off-the-grid in Kilimanjaro - Senegal, Africa - to name a few).  It was a real pain to upload pictures and often the connection died in the middle of a blog post. Heck, even getting electricity to charge the laptop could be a real challenge.  

    We were in some real out-of-the-way places and access could be very inconsistent.  We will never take it for granted when there is fast, stable, reliable broadband internet. 

     two:  As mentioned once or twice, we hit things pretty hard every day, and were often exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel or guesthouse.

     Staying up late to blog is time consuming and takes some degree of proficiency (spelling, grammar, layout ... witty comments!), which is in short supply with jet lag, time zone changes, heat, cold, fatigue, lack of food and sleep.  

     three:  Travel days make it very difficult to blog, first because you are on the move all day, planes, busses, trains, boats, taxis, etc. lugging your baggage around, and secondly, not much happens while in transit (well ... maybe sometimes).  

     It was often anything but easy.  

    Thanks again for keeping up with us as we kept heading west.

Iceland, a fairly easy day today ... ?

     We were ready to take it a little easy after nearly freezing to death yesterday.  

     We actually slept in til 8:00 because we didn't have to be anywhere or catch a bus or train, etc. 

     After going for a jog (cold!) and cooking breakfast in our Air BNB accommodations, we set out for a couple destinations.  One was to tour the large Church near our place, the biggest church in Iceland.  It is spelled Hallgrimskirkja

******  Icelandic spellings are really bizarre. Remember the big volcano that erupted and closed down air traffic in Europe?  Try to pronounce that name = Eyjafjallajokull !  yikes!   ******* 

     So we were able to visit the church and there was a huge pipe organ, and some guy was playing some ominous music  (sounded like Phantom of the Opera stuff) that resonated through the giant church. 

     Then we went to the top, eight storeys high.  The view was amazing, and would have been even better had it been a clear day. 

You can see the statue of Leif Ericson down in the front!

     
     Then we checked out some of the old town and made our way to a local landmark, a popular Fish and Chips cafe, where we had lunch. 
     In fact, this was recommended by our daughter Beka and her husband Jake.  Indeed, she sent me this picture below, which I will include in the blog, because it still looks just like it did when they visited Iceland five years ago and took this photo.

     
     After lunch, the weather was still pretty bad, and the wind is the worst of it.  How is it possible that no matter what direction you walk the wind is blasting you in the face?  Uncanny!

     So we did the right thing and went shopping. 
     Actually Fiona has not had a chance to shop for almost this entire trip.  Why?  Because we had no room (and no time), traveling with only backpacks for three months.  It was just not realistic, and we made a pact before we left to leave any shopping until the end. 

     So after we did some shopping, we had to walk to the bus station to confirm our trip to the airport tomorrow.  Normally we like to walk and wander in most places, but in Iceland it's not feasible with the cold and snow and wind and rain ... okay, I'll stop whining.  

     We needed to get a couple things at the local store for breakfast, and passed a local museum with a very weird focus.  It was the Icelandic Phallological Museum, and for those of you who know your word origins, well, you can read the sign below.  We took a pass on that site. HA HA HA HA!

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     So even with a fairly light day, we still hit 20,547 steps, over 11 miles!  - booyah!

     And on the way, we caught the sunset behind the big church.  
     Cue the music, Rick Steves comes on and says in his sing-songy voice: "So the sun is setting on our 2015 Around the World Adventure!"

     
     So here we are back in the room, it's 8:30 at night and I'm blogging.  I can't believe we're going home tomorrow.  
     However, I'm ready to see my kids and grand kids and family and friends, and sleep in my own bed. 

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    I will share some more thoughts in the next couple days on the trip.  

    My plan is to post a "top ten" list of things that made the biggest impression.  And maybe post some more pictures, and share some funny moments that never made the blog. 

     Love to all of you, keep in touch, we're not done yet!