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& Karen's Adventure Journal



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sharing some of our experiences and photographs as we go.



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All the very best,


Andrew & Karen

...and home again...
Journal Date: 09 August 2006
Location: Brackley
My Rating
The Epilogue They think it’s all over…it is now Well Gentle & Most Discerning Reader, here we are – the final journal entry for our around the world epic. Five continents, 22 countries (if you include Panama, where we got off the plane, waited in the duty free lounge stuffing our faces with chocolate for a couple of hours before getting back on another plane to Venezuela), no less than 6144 pictures uploaded, 77400 words written in the Travel Journal (“It certainly feels like it”, I hear you groan) and, at my best estimate, around 200,000 Kilometres travelled - blimey, that’s over half the way to the moon…hmm…maybe that should be our next trip… Despite everybody’s protestations of “It must be awful going back home after a year away” we genuinely have always seen going back as just the next stop on our journey; we didn’t leave to “find ourselves” or to “follow our destiny”, we just wanted to have a bloody good time and to spend time together ticking off some of our huge list of “Things to see & do before you die” (and before you ask, No, I’m not ready to die yet) Being back has perks all of it’s own – the chance to meet William our nephew for the very first time (in case you were wondering it turns out he’s a well behaved, good looking young genius…what great genes he must have) and to see friends and family again…OK, the novelty might wear off quite quickly, I grant you, but it’s still fun at the moment… I’ve also got an interesting new job to go to with the mighty company of Honeywell (…thanks Anne for all the help) and Karen is back with all her mates at Alcoa (…thanks Miles for clearly forgetting what she’s like to work with…). Health wise it’s a bit of a mixed bag (de-worming ourselves in Zanzibar obviously worked nicely thank you) – in fact I’ve come back half a stone lighter than I went, which is a right good result; I can thoroughly recommend African building sites as part of a balanced weight-loss programme The house looked great when we got back (although we’ve subsequently done our best to fill it up with our rubbish again) and the Lawn looked terrible…thanks Naomi for liberally coating it with what she claims was Mosskiller, but which still looks more like Napalm to me… We still haven’t really had time to absorb all our experiences…picking out highlights for the inevitable “Go on then, what was your favourite moment/place?” questions is a bit like trying to name your favourite piece of music…lot’s of wonderful things to choose from and it depends what mood you’re in. Places and things that crop up most in our thoughts and conversations are a) Tanzania…the people, the whole volunteering experience and the wildlife and b) doing The Kimberley Challenge in Australia…the experience of dealing with heat and true outback living. Best single moment of the trip…probably having a seven metre long Whale shark just cruise by. Best trip or excursion…almost certainly the mule trek ride down The Grand Canyon. Best feeling of achievement…without a doubt looking down on Machu Picchu, the lost City of the Incas at sunrise, having completed the Inca trail. Karen has found settling back into Western civilisation a bit easier than I have (you all know her; a good bottle of Red Wine and she’s happy anywhere…). As for me, I keep thinking I’m living in an episode of Star Trek – it all seems impossibly manicured and organised. I can’t get over the fact that we were doing just fine on 15 litres of water per day in Tanzania, and now we use that much just flushing the lavatory…maybe we should all spend a few days pumping what we use out of the ground with a stirrup pump; I can’t help thinking we’d all take a lot more care if we did. We both want to find ways to carry on helping HAPA, the NGO that we worked with in Tanzania…they are good people doing good work for some of the nicest, poorest people you will ever meet. I’ve not seen anywhere where $10 would go further, than by helping them, help people, help themselves. I warn you now that we will come to you all begging for money and favours in due course and I’m going to be expecting you to dig deep… And what of this fulsome Travel Journal I hear you ask…what’s going to happen to that? Well, it’s funny you should ask, as it now seems to be getting a life all of its own. We have had many lovely comments about how reading it is infinitely preferable to working and more than a couple of people have suggested that it might make a half-decent book, so I think I’m going to have a stab at it…watch this space. In the meantime it already looks set to be an international, multi-language best seller thanks to Alex, who is involved in a Russian Language travel magazine which is published in Germany and who is interested in publishing extracts from the journal each month…how cool is that and I even get paid! It’s a piece of cake this being a professional writer lark, isn’t it. To everyone who supported us throughout our trip we say a big “THANK YOU”, and a special mention has to go to June & Jim who coped with tenants, letting agencies, the attentions of the Inland Revenue and much, much more for us while we basically just had a good time. To all our new friends we say a big “STAY IN TOUCH” – we have met so many wonderful people as we have travelled and staying in touch keeps the memories alive. And finally to all our old friends who watched us pack and leave we say a big “GIVE US OUR BLOODY STUFF BACK, NOW”, especially whoever has got all my good DVD’s…you know who you are (I just wish I did...) How better to sum it up than in the immortal words of Vinnie Jones…“It’s been Emotional”
Andrew & Karen
What we looked like when we left...	...and when we got back
Do you think she is pleased to see her mum...?