Back Home and Craving a Beer at 5 Am

After being on the road for a little over 3 months and passing through the countries of India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia my journey has come to an end. Deb and I parted ways in Bangkok on the evening of December 14th. I headed to the airport for home and she planned to take a train to Malaysia the following day. After a little while in Malaysia she will travel on to New Zealand for the rest of the winter. We had a good time together and I will miss her company.

It was a 28 hour trip to get back to Texas. I flew Bangkok > Seoul, Korea > Dallas > Houston. I saw the sun rise twice and hardly slept. It was bumpy all the way across the Pacific but the Korean Airlines Stewardesses kept everyone well fed and hydrated. Notice I used the politically incorrect word, "Stewardesses" instead of "flight attendants". We don't have "Stewardesses" anymore in America. Based on observation "Stewardesses" retain an element of elegance, style, and service no longer seen in "flight attendants". I think I prefer a nice foreign "Stewardess" staffed air carrier over American based airlines when flying overseas.

I arrived home crazy jet lagged. This morning I awoke at 3am and was immediately wide awake. I could not get back to sleep. By 5am I was ready for a beer because on the other side of the world it was 5 pm. Maybe a beer would have helped by making me sleepy but I headed to the gym instead. Three months of traveling through 3rd world countries is hard on the health so after my workout I went on a shopping spree at Whole Foods. Holy Cow!!! Things are expensive in America! I stuck to sale items and got a bag of apples for free when I noticed the register rang them up at the wrong price.

So, what's next? Work. Yes, my bank account necessitates a definite need to work. I'll coast through Christmas and put things into high gear after new years. I'll likely be traveling again by late spring but I have no definitive plans. I think next year will be mostly hiking oriented within America and Europe.

For now it's good to be home and I'm ever more grateful for what I have. Especially considering where I've been. I really have no reason to complain about anything. Life is good. As usual I consider myself a VERY lucky man....