200 Days and the Countdown Begins

Just like the first 100 days, the last 100 days have evaporated before my eyes. I hit 100 days away while we were travelling the North Island of New Zealand on our term break roadie...and those memories seem so long ago. A lot has been accomplished in the past three months, and now there are only 7 days until I'm back on Canadian soil, and 11 days until I'm back on Mountain Standard Time.

I have one week left in Asia and I'm finding it hard to come to terms with the end of my travels. I'm very excited to be home to see all the friends and family that I miss so much (and sleep in a decent bed!), but I am pretty blue about ending my explorations. However, I think I will continue to travel in my heart as I annotate my photo albums to any keen ear.

I'll be thinking of words to write my final blog as I enjoy the next week in Vietnam and Hong Kong, and then gather my reflections while I'm in Vancouver for a few days. One thought that has weighed on my mind the whole time I've been away -- from Los Angeles to the Cook Islands, through New Zealand and across Asia -- is that the biggest culture shock might very well be my return to Canadian life. We've been laughing about how cheap we will be, especially after 2 months of asking, "is that your best price?" or inquiring about "happy hour" deals and such. Paying $5 for a meal is going to be a BIG splurge. I've consciously enjoyed the fact that our biggest stress has been organizing bus rides and choosing fabrics and leathers for our tailor-made goods.

At this point, the things I am looking most forward to when I get back home are:
1) catching up with family and friends
2) an Ice Capp from Timmy's
3) organised traffic and a LACK of honking
4) showers that do not soak the entire bathroom floor
5) home-made perogies

Things I am not looking forward to:
1) unpacking
2) a drained bank account
3) paperwork
4) enormous Gull Lake mosquitoes
5) a lack of ocean

More to come. Heading to Halong Bay.

Thanks for reading.

L.