We have been home for several days - it feels amazing. At the same time - it was an incredible, once in a lifetime trip. We feel so blessed to have been able to experience it together. One final post (49 in total) to wrap up our journey - 4 continents, 20 countries and 37 cities over 89 days.
We have come away from the experience reminded what a wonderful world we live in. We are truly filled with yoho (in awe and wonderment!). A number of folks have asked us about our favorite - or favorites. A very fair question but an impossible answer. In an earlier post we shared a quote we have framed in our house "You don't remember days, you remember moments". So true. We discovered during this trip that almost every place we visited gave us at least one favorite moment - often many. There was something that made each of our stops special and memorable. We have included just a few below as examples.
Sometimes it was the beauty of nature...
or the beauty of manmade structures....
or the history (both good and bad) that you could feel....
or the yummy food and drink (thinking of you Mary :))...
or people that made us feel at home thousands of miles away from our home...
or an experience we could not have imagined doing until we did it...
or an experience that defies words...
or the warm, wonderful people we met along the way...
or a laugh we shared....
or family....
Beyond the moments that will truly last a lifetime, we did have a few takeaways:
- Our world is a big, beautiful, diverse, fragile, evolving, awe-inspiring place that we have the opportunity to enjoy for the short time we are alive. We need to appreciate it and take care of it.
- Sleeping in your own bed with your own pillow is pure joy.
- It's amazing how many people have connections to the Sarasota area. From the couple we met around the Alaskan campfire who live here, to the owner of the boutique hotel in Prague who has a winter home here, to our new friend who owns a pub in Venice - and so many more - it made this big world feel like a small world.
- You'll never realize how big your comfort zone can be until you force yourself to step out of your current one.
- The ability to do laundry whenever you want is something you don't appreciate until you can't.
- It's a cliche but true - life (and trips) are about the journey not the destination.
- Our big and diverse world is filled with people who are much more similar than different. Looks, languages and cultures will vary. But our hearts, souls and desire for meaningful connections with others are the same.
- Smiles and laughter are the universal language.
- Even after 32 years of marriage, 36 years of partnership and 37 years of friendship you can still learn something new about your partner and yourself :) We joked about hoping we still liked each other after this trip - it was a long time! After sharing this experience, it's fair to say we have never felt closer or more in love.
Enjoy the Ride!
