Still at the airport, only 5 hours to go before take off!! The lounge is good, restaurant, buffet, drinks and most important a shower!
So the trip is essentially complete; was it worth it? Certainly, new countries, new cultures and maybe a few too many new temples. Our brains hurt from all the new information we tried to absorb.
Would we do it again? Probably not. We underestimated a few things on this trip, number one being the effect of the heat and humidity. It wasn’t just the odd day, it was every day. The temperatures averaged around 32C (90F) and humidity in the mid 90% range. It saps your energy while walking around the different areas. The full, 9+ hour days really took a toll. When we had a few hours spare, it was great to kick back in the A/C or the pool, BUT there was always this voice in the back of the mind saying “you’ve come al this way, you should be doing more than lazing around”.
Kensington Tours, the group who organised this did a good job (thanks Dave), we only had a couple of small hiccups where we had an issue finding our guide at the airport. The hotels we stayed in ranged from good to fantastic.
So, what do we do in future? I suspect we may lean more towards cruises, especially for countries where the culture and or driving is way different to what we are used too. I would not have liked to drive on this trip; 40 years ago I would have considered driving here a “fun” experience!!
We are considering a trip to Scotland in the spring for a family birthday and possibly a side trip to the Scottish Islands. Next fall looks as though it could be a cruise around Japan and maybe a stop somewhere on the flight out. Hawaii remains the only state we haven’t visited.
In the meantime we’ll have about 9 weeks at home before heading down to Alabama for 3 months.
Hopefully, if anyone did read the blog, it gave an insight into the trip. I am getting lazy with the descriptions, but the pictures may be interesting to some.