Rena and Wade Around the World

Our first Round the World trip from Jan 2006 - July 2006.

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Location: Regina/Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

The adventures of living and working abroad. From Cayman to Europe, a break year and side adventure travels, this is our story.

Monday, July 03, 2006

The End?

A 158 days and 15 countries later, we landed back in Canada. It was a fabulous vacation and truly the experience of a lifetime, but honestly we were happy to be home. We were beginning to feel like travelling gypsies...and as far as I know, no one likes gypsies, maybe not even gypsies themselves.

It's been great catching up with family and friends. Of course, everyone has lots of questions about our trip and we are getting quite good at anticipating the questions. We have therefore decided to blog them in order of popularity:

1. What was your favourite country?

Can't say that we had one. Each place was so different from the next and always an adventure that it is really hard to say we had one favourite place. There are certainly days that stick out in our minds more than others (either because they were fabulous days to remember or because everything was going wrong!). Our top picks are: Desert Safari outside of Dubai, Hiking part of the Great Wall of China, Hiking Torres del Paine in Chile (once we were no longer lost!), Visiting the Elephant Nature Park outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand and motorcyclying the back roads around Natrang, Vietnam.

2. Are you engaged yet?

Be happy that we aren't divorced after 158 days of 24/7 !!! I'd have to say that this trip was a bigger test of faith than the infamous "sponge painting" ever was!

3. Did the trip enlighten you or change your lives?

I think it would be a bit dramatic to say it changed our lives, but it did open our eyes. Seeing things for yourself is an experience like no other, especially when we come from such a privileged country. It certainly made us very grateful for everything we have and a lot more compassionate and aware of the hardships that other people face. Well, comparatively anyways. We certainly will never feel sorry for people on welfare in Canada again! That is luxury living in comparison to how poverty is defined in good portion of the rest of the world.

We also learned that I have a quick temper and Wade is directionally challenged. We're not pointing fingers, but I think we both know which parent we've inherited these traits from! Luckily, we've found a fix for these character flaws.....Wade admits that I'm always right. Unfortunately, he sometimes forgets this fact.

4. Are you going back to Cayman?

Well that's where our Round the World Trip started and technically that's where it ends!


So that's all for now folks. Stay tuned for more adventures (albeit probably not as exciting) of Wade and Rena. Thanks to all for reading and taking an interest in our blog.

Happy trails....

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Our Trip At A Glance

It all started in late December 2005 when we flew from Cayman to Saskatchewan via Calgary to be home for Christmas. From there we departed for Santiago, Chile on January 4th. After a month or so in Chile and Argentina we flew to Hong Kong via Los Angeles. From Hong Kong we flew to Singapore and worked our way north through Malaysia and Thailand. Then into Laos and from there to Hanoi, Vietnam. We spent a month travelling south through Vietnam and then made a side trip to Siem Reap in Cambodia. From there it was it was off to Beijing via Hong Kong. We spent a month in China seeing Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi'an and then back to Beijing. From Beijing we travelled to Japan, via Hong Kong of course. We flew into Tokyo and travelled to Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagano and then back to Tokyo. From Tokyo we flew to Dubai, via Hong Kong. Then a direct flight to London. From London to Vancouver to Calgary and finally back to Saskatchewan on June 12, 2006.

We've posted a few maps below with our route marked out in green. Double click the maps to enlarge them.

From start to finish

South America

South America enlarged

Asia

South East Asia enlarged