Cape Town!!! - 33,850 miles later

The journey home to Cape Town lasted almost 2 days. 9.30am flight from Phuket left us with a 16 hour stopover in Singapore. Hmmmm, what to do? We had visions of doing a bit of Xmass shopping but after closer inspection this is NOT the city to be spending your pennies. Lets use a pair of Levi's (501's) as a gauge for what things cost in Singapore - 300 POUNDS! ....that would be Sterling!! After a few more stops in the retail world that requires platinum cards only we thought it best to do something simple - Lunch and a movie - the new Bond was on. Killed some time at the airport reading the paper and browsing through the duty free and eventually boarded the plane at 1am.

Landing in Cape Town was a really weird experience. Kimmy and I spoke at length about the mixed emotions we both felt. Sadness, Relief, Nerves, Joy.....and a lot more variations on all of those. I guess the sadness came from the realisation that our adventure was coming to an end, we were also landing for the 1st time in 7 years with no immediate plans to go back to London....this was permanent?! The nerves have to be put down to the fact that we're now gonna have to join the real world again and as Dave put it politely in an email the other day, "get used to the idea of doing some work for a change!" Mr. Meehan, that's next year's problem. We've already been back for a week but it still feels like we're traveling, all our bits and pieces are still in storage so we're still living out of our backpacks. Apparently the summer only started in Cape Town the day we arrived. Perfect timing then, the skies are BLUE, the sun is out and the Mother City is better than it used to be. The vibe is unbelievably positive, people are friendly, service is good and a drive to Theewaters to go skiing and camping is just over and hour away. Debs and Al are talking about spending a couple of weeks in Namibia next year in August so the 1st vehicle purchase is gonna have to be a 4x4 of some description. Let's hope we have jobs by then! 

We've had and amazing 7 months traveling the world, meeting people and experiencing a variety of cultures and attitudes. The dominant lesson I think we will both take from this experience is witnessing how some cultures seem satisfied and at peace with so much less. South Africans in particular are so blessed with what we have and the potential for improvement is immense. Every country you go to has its problems, ours just seem to be more publicised - maybe because the 2010 WC is around the corner.....so in summary, you could call our trip a humbling learning curve. Certainly not what we were expecting but, I think we're more appreciative of what we have and how we have been brought up.

We were originally expecting to cover about 29000 miles to Cape Town but, after closer inspection and a lot of Googling in the maps section it transpires that our meandering and fly by the seat of your pants attitude has added another few thousand yards. Almost 5000 extra miles has seen us cover 33, 850 miles across 4 continents and 10 different countries. If we had a favourite place or places to go back to then we'd have to say that the Rockies in the USA and the south coast of California would be top of the list - breathtaking scenery and chilled people. We've met a number of amazing people and families on our travels that have added to our education and it wouldn't be proper not to give them a mention:

1. The Thornton's in California, thanks again for restoring our faith in the American folk.

2. Neil, Mich, Penny and Mike - drinking tequila just won't be the same again, thank you so much for your hospitality.
3. Stef and Darren (our traveling buddies from Ireland - who are now expecting their 1st child!! Too many cocktails in Bali?!)
4. The Roach's in Auckland, thanks for the laughs, the Saffa reminiscing sessions and your constant support on Facebook and our blog.
5. Mike, Orla, Cam and Johnboy, Frazer Island just would not have been the same without you!
6. Chris, Rachel and the Irish lasses on the Raggamuffn II
7. Emma and Matti - thank you for one of the most memorably funny days of our adventure on a rainswept day in the Singapore rain forests, hope your travels are still going strong.

All of you have, in your own way made our experience that much more special - we think about you all the time and I know we've said it before but, thought it would be worth a mention again, when you guys finally make it to South Africa then please remember mi Casa su Casa. Just don't all arrive at once during the Fifa WC otherwise you're gonna be fighting for camping space in our back garden!!

One adventure is behind us now and a new one begins as we settle in Africa. Things are changing here, you can just feel it.......good things are going to happen.