We're just sitting around in Dushanbe, enjoying our fancy hotel, waiting for the flight home. Crazy how it's almost over. Here are some end of trip reflections and some data analysis as well. See you soon, U S of A!
From Tim:
Five months ago I boarded a plane for Mumbai, nervous and excited, not quite sure what to expect; my longest trip to date was our three week honeymoon. India did fulfill expectations set by my coworkers who shared their thoughts on what it'd be like: huge and full of wonder, friendly people, dirty streets, and likely to cause illness if you eat cold salads. Japan similarly was somewhat close to preconceived notions about the forests and mountains, unique culture, and best-in-class public transit. Still, it's one thing to read about Japan being 70% forested, the many languages and population density of India, or the vast mountain ranges of Central Asia, but it's something else to experience a thing first-hand. If nothing else the visceral emotion helps drive an experience into memory and provides some empathy for people from other places (and other times). Many of the challenges of backpacking through parts unknown were minimized by having a seasoned companion, not to mention the spread of smart phones and Google Maps, but there were still some long days squeezed into shared taxis, the occasional illness, and lots of communication difficulty in Central Asia. At the end I'm mostly excited to return home; this trip was like hiking a mountain: a long journey, occasionally tedious, filled with incredible views and experiences, and I'm glad that I did it and glad that it's over, and I'm thankful that Mariel shared her love of world travel with me.
From Mariel:
It's been a long time since I've traveled for an extended time – almost 8 years. The last time was Southeast Asia and I thought that maybe I was over it. I had traveled a lot in college, and I approached the last trip with a jaded and ungrateful attitude. Traveling is a privilege that I knew I was not appreciating, which triggered serious guilt and further compounded my negative emotions. In the intervening years I began to get the itch again, and was excited by the opportunity to take a break from life and explore a new set of cultures and geographies. I was worried I would find I really had exhausted my wanderlust and flame out of the trip early, but happily that was not the case. I think it helped that I had Tim with me. He was a great traveling partner, and the trip reconfirmed and strengthened our choice in each other as life partners as well. We spent a lot of time together these 5 months, and I still love him! It was bittersweet to leave my job and coworkers. I was enjoying a nice upward trajectory and just starting to hit my stride, but it is also nice to see my team succeeding without me. I'm excited for what the Stanford Biodesign program will bring, and am ready to get on with life. My wanderlust is not dead, but for a while it is sated. Now I just wonder, what's around the river bend?
The Data:
We (painstakingly) logged every expense incurred, resulting in over 800 entries. Tim volunteered to do the analysis and ended up learning some Python to do it. We had saved up $50,000 for this trip and spent just under $19,000. We were frugal, but not stingy, and occasionally we downright splurged ($80 hotel room, ohh la la!). It helped that we were traveling through relatively inexpensive areas, and that we're both okay with sacrificing some personal comforts at times. In fact, I think it adds to the experience. My opinion begins to change after the 5th hour in the hard back middle seat of a shared taxi as we careen around cliff-edged curves, but there's only so much steadfastness one can expect. The lodging in Japan is artificially low, since we spent week at Laurel's place, rent free. India did indeed have the cheapest food (and arguably the most delicious). Here are some other mildly interesting stats:
- 49 cities visited in 10 countries
- 7,987 photos taken
- 13 plane rides, 32 train rides, so many buses and taxis
- 3 azithromycin antibiotic pills taken (for stomach bugs)
- 2 pukes (both Mariel, unfortunately)
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| Trip total minus interregional flights. |
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