..more can happen in a few days

Back to it now,)

It took a while for the confusion & exhaustion of the travel to wear off, but as that subsided we were able to spend quality time together, got out on the bikes (more novel than it sounds, especially in Texas!) and I stuffed myself on the Super-American sized food portions!

Once I figured out how the shower work, and got over the fact that the fridge (one of!) was the size of a TukTuk and the milk container could hold enough fuel for 2 tuk tuks! - I quickly found myself readapting to the ’western’ ways! ; #)

The time in Dallas was great, but soon those feet start itching… Last Friday (31st March) I found myself on yet another plane. I’d been riding buses & trains overnight as cheaper alternatives to accommodation - I now found myself doing the same with airplanes, although they aren’t the cheaper alternative! This time there was less of the immigration faff and plane delays, things were actually running smoothly!

Board all nice & fine, and had lots of room on the plane, until the stewardesses decided to place a fat bloke in the seat in front. Mr Go-Lightly obviously decided to lean his seat all the way back, and stink while doing so! To further rub my face in it, the stewardess served me the "Vegan" breakfast whilst everyone else was chomping on muffins, cheeses, toasts, chocolates - I grazed away on my simple fruit salad and bread crumbs! (not really sure what happened there?! (The same lady didn’t serve me a meal earlier on, because I’d fallen asleep. It was only when I woke as they cleared everyone’s trays, did I notice!)

9hours and a couple of more time zones latter we landed. How nice did it feel, once again I was excited!! This time immigration wasn’t too much of an issue, I knew exactly what to do this time! I got in the queue, and just near the front I looked up and took relief from what I read "UK & EU Passport holders" AT the counter I handed the worn & battered passport over to the lady, she looked at me, then the picture, I giggled and said "It’s been a while!" she laugh and waved me past. It felt nice to be back! Collecting the bag (12kgs now!) and making my way through the airport, everyone was talking in ’normal’ English (although it did sound like they had plums in their mouths’!), signage was all in clear English, it was Gatwick Airport and I was back!

I hadn’t told anyone I was coming back. So I brought my ticket back to Royston (trying not to look at the price, and thinking how much that would get me elsewhere!) Within 2 hours (a blink of an eye really) I’d reaquitanted myself with the famous British weather and the most famous sights from Blackfriars, before arriving back in sleepy Royston. Nothing much had changed, and the quick 5 mins walk from the station back home was quickly familiar. I still had my keys so I crept into the house and gave my Mum the fright of her life, also to my Dad when he returned later on! So that’s it, I’m back home now. Some 40,000+kms and nearly 500 odd days later, my tour has come to an end! I’ll be catching up with everyone slowly, but first let me anticipate your questions and answer them now! ;-):

1) Yes, I did enjoy myself 2) It’s difficult to choose a best country because all are great for different things, but I did like Nepal 3) Yes it’s strange being back 4) Nope, no idea what I’m going to do! 5) How dare you ask such a thing!

Maybe you can help answer my questions!: 1) What am I going to do? 2) Where do I start? 3) What’s been happening in Eastenders? 4) Chip and …? 5) What lottery numbers should I choose!?

Now that I’m back it’s fairly unlikely I’ll get around to finishing off the stories from all the countries I visited - I’d like to think I will one day, but the reality is that this will be the last enmass Email I’ll send. If anything, and if I do write-up more I’ll just post it straight on my blog (http://www.HemantMistry.com/Logs) (…unless that goes again!)

Well, so that was it then! I checked on Yahoo Finance this morning and it seems that the going rate for repeating/telling anymore travellers tales is about 2 Beer Credits/Pints per story - I’ll say no more! Looking forward to the catching up! All the Best

Midge (Back in…) Royston, Hertfordshire, England (...but for how long!)