April 19, 2008
Day 934
The final day of my trip had arrived. After a long night without much sleep, I couldn't keep my eyes open on the hour-long bus ride to the airport in Cancun. Nothing of any significance happened on my two flights home. People complained about having to wait an hour to check in and their flight getting delayed by an hour, but I was used to that kind of stuff. In fact, the airport seemed extremely efficient to me. I was amazed at how far one could travel in one day. After years of getting stopped every ten minutes for random speed bumps, police checkpoints, pitchfork-brandishing protesters, flat tires, tuk tuks, and the occasional alpaca crossing, I was able to travel nearly 2000 miles in a mere four hours in the air, a distance I hadn't covered in at least the last four months.
I was freezing when I landed in Milwaukee, but I'll adjust eventually. There wasn't nearly as much culture shock coming back this time around. I think being in Playa del Carmen, where Wal Mart's and McDonald's abound, for the last three days helped make the transition smoother. I'm actually really glad to be back home.
So this is the end of my trip. Now comes the most difficult part. I have to get a new driver's license, get my car running again, catch up with people I haven't seen in years, try to get my old website back up, sort through 11,000 pictures for printing, put together a resume, search for a job, try to put back on a few pounds after dropping below the 150 mark for the first time since I was like twelve years old, and probably do a bunch of stuff I haven't even thought of yet. I'm sure I'll write some follow-up entries eventually, but for now this blog is closed.
Welcome back Dan! You scared the crap out of me with this couple month absence from posting, but glad to hear it was "just" dengue (as apposed to malaria, kidnapping, bus accident, etc).
I thought I would get you up to speed with the sporting world since you left the states:
The Brewers lost 174 games
The Bucks drafted some stiff named Yi
The Packers have won 4 of 6 from the Vikings (they must have cheated)
Oh yeah, some guy named Favre retired.
I will maybe, likely e-mail you sometime in the not too distant future... probably.
Again, welcome home.
Hey Dan:
Congrats on a fantastic trip. I only wish I could be in the position to do such a thing as you did. Welcome back!
Paul
I'm glad to see that the site is back up. I'm feeling mixed emotions about YOUR trip coming to an end. To me, it always seemed like it would be never-ending, something as reliable as the sun rise. It was a lifestyle and you were the torch bearer keeping the light of travel alive. And now that light has gone out, extinguishing the life that is life of the road. I'm happy to know that you're safe and I hope that by now you've sufficiently recovered your health and made a successful retransition into suburbia nervosa consciousness of US life.
Hi Jamie,
Nice, that was very poetic. But even though the main flame is out, the pilot light still remains intact. I hope the cockneys are treating you as well as Sonko.
Dan
where's the next series of travels big fella?
hope all is well!
jp
Still working on figuring that out but I have a lot of ideas. Stay tuned...