I am starting to doubt we will ever hear about the end of this trip. I hope all is well for travelgirl2 and she simply had a computer crash or something else that would cause her to not report back for almost 8 weeks now.

I guess I should apologize for reviving this thread and giving false hope to all of TG's fans.

How sad that we have not heard back from travelgirl. I hope all is well in her life.

Some years ago there was a Fodorite that travelled in Italy with her parents and suddenly her wonderful and fabulous postings about the trip stopped and she has never been heard from again. I don't remember her screen name but imagine some Fodorite's will recall what it was.

It is like reading a good book without being able to read the last couple of chapters.

travelgirl, if you see this, again I hope all is well with you and your family.

Hello. Thank you for your comments. I promise that I will finish the report. Things have been very busy lately, but I hope to get back to it soon.

Yay! Looking forward to it, travelgirl!

Hello travelgirl, how wonderful to hear from you!! When you can, the rest of your report will be wonderful. Like LCBoniti I am so happy to see that you posted and all is well in your life.

Also looking forward to those final installments, Travelgirl.

LoveItaly, I remember the woman you mentioned. Her screen name was PLM or something like that. Her trip to Italy was so funny I thought it should be made into a movie. Her mom and dad were priceless characters!

Day 77 – Flight to Newark and Home

This morning, we have breakfast at the PADDINGTON HILTON. As gold members, we are usually given a free breakfast in the Executive Lounge. Here, the Executive Lounge is under construction, so the breakfast is in their restaurant. It is an excellent buffet, with many stations offering a full English breakfast, pastries and everything else you could possibly want.

Today we will be flying home. Boo hoo. It is nice to be staying practically in Paddington Station. We walk downstairs and catch the Heathrow Express. They have a weekend special, where 4 adults can travel for the price of 2. Again, they let us travel on this special, for a total of 28 GBP.

At the airport, we wait in a long check-in line, then stop briefly at a shop to pick up some last-minute gifts. We leave ourselves about 1 ½ hours to wait in the security line. As we approach security, there is a long line of people. So we keep walking, looking for the end of the line. We walk for about 15 minutes! There are thousands of people in line. Oh no, I think, we will never make our flight at this rate.

Just then, someone comes by, calling out a flight time and telling everyone with flights up until that time to come with him. He will take them to the front of the line. Five minutes later, someone calls out our flight time. We follow him all the way to the front of the line. He places us in the line. Of course, the people we are cutting in front of are not too happy about it. There is a lot of pushing and shoving. Even though we are near the front of the line, it still takes us another hour to get completely through security. Many people in line are at the end of their patience, so the wait is not very pleasant.

We rush to our gate and board the plane. Five minutes later, they close the door and our plane taxis to the runway. We are only leaving 15 minutes late. They said that all passengers were accounted for. That’s good, but yikes. This was very stressful for everyone. Especially the older folks we saw sprinting for the plane.

During the flight, there is a poor 11 year old boy who throws up repeatedly for the first half hour and then again for the last hour. The flight is very turbulent, especially at takeoff and landing. The plane moves jarringly from side to side. The pilot tells us the turbulence at landing is due to the remnants of tropical storm Ernesto. The boy continues to throw up all over the carpet in Passport Control. His poor mom holds a baby and waits for him to finish. Some airport people rush over to offer assistance.

Our limo driver is relieved to see us. He has been waiting two hours for us.

We have an uneventful ride home and we are all so happy to see our house. I practically cry with happiness at the thought of using my washer and dryer the next day. That is one thing I have sorely missed on this trip!

Thank you for finishing!! I loved all of your amazing report...

Have you traveled anywhere since, or where to next??

Thanks for finishing. However, I admit that I am greedy. Now that you've been home for a few months, it would be interesting to hear your overall reflections on the trip....highs and lows, what you would differently, whether you would do another trip of that magnitude and length if you had the opportunity, etc.

Thank you, Travelgirl2. A trip of a lifetime, indeed. You have inspired me. I have enjoyed reading every word.

Marvelous! Thanks so much for bringing the report to completion.
I agree with missypie .... if you find yourself with a few extra minutes, looking back, what what you absolutely do again, what not, etc...? A trip like this is an inspiration and dream for many of us.

Where to next? Happy travels!!

Day 78 – Home

First thing this morning, I go to the grocery store. I am stunned by the aisles and aisles of choices. Instead of 2 or 3 choices for each item, it seems like we have 20 or 30. At first, I have a hard time picking among the choices. The aisle of breakfast cereal offers boundless opportunities.

Another thing I notice is our produce. It is huge and looks beautiful. But, the nectarines I buy do not taste nearly as good as the ones we have been eating in Europe.

I stop by our favorite bagel store. We have bagels and lox and cream cheese and onions and tomatoes for breakfast. It is delicious.

I make tacos for dinner. We have corn on the cob. These are all some of our favorite things and we savor them.

We talk about our trip. I could have kept traveling. DH is glad to be home. The kids loved traveling and would love to go some more, but for now they are looking forward to starting school and seeing their friends.

We all wonder what our next adventure will be.

Well, it looks as though you are well and truly done - what a great trip and thanks for your persistence in posting your report.

A small suggestion for when you catch your breath. You could turn the report - and your pictures - into a nice book at www.blurb.com. I did this with my fall trip to Romania, which was only 10 days but 3700 pictures! Weeded them out and added text from my lengthy journal to make a 220 page hardcover book. With a beautiful dust jacket for just about $60.

Thanks noe847. I am definitely going to check that out.

Day 79 - Home

I have to buy some new sheets. The sheets in Europe are so wonderful. I spend three hours at the store today, since there is a 20% off store-wide sale.

I also start thinking seriously about our next adventure. At first, DH rolls his eyes and seems to hope that I will stop talking about it. When I persist over dinner, he refuses to discuss it. Later, I tell him that planning the next adventure will make it much easier for me to re-enter reality, so he relents and we start to brainstorm together.

Since we will have limited funds, we will have to be creative. We have two thoughts. First, is camping and bicycling. We like these activities, so I start looking for low-cost bicycling trips. Fodor’s posters, as always, are very helpful. Our second thought is that maybe DH has some funds available from work to attend a conference. This turns out to be the case, so we start looking for upcoming conferences in interesting places.

This report has been such a great experience. I've been checking every other day just for this post, and then I head back to bed - happy as ever.

We were in Amsterdam couple years back for a few days and really enjoyed it. We stayed ten blocks away from the Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht and loved the neighborhood. I found the city to be quite charming, and wasn't put off by the coffeeshops so much.

Continued success with the rest of your trip!

Day 80+ – Home

Over the next two weeks, I am so happy to catch up with my friends. I meet some for coffee. I meet others for a walk in the park. One comes over for tea. We take some out for dinner as a thank you for watching our house. I see some at a school event and some at church. Others at the bus stop. Others invite us to an afternoon wine tasting. Another has a party, complete with pig roast. We have a neighborhood block party to kick off the new school year.

As much as I love traveling, I have missed our friends, family and neighbors. The kids spend a solid week visiting with their friends too.

With DH’s blessing, I’ve signed us up for a bicycling and camping weekend. I don’t want grass to grow under my feet!

I still have to get the iPod fixed. That’s the one that crashed on the first day of our trip. During his interlude at home, DH already took care of the dishwasher and garage door repairs. Now, we’d better take care of that septic tank leak!

Thank you to all you Fodor’s posters who contributed to our trip with your comments and insight. It has been so much fun to share our trip with you.

TravelGirl:

I've said manytimes how I've thorughly enjoyed your report...I have copied
most of the Japan and China segments...

Countdown..leaving in four weeks...March 28th...Beijing 5 days, Xian, 2, Guilin 3, Shanghai 4, Tokyo 4, Kyoto 5, and Beppu (where I was stationed, on Kyushu) 2.

Happy Travels to you and to all your avid readers herein!! Keep on truckin' !!

Stu T.

Travelgirl,

I just discovered your trip report this week, and it was absolutely terrific! Thanks so much for sharing such a great experience with all Fodorites.

You inspired me to try to figure out a way to take a long (more then 3 weeks) trip, and to finally get exposed to Asia my DH (your term!) and I travel a lot, mostly to Europe (my sister lives in London).

I live in NYC, and I grew up in NJ, so we're neighbors!

Thanks again for such a compelling trip report.

Thank you so much. Now that I've marked this I can re-read it again & again!