As Kevin said in the previous post, the trip is over. After a few weeks of processing the journey in the comfort and familiarity of home, we’ve come up with a few reflections and stats for the last blog of the big trip.

About a month ago I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about coming back after such a long and exciting adventure. Bored? Frustrated? Depressed? Surprisingly, it’s been wonderful. I wake up in the same comfortable bed everyday, and don’t have to pay anyone for it or vacate it by noon. Reconnecting with family and friends has been effortless, probably because no one has changed drastically, especially myself. Kevin and I never really bought into the whole “travel the world to find yourself” thing. We’ve noticed that idea cropping up in many travelers’ agendas, but I want to reiterate that’s not what BTB has been about. We just wanted to move around a lot and see neat stuff.

Best Times: Eating in Turkey, Climbing into an Egyptian Pyramid, Trekking the Himalayas, Riding trains in India, Lazing on Thai beaches, and talking to locals in Burma.

Letdowns: Intrusive and manipulative “guides” in Luxor, Egypt, the constant piss smell in Jaipur, India, post offices losing our care packages, DHL telling us lies and making our lives hell for a day.

# New places: 90

# Travel days: 26

# Travel nights: 23

Best Meals: The Vegetarian Special at a restaurant in Turkey: stuffed peppers, olives, felafel balls, fried cheese, pasta, yogurt, mezzes, fresh bread, and a glass of wine for US$7 each.

The Fish Market in Alexandria, Egypt. Fresh fish, 9 different types of dips, including hummus, baba ganoush, cheese, and garlic butter with veggies and bread, followed by mint tea and a waterpipe for $13 each.

Worst Meals: Indian guesthouse kitchen attempts at Mexican food (we’re pretty sure they used ketchup with cinnamon as the sauce).

Apples and ginger as key ingredients in minestrone at a Nepali trekking lodge.

Place where we’d like to live: Istanbul, Turkey. It’s exotic, beautiful, and rich in history. We were particularly found of the Beyoğlu district, which Wikipedia describes as a “solid mile of shops, cafés, patisseries, restaurants, pubs, winehouses and clubs, as well as some of the city’s best bookshops, theatres, cinemas and art galleries.” Really, who could argue with that?

It may seem as though it’s been a “once in a lifetime” experience, but we’d rather think of it as a sample appetizer platter. Everywhere we went is worth going back to for more exploration, and probably even more rewarding with more visits. Of course the obstacles are time and money, but when you really want something you can usually find a way for things to work out.

Thanks to everyone who followed along, commented, made donations, told someone about the site, and helped us keep the dream alive. Working on BTBtv and sharing our trip with our readers was lots of fun, but sometimes it would have been easier to let it slide and be lazy. Thanks to the positive feedback and responses we received along the way, we kept going and tried to make the project the best it could be. And it was worth it, because now that the trip’s over, we have a great record of the places we saw and the things we did. We really appreciate it!