After…
11 months.
(July 6th, 2011-June 9th, 2012)
(Which is 47 weeks.)
(Which is 333 days.)
Spent in 54 cities.
That are in 20 countries.
(Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, USA, Turkey, Albania, Italy, Kosovo,
Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Qatar, South Africa,
Mozambique, Swaziland, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, China)
On 5 continents.
(South America, North America, Europe, Africa, Asia)
That resulted in 49 new passport stamps.
After traveling by way of 18 airports.
(Philadelphia, Orlando, Miami, Quito, La Paz, Santa Cruz,
New York,
Istanbul, Tirana, Bucharest, Doha, Johannesburg, Bangkok,
Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Los Angeles, Houston)
And 100+ bus rides.
Totaling 400+ hours in transit.
On 20 modes of transportation.
(With only 2 non-airplane seatbelts worn/available.)
Totaling 33 total travel days.
And after meeting 100+ lovable orphans.
Experiencing 1 adoption.
And 44 precious girls saved from trafficking.
And gaining countless friends from all around the world.
After trying to learn 16 languages.
(English, Spanish, Quechua, Kichwa, Turkish, Albanian, Italian, Romanian, Hungarian, Qatari, Zulu, Portuguese, Swati, Thai, Khmer, Malay.)
After 66 showers, including bucket.
(16 of them with hot water)
After 5 sermons preached.
3 castles explored.
3 mountains hiked.
1 ancient cave painting discovered.
And 317 cups of coffee to get through it all.
After swimming in 7 major bodies of water.
(Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Lake Titicaca, Adriatic Sea,
Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Thailand)
And filling up 2 moleskine journals.
After 6 doctors visits.
And 3 teammates with dengue fever.
After 11 major holidays spent away from home.
And 4 seasons passing back home.
After ‘sleeping’ in 38 ‘beds’.
And accumulating 14 foreign currencies (that are currently) in my wallet.
After becoming family with 56 squad mates.
And living with a total of 17 team mates.
On 3 teams.
After writing 113 blogs about it all.
And after flying literally 360 degrees around the world on 17 flights…
It’s time to
come home.
