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Boy has it been awhile since I’ve attempted to entertain you all with my schizo-typing! And man has so much happened. From getting robbed in Ecuador to diving with sharks in Belize. From showing Jen’s parents the “real” side of Mexico to kissing the ground on arrival back in the United States. From trying to blend back into a “normal” life here in Mississippi to…well, you get the point. I will get around to writing it all down sooner or later. Today though, I would like to focus on the holiday at hand here in the USA: THANKSGIVING!!! TURKEY DAY!!! THE DAY IN WHICH THE OVER-EATING OCCURS!

    But first, let us reflect on Thanksgiving last year…We awoke, shivering, in Phakding, Nepal. We were wearing everything we owned…and a few things we rented. This consisted of loads of underthings, 3 pairs of socks each, a t-shirt or two, thermal pants, wind pants, snow pants, fleece pullover, fleece jacket, down jacket, toboggan, two pairs of gloves, a scarf, and a partridge in a pear tree! Well, all but that last thing anyway. Needless to say, it was (as my papa would have had me say) “colder than a well-diggers butt in Idaho”. Maybe a degree or two colder than that, even. We stood up and soaked in the glorious view from the lodge.

    We had a tiny little room, but two sides were lined with huge picture windows. A look outside gave us splendid views of the blue-green river water rushing below and snow-capped mountains directly behind. Needless to say, it still ranks as one of the most majestic moments that I have ever had. We gathered our things and were soon clambering down the steep steps to plop ourselves down in the dining room. When the lady of the house walked into the dining room and asked us what we would like for breakfast, we hastened to order ourselves some hot tomato soup. We slurped it down as we watched the other trekkers and porters hustle by outside the window. We were soon headed out onto the trail ourselves and off towards Lukla, our final stop before our flight back to Kathmandu.

    Walking along, we thought about Thanksgiving at home and about all of the things that we missed by being gone. The following list is what we came up with on that day and wrote down on a little scrap of paper later that night:

1. Electricity 24-hours a day

2. Consistent HOT water, no matter the hour

3. Heaters and Air Conditioners

4. Paved Roads

5. Clean Clothes

6. Soap

7. Toilet Paper

8. Western Toilets

9. Road Laws

10. Food Choices

11. Education

12. Clean Drinking Water

13. Child Labor Laws

14. School Buses that kids don’t have to ride on the top off and that come to a complete stop.

15. Availability of good healthcare

16. Tables and Chairs

17. Thick mattresses and Soft Pillows

18. Trails that don’t go straight up

19. Friends who don’t try to take money

20. Honesty

21. Church Availability

22. No Hagglers

23. Bathtubs

24. Cheap Snack foods

25. Low-fat Peanut butter

26. Our own house with a bathroom

27. Inside Stoves

28. Peace and Quiet

29. Great Friends and Family

30. Bicycle lanes and minimal motorcycles

31. Grocery Stores

32. Fences for Livestock

33. Zero Language Barriers

34. Normal Opening Hours

35. Headlights, Vehicle Registration and Inspection Stickers

36. Consistent Internet Connections

37. Privacy

38. Considerate People

39. Safe Food

40. No Smoking Signs/Laws

41. Littering Fines

42. Malaria/Dengue Fever Eradication

43. Pens that Write

44. Office jobs

45. Hygiene Awareness

46. Lack of Bollywood Films

47. Waste Management

48. Napkins

49. Clothes Washers/Dryers

50. Dishwashers

51. Clean Bathrooms

52. Public Bathrooms (free would be even better!)

53. Zoning Restrictions/Fire Hazard Laws

54. Efficient Police Officers

55. Terminix

    That night, we made it to Lukla and were soon downstairs in the dining room enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner: tomato soup, yak steak, mixed veggies, potatoes, apple pie, chocolate pudding, and hot tea. It was all great, but as Dorothy said in that long ago drama set in the land of Oz, “there’s no place like home”.   

    This Thanksgiving, back at home, has been absolutely fantastic! We have eaten a ton of turkey, dressing, corn, mac-n-cheese, cake, pie, chicken, potatoes, and more. We have gotten to spend time with parents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins. It has been maybe our best Thanksgiving ever. We have come home to all of the comforts that we have taken for granted for so long, and have finally learned to appreciate. We are so thankful to have been born here in the United States, and more specifically, in the South.

    Well Boys and Girls, our journey has ended. We are currently sitting in our posh (comparatively) apartment in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA. We got home on October 24th after a few days of pampering on our Carnival Cruise from Mexico. Jen’s parents met us in Cozumel, Mexico on the ship and we had a few awesome days with them. On the 21st, we all went snorkeling, drove all around Cozumel, did a bit of shopping, then returned to the ship for a huge dinner and a show. The next day, we were off to show Jen’s parents how backpackers travel from day to day. We landed in Calica, Mexico and were soon in our rental car headed through the backroads to Chichen Itza Mayan ruins. Along the way, we got to show them a bit of the “real-life” that is a developing country. Surprising for them, to say the least. We made it to Chichen Itza and had a great time looking at all the ruins. It never ceases to amaze us how these people so long ago created such amazing things. It was a hot hot day with perfect clear skies. Couldn’t have been better! We returned to the ship via the toll/interstate route so as to see some different sights along the way. Totally not worth it, since we were in forest the whole time basically and the tolls were pretty steep. Plus, we got in some  traffice coming through Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Jen’s parents began to get a bit nervous as our time to make it back to the ship dwindled. Jen and I are fairly accustomed to last minute arrivals, ever since Africa and all those wonderful parks that we couldn’t bear to leave a moment early! We made it back to the ship with only a few minutes to spare (though we were not the last onboard). Mr. Glenn and Mrs. Cathy were sweating just a bit. Ha ha! That night, more amazing food and another show. Great times onboard Carnival (btw Carnival, still waiting on my endorsement check…).

NOTE: WE HAD ONE EXTREMELY AMAZING, LIFE-CHANGING, ENLIGHTENING, BREATHTAKING TIME DURING OUR 16 MONTH TRIP. WE WOULDN’T TAKE BACK NOT ONE SECOND. THE FOLLOWING IS SOLELY MEANT AS A PRELUDE TO OUR THANKSGIVING THANKS THIS YEAR.

    Now happy to be back in the USA. Though we have heard terrible things about the state of our nation. About government healthcare for people who refuse to get a job, a struggling economy further depressed by the seeming total lack of basic psychological advisement (encourage people to think positively?) of anyone in charge, and the ever-present ?news? channels fighting with one another instead of just reporting the plain facts. Let me tell you a little secret about America. It is still, in my opinion, the greatest nation in the world. We have more rights, more freedoms, and more comforts than any other nation on earth. For anyone reading this who is from another country, I’m sorry if I step on some toes. I know that you may believe your country to be just great. All I’m doing is stating my opinion according to what I deem important in life. I love the USA! After living with cold or lukewarm showers, people who will not give you a moment of their time, dirty bathrooms that cost to use, touts pulling at us on every corner, and many more little daily hindrances over the last 16 months, I can clearly say that the United States is almost the only place where we experience none of those first four on a daily basis. The only exceptions that I can think of at present from the places we travelled are: New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, and Belize. That’s a short list, if you realize that we travelled to 71 countries. Notice no European country (our supposed closest relative) made that list…

    Now we are back in the daily grind. Looking for jobs, back on our Dave Ramsey budget, cooking nice healthy meals for ourselves, taking at least one steaming hot shower per day, applying to schools for my PhD or PsyD, taking out the trash…Ah, wonderful! We bought a couple cars as one of our first duties of being home. Mine is a 2003 Honda Accord that looks much younger than it is. Jen’s is a 2002 VW Passat that is beautiful! Two good cars, two good deals. Can’t beat that. We also replaced our laptop that was stolen in Ecuador. Still waiting on insurance to come through for us on that…and the car we crashed in South Africa…Maybe soon.

    I’ll be posting some statistics, World Heritage sites visited, more posts, expenses, and more soon. Please stay tuned!

    Well, not a lot else to say right now. Gotta get back to the job search and such. We uploaded pictures to flickr.com from the northern part of South America until the end of our trip, so check em out! Here’s where to find them: http://flickr.com/photos/alsupsworldtravels/

From this Photostream page, you can click “sets” to see all of the countries we visited in order with all of the pictures from those countries. Have fun! Let us know if you would like prints of any photos…Maybe we could make you a deal :).