The end of year has approached with alarming speed and just a little surprise for us this year but here it is and if this doesn’t get written and typed soon we will already be facing another year and the annual message will be superfluous.
This has been an unexpected and
delightful year of travel for us. It began with an extremely well planned and
much anticipated trip to America. In New York City we celebrated New Year’s Eve
with one of our dearest friends for the second time in the same bar in Harlem.
It was so good the first time we knew a repeat would be perfect and from what
little we all remembered of the occasion the following morning, we once again seem
to have partied it up with the locals. The rest of January was spent in the US
and we loved training all the way from NYC through Washington and Chicago with
stops in both places before the long haul on the California Zephyr. As avid
train travellers this was a dream come true. From our little roomette we took
in the landscape and incredible views of 6 states in total relaxation
mode. After disembarking in Sacramento
for a leisurely day strolling the old town, less than 12 hours later we reached
Oregon and kindred spirits and former BCF colleagues Julia and Charly hosted us
in their beautiful home in Florence. Whilst in the neighbourhood we simply had
to look up old mates from China days in San Francisco and much to our delight
also spend time in Los Angeles with Hiroshima cycling buddy, dear friend and
former boss Barry.
In February we returned home for
valuable and much needed time with family and friends. Before long however we
had to set to the task of packing away our former existence in Bhutan and
preparing ourselves for the new adventure of a 2-year stint in Tanzania. As
things panned out that particular plan stumbled in the starting blocks.
Disappointed, disillusioned and somewhat dazed we found ourselves back in
Bangkok with time on our hands and no real plan of action only 3 months later. It
was our decision to return to familiar territory and we had learned some
serious life lessons but found ourselves wondering “What now?”
Thus was born the 7 countries and 7
months concept. We are fortunate to have been able to afford this extravagance
and it has certainly fuelled our already passionate love of travel. Initially we
took some time out to simply relax and decide what we wanted to do. Having
never been to an island in Thailand, we decided that it was the prefect time to
do just that and formulate a plan in relative luxury. While considering our
employment options we were contacted by Madam Nancy, executive director of BCF
and invited to reapply to teach in Bhutan. We both did a double take at that
and wondered why it had not already occurred to us. For the previous 6 months I
had heard myself saying, “But in Bhutan…..” as a sentence opener so many times.
When we had decided to leave we were sure we needed a break but it was only
after we had left that we realized just how much we missed the students, the
landscape, the philosophy and the other worldliness of it….. so apply we did.
We also agreed to look seriously at
the employment options and opportunities for volunteering in several other
countries while we had both the time and the motivation. High on our list was
Myanmar, which became our first stop on the Asian trail. Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam were also contenders, which we wanted to investigate and that justified
the extended period of time spent travelling and the need to keep on the move,
at least in our own minds. Bhutan was also somewhere we had never really
explored having worked long 6-day weeks in both the years we lived there, so we
made enquires about getting that expensive tourist visa waived and taking a long
look around just to reconfirm that we really were prepared to give it a second
shot supposing we were accepted again by BCF.
Well all that is history now and we
have indeed been reaccepted to teach in Bhutan in the new and as yet unseen
location of Samtengang, starting in February 2014. We found ourselves in
Malaysia at the end of what can only be described as the most unexpectedly
adventurous and wonderful year.
We have had the most incredible Xmas at home in Adelaide, Australia and surprising my gorgeous sister by arriving unannounced on her doorstep just days before the big day was just wonderful. As was celebrating with Ian's sister and her family in their new home overlooking Adelaide with views all the way to the coast
All that remains is to wish you all
a safe, healthy and joyous silly season and every happiness in the year to
come.
Peace and love always,
Vicky and Ian xxxxxx
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