Coming Home

Well the time has finally come for me to pack up my luggage for the last time on this trip and begin the long trek home.

By the time I reach San Francisco I will have traveled over 22,000 miles, taken 12 flights, stayed in 7 hotels, survived two large earthquakes, narrowly avoided a mountain landslide, stayed less than 2 miles from New Zealand's largest terrorist bust in history, lost plenty of money in casinos, scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef, jumped off the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, eaten countless amazing dinners, kicked some local ass at pool in a gay bar in Auckland, among other things. The one thing I didn't get to do which I'm bummed about is sky dive over the Southern Alps. My booking was canceled because bad weather swept into the region :( I think I'll make it up to myself by doing it over San Francisco.

It really has been the trip of a lifetime but I'm really excited to get home to my dog, see familiar faces and most importantly crawl into my own bed. I will leave some parting thoughts on Australia and New Zealand as they relate to America however. They really have it good down here. The airports, for better or worse, aren't like state prisons. You can bring liquids on board, don't have to strip practically everything off to go through security, etc. etc. The people are extremely friendly, the landscapes and cities are beautiful, clean and safe. Overall it's just entirely a different pace of life and I find it extremely refreshing. It forces me to entertain the question, what the hell is wrong with our country. Somewhere along the line we really got it wrong and continue to do so.

Jake made a really good point the other day when a stranger sat down next to him at an outdoor cafe in Auckland. Jake immediately became defensive thinking that this man was going to rob him or was going to beg for money but all he wanted to do was have a friendly chat. How sad for us that as Americans we've been programmed to put up our guard and expect something negative out of virtually every stranger we encounter. That mentality just doesn't exist down here that I've witnessed. Our cities are dirty, wrought with crime, homeless and drugs but you don't see that here on any comparable scale. Why? I would give serious thought to moving down here at some point in my life just to get away from the daily bullshit that we all have to put up with but don't even realize anymore because it has become so ubiquitous. America definitely has it's finer points but I think I'm finding less and less of them the more I travel abroad.

Anyway, there's my "deep thought" for the day. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you SF people when I get home and all you Austin people when I come back for Thanksgiving! This is Nick Down Under signing off.