Day 22: A Day with 31 Hours
Today I am finishing the last lag of my one way around the world trip, flying from Sapporo to Tokyo, from Tokyo crossing the Pacific to Toronto, and then from Toronto back to Boston. The total flying time is 17.5 hours. Because I am crossing the date line, instead of 24 hours, I actually have 31 hours today. After constantly chasing the time for a little more than 3 weeks, today is like hitting a reset button, the time will swing back to my normal time, life will slowly fall back into my usual daily routine, getting up at 7:15am, leaving to work around 8:30am, making my weekly lunches on Sundays, seeing and hanging out with friends in Boston, and so on. I am sure it will take me a few days to recover from the jet-lag, but man, right now, I am feeling awesome, totally awesome, to have finished a goal, to complete a full circle, a trip I have planned for months. Will I do this all over again?! Absolutely.
This trip has covered 21000 miles, probably a little more than that since I changed to fly via India from Kathmandu to Hong Kong instead of flying direct. In total, I have taken 11 flights, 12 if I counted the mountain flight to see Mount Everest. I have landed in 10 countries and visited 5 of them. Traveled with Paul for 4 days in Israel, and 6 days with Bryan in Hokkaido. Made some new friends from my Petra and my Mount Everest trips, also Tel Aviv actually. Had great experiences with all of the airbnb I stayed, and the onsen-ryokan experience in Hokkaido was beyond wonderful. I still couldn't forget how the owner of the ryokan made us feel so welcomed the whole time and wanted to take a picture with us when we left. A small gesture like that just bring an already great experience to the next level. The little bumps with the tours in Nepal was a lesson to learn, I did get to see what I wanted. I think that's all mattered.
I kind of missed the hotel manager in Kathmandu, he was kind of a character, and his staffs were so nice to me, though I know they were working for the tips, they made my stay a lot more at ease than it would have been. I am already missing the foods in Hokkaido, seriously do. We did eat a ton, but they were so good, fresh and cheap. In Japan, I really like the Japanese work ethnics. We have not seen a bitch face from a cashier or waiters/waitresses. They took on these roles in a society and they gave their best, even a tram driver, or an elevator lady, they thank you for coming in and going out, almost robotic probably to some people, instead I like to think that they are sincere. Trains! I absolutely missed the trains in Germany and Japan. They are so orderly and everything is always on time, if not exact to the minute. That's how it should be.
In a way, the four regions I have visited: Berlin, Israel/Petra, Nepal, and Hokkaido, are quite different from each other. Instead of calling it a round the world trip, it is really more like 4 very distinct trips but combined into one monster trip. I will need some times to sort out the pictures when I get home, so I can pick out the good ones and make a photo book or something. I said I would do that for my South America trips before too, but never got to it. I should not let that happen to this trip. Zoran, the Serbian/Canadian, from the Petra tour, just sent me some photos he took of me while I was working on the giant rock in the desert. Those were great memories.
The flight from Tokyo to Toronto was actually pretty pleasant, I had all 3 seats to myself, I slept for 5 hours roughly, and watched 2 movies. I like Air Canada, quite cozy. Passing the US customs in Toronto is somewhat easier, less people anyway. The officer examined my passport against my face for pretty long, I almost blushed. He was quite polite though, and asked me what I brought back from Japan. I said vinyl/music records, he said, that's all you bring. I said yes. He smiled. This is the second officer who smiled at my vinyl addiction. Yes, I am vinylholic. Don't judge me.
Paul already knew, I was already planning my 2016 trips before I have even finished this current one, that's me. We are looking into Europe (possibly France) for April/May, and Hong Kong plus another Asian city for October/November time frame. We'll see. Meanwhile, I am going to soak myself in the memories of this past wonderful journey and enjoy the last flight before arriving home in an hour and a half.
See the other photos from Day 22 here.