It’s all over

My next destination after Vancouver was Dallas in Texas, USA. Strangely, when flying from Canada to the US, you pass through both Canadian and American customs procedures before leaving Canada. Because of this, a good chunk of Canadian airports are considered American soil. When I was having my passport checked by American officials, they believed I had been previously denied entry in the US, as an old entry stamp had a pen-squiggle over it. I argued that it was a roughly drawn circle (which it was), and not a cross (meaning entry was denied), and after a 15-minute interrogation by other officials, I was finally let through!

I was only in Dallas for an overnight stopover, and I only had time to book into a hotel, grab some dinner and go to bed before leaving early the next morning to Hawaii.

As there was a mix-up with the airlines earlier, I had to rearrange some flights. So instead of my original plan of having three nights here, I only had one.

I arrived in the mid-afternoon and as soon as possible checked into my hotel at Waikiki Beach. Following this, I took a bus to Waimea bay (which was over two hours' drive away, but amazingly only cost $2 to ride) and arrived just in time to see the sun set. Waimea Bay is world-famous for enormous waves. Although the waves that day were smaller than average (about 20-30 feet, which is still huge), the shape of the waves were the most impressive part. Each wave peeled away perfectly in the shape of long hollow tubes, which is exactly what a surfer dreams of. Apparently the forecast for the next day was for 50-foot waves. After darkness covered the beach, I made my way back to the hotel via dinner at the Honolulu Hard Rock Cafe.

After nearly 12 months away from home, my trip has now come to an end. My final day was spent flying back to Australia, and now I'm home with family and friends catching up on lost time.

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Major highlights of the year:

Seeing to the Australian Open Tennis in Melbourne
Watching the sun rise in the Namibian desert
Quadbiking through the desert near Swakopmund, Namibia
Watching animals feed at a watering hole during sunset in the Namibia
Canyon Swinging in Zambia
Driving around the island of Zanzibar
Watching a leopard hunt down an impala in the Ngoro Crater, Tanzania
Working in London
Dad's visit to London
Seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform in Dublin, Ireland
Watching Back To The Future with 10,000 people on a massive outdoor cinema screen in London
Getting lost at night in Venice, Italy
Going 200 km/h down the German Autobahns
Riding through the desert on a camel around the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt
Seeing U2 perform in New York
Going to NBA and NFL games in Oakland, USA
Watching the sun set over Waimea Bea in Hawaii

My top 5 favourite destinations for the year:

Skeleton Coast, Namibia
New York, USA
Venice, Italy
London, England
Zanzibar, Tanzania

Thanks for your kind hospitality and/or free accommodation:

Nana and Pop in Australia
Venkatesh Kedar in Australia
The Sullivan family in England
Chris Dowsett in England
Orla in Ireland
Rebecca Wood in Hungary
Christoph Lutz in England
Marieke Defoer in Belgium
Petra and Frank Sühl in Germany
The Hess family in Germany
Andrew Kesper in Germany
Patrick Luetjens in Germany
Gerry and Pat in Canada

Thanks for travelling and/or meeting up with me in foreign places:

Dad in Australia, England and Scotland
Chris Dowsett in England and Wales
Shweta Kakkar in England
The African tour crew in England (and in Africa of course)
Darragh Murray in Ireland
Courtney Irvine in England
Rebecca Wood in Hungary, Serbia and England
Angela Vink in England, Czech Republic and Italy
Adam Mackie in England
Erica Glynn in the USA
Yaro Starak in Canada

Sorry if I didn't mention somebody. Please contact me if you think someone is missing.

Miscellaneous thanks to:

Ursula at the German Consulate in Brisbane and Opa for helping me obtain a German Passport.
Barbara O'Neill at STA Travel at the University of Queensland for helping organise all those airfares and the African trip.
Everyone at Precedent in London for all the good times at work - in particular: Christoph Lutz, Mark Thomas, Peter Hammans and Bev Sullivan.
Everybody for reading my site - I hope you liked it!