Back home to Chicago...and the Snow!

So two weeks is really a great amount of vacation time...long enough to really relax, but not long enough that you get homesick, and your plants don't need watering in that amount of time. We made it back to Singapore after leaving our "interesting" guest house in Langkawi after following our guest house owners' map he drew for us the night before to find our way to the main road to hail our cab, the road only went one way so I am not sure why the detailed map...but he was an interesting man, just trying to make sure we found our way... So we flew back to Kuala Lumpur and then a luxury bus back to Singapore. This time we stayed right in the heart of Little India for our last night of Ethnic Culture, Maureen caught a repeat of the Academy Awards on TV, one of the first times we turned on a TV in two weeks. The morning we left, it was raining! The first time in our whole vacation, that we had any kind of weather, it was nice the whole time.

my street home in chicago

Our flights home had some challenges, a lesson that when you are needing to get home, and traveling stand by, its always good to leave an extra day on the end in case of any delays or cancellations. We were delayed out of Singapore, and arrived in Hong Kong to news of our flight canceling to Los Angeles, so were lucky to get a seat in "the village" the back of the plane ( its always hard after riding in style on the way there!) but we were grateful for just getting seats on the plane, which brought us  back to San Francisco where we first started out and we said goodbye, Maureen going home to San Diego, and myself home to Chicago, and 4 inches of snow, good thing I left a pair of snow boots and a warm jacket in storage at the airport for my return.

view off my back porch

Being so far from home, in another country, actually 3 countries this time,. really shows you how connected we all our in the vast world. You let go of any pre-conceived judgments on people and religions and cultures when you spend time being a guest in their countries, and its very humbling. It seems that here at home in the US there is alot of separation when it comes to different nationalities living together and getting along.There it just works, and it makes you just want to come home and be nice to everyone , no matter what they believe in, and how different their beliefs are. You appreciate all the things you do have and take for granted, like a flushing toilet, being able to drink the water straight from the faucet, and the freedom to travel so easily into other countries just by being born here in America. In our whole trip, Maureen and I only met one other couple from America, it seems that Americans just aren't traveling to that part of the world. It made us feel very special that we got the chance to see and be part of such new places and experiences.