After more than two months on the road, a home-cooked meal and comfortable bed are simple pleasures that actually make you giddy (like schoolgirl giddy). And then when one of those comes your way, you have to resist the urge to try and pay for it. After all, you become used to paying for everything when you're travelling (yes, often including toilet paper, use of washrooms, watching television, sitting in a chair, etc...) and the comforts of home are one of the few things worth every penny.
Erin and I have been lucky enough to meet up with some friends on our trip, providing places to stay, the mind blowing home cooking, some travel and much-needed direction. In Australia and Thailand we knew we were on our own for extended periods and planned accordingly, but our foray into Europe has been one big unplanned cross-your-fingers and hope we make it home with money to spare and clothes on our back kinda thing. Oddly, it's gone off almost flawlessly due in large part to the help of some friends. We should make it back with some money to actually rent an apartment in Edmonton when we get there -- though the quality of that apartment is up for debate since it will be a hectic two-day search for one. Yay us.
Here's a little breakdown of the last 70 days to show why a bed, some food and a friendly face might mean so much to a couple of wearied backpackers nearing the end of their trip:
FOOD:
- Estimated number of sandwiches we've each eaten: 90
- Jars of peanut butter gone through: 5
- Number of those 90 sandwiches involving peanut butter: 40
- Estimated time until we acquire an appetite for having another sandwich: 1 month.
- Percentage of time cheapness beats out goodness at food-buying time: 50%.
- Number of times we buckled and ate bad fast food, despite reading Fast Food Nation: 5 (not bad).
- Meals we actually got to cook for ourselves: 10
- Times sent gasping for liquid and air after eating something unexpectedly hot: 5 (note -- the smallest peppers are the hottest peppers. They are not to be mocked.)
- Meals spent wondering what the heck we were actually eating: 100-plus (mystery meat in Asia a big contributor, while black and white pudding and haggis were among the European additions... thanks Diabs).
SLEEP:
- Number of different beds slept in during last 70 days: about 50.
- Number that felt like concrete: 3
- Number in the back of a campervan: 7
- Number that actually felt and looked clean: 25... maybe.
- Nights spent in multi-share rooms with between 1 and 10 other people: 10
FACES:
- Number of new faces and names added to memory: 150-plus
- Rate at which they're filtering out the other ear: 3 per day.
- Number of new friends we keep in touch with: about 10.
- Days into the trip until we saw a familiar face (Jane): 45.
Sometimes travel starts to wear on you and staying in one more shared hostel, having one more peanut butter and jam sandwich, or paying for a coffee just so you can sit in a chair somewhere will drive ya bonkers. Not only did seeing some old friends and their families allow us to maintain sanity and save a little money (ok, a lot of money), but we also got a little insight into European living. (They actually eat Haggis like a meal in Scotland. I'm not kidding you.)
Oh yeah, we saw castles and bridges and all sorts of stuff in Europe, but we'll save that for the next pod.
Cheers,
Scott and Erin
-the fearless Haggis eaters
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