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  Ellicott City, Maryland, United States
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

We got up very early in the morning, took the subway to Chinatown, and hopped on the rather legendary Chinatown bus.  For only $20 and absolutely no customer service, this bus will go up and down the east coast.  I watched the magnificent skyline of NYC as we zoomed down I-95 towards Philadelphia.  Apparently, Philadelphia also has a Chinatown.  Baltimore, on the other hand, does not appear to.  Touring New York and busing down the east coast was a fitting way to end our trip.  I found that I was taking in the US as I did all of our other countries.  One of the first things I do upon entering a country (usually on a bus ride), is to study and read everything I see from the window in order to get some insight into this new place.  I saw a huge highway, plenty of shopping centers, and a strange thing called a motel, but I hardly saw any people.  Who are these Americans?  In fact, where are they? 

We pulled into Chinatown, Washington, DC about 4 hours later.  We stopped at the American embassy (McDonald's) to use the bathroom, then went to catch the metro to Silver Spring.  We sat outside looking like homeless vagabonds (oh wait, that's what we are), until Erin's Mom jumped excitedly out of her car.  We had taken public transportation as far as it could go, clear around the world, but we still needed a Mom to take us the final leg.  We were home.

"You guys smell," she commented.  "Like, rancid."

We dumped our backpacks and spent some time looking through the packages we had sent home.  Then we joined both our parents for a celebratory dinner of delicious roast beef. 

They asked us how we had changed, but I found I wasn't ready to talk about it yet.  I needed time to process what had happened and how it had changed my life.  

Our lives are very uncertain right now.  We are faced with finding a job in an economy that seems to be on the verge of disaster, and establishing a life in a country that will be changed forever in the upcoming election.  The sense of purpose that has guided our lives for the past year has evaporated instantly, leaving me feeling slightly adrift and unmotivated.  But I have hope that things will work out, one way or the other.

For now however, the great journey is over.

When time permits, I'd like to add a few concluding entries to this site, including some final thoughts on the trip, favorite places, lessons learned, financial stats, etc.  So stay tuned.

I'd like to thank the thousands of readers who have logged onto our site during the course of the trip.  Special thanks go to our family and friends who read and commented on the site.  Also thanks to the other bloggers on travelpod who asked questions or simply expressed their appreciation.  We wouldn't have had the motivation to document our trip if it wasn't for your praise and support.

Thank you all and I hope our adventure inspired you to get out and see the world yourselves.
~Travis
 

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