Tim and Mari’s World Tour – Back Home

Back Home

Today is October 23rd, 2000. One year ago on this day, my wife and I left to travel around the world on a backpacking-honeymoon saga. As of this day our plane tickets, world health coverage, and camera warranties all expire. We have reached the magic point that our Gregorian calendars dictate is significant.

Of course, we are home from our trip. We currently sit in a rented cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. We have been home for a few weeks now (having run out of money earlier than one full year), and yet we still feel deeply touched by our journey. For everything we do here at home, we are reminded of a portion of our trip. Simply making a morning cup of coffee sparks several memories from the trip, such as making a cup off my tail-gate in the outback of Australia. I would wake, and battling flies and scorching heat, would boil water on a malfunctioning stove. There was no one around for miles, it was dry, and we watched road-trains fly by our camp. Now, I wake up and flick a switch. The other difference is that this morning it’s only 4°Celcius outside.

The morning that we boarded that last plane, life was exciting. We had arrived at the airport early, and spent the last of our money in the duty-free. I remember boarding the plane, and getting very excited as we taxied down the runway. Our flight was with Air Canada, and we were really excited about this. Every where we looked on the plane, things reminded us of home. The magazines were in French and English, all the staff had maple leafs on their jackets, and the on-flight movie started with a news brief from the CBC. When the stewardess brought me a Canadian Beer, I almost started crying.

At the airport in Toronto, things were very much how we remembered them. The luggage was slow, and customs was inefficient. I guess we were in a hurry though, and I was impatient to see my family. What does stand out in my mind was the lady beside us in customs. She had arrived in Toronto with a one way ticket. She had no money, and spoke neither English or French. She kept saying the word "family" to the customs official, but she couldn’t answer any of his questions. She was still waiting after we left.

When we got into the main airport, there were several people looking for us. It turns out that my mother had described me to the others waiting beside her, who were now assisting her is spotting Mari and I. They all called out "THAT’S THEM!!" as Mari and I walked out.

The very first thing I did, was to buy a large “Tim Horton’s Coffee”. It may seem strange to non-Canadians, but this is a tradition.

The drive home took a little over two hours (I live 200 km north of Toronto). When we got home, my mother had prepared a home cooked meal. It was everything we could have hoped for. Roast beef, mashed potatoes, lots of gravy and a home-made pie. It was everything we had missed about home, well at least all the edible stuff.

Since we have been home, we have been involved in all the wrap up that you could imagine from such a long trip. We processed film, and then subjected family and friends to long slideshows. We got part-time jobs at an outdoor centre, and we found a house to live in for the winter.

Right now, we are getting ready for winter. We have been canoeing, hiking, and snapping lots of fall photos. It feels good to be back, and it will be nice to enjoy some winter sports after essentially missing winter last year. We have decided to just travel our region for a little while, but occasionally we still get the travel bug. To make matters worse, we have enough air-miles to go on another trip.

For everyone that followed our journey, we thank you so much. The support we got as we travelled was wonderful. We received lots of mail, and tried to answer as many questions as we could. If anyone wants to know more, please feel free to write to us, we appreciate it.

Thanks.

Tim and Mari