Thank you Australia

OMG, I can't believe it finally happened.

And I can hardly believe it's over.

The last five weeks have been every bit the amazing experience I hoped they would be. I've met so many wonderful people who I've always wanted to meet. I've had a wonderful experience during my travels and you are all AMAZING and INCREDIBLE people!!

Thank you to everyone who offered me a bed or sofa. Thank you to everyone who put up with my crazy demands to swim every day. Thank you for those of you who held parties in my honor (or just by random coincidence while I happened to be in town).

And thank you to Malcolm, most of all. Because without you, this trip would never have happened.

Everyone I met is invited to come and visit me in San Francisco, or to camp with my camp at Burning Man if you so wish.

My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon. But time, unlike my month in London, I don't leave with a heavy heart. I'm going home to a place I love and cherish. I could never be sad to be on a plane to SF.

But I look forward to seeing all of you again, my new-found, old friends.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, Doc. Sorry that I didn't make it along the week before to meet you properly. I suppose a hello and a hug will have to do for introductions in real life.

Have a great trip home.

Travel safe...

good to see you again mate.. enjoy california once more

Safe travels

Swimming every day isn't insane!

Lots of love from your mates in Adelaide!

J

was awesome to have you stay bro...

I'm home. The flight was awful, as 14-hour non-stop flights are when you don't have a sleeping pill. The guy next to me had a hacking cough and kept me awake the whole, everlasting, eternal, interminable flight.

It's all a bit surreal right now, probably because of the absolute lack of sleep and the fact that I haven't been horizontal in over 24 hours... and yet it is earlier now than it was when I left. Woot, time travel!

Anyway, I'm still just sort of processing it all. It's strange to be back. Good, yes. But strange. Maybe because it all feels so normal. Like I'm doing laundry now. How banal!

It's 3:05 here on this winter Sunday in San Francisco. I left yesterday at 5PM on a summer Sunday in Sydney. It's foggy and 50°F/10°C. The light is already fading, as we are in the western part of the time zone and the winter solstice is in two weeks.

But it all happened. It really did!

And you ALL lost!

YAY for getting home safe and sound...!! even if the trip wasn't all it could have been...


twas lovely to meet you, doc; and I very much hope to take you up on that burning man offer one day... or san francisco, for that matter... I rather like it there, and you have the most fabulous classical guitar shop, ever... well, used to anyway; dunno if it still exists.

Was awesome to finally meet you after years of seeing your name on hop! It was an awesome party (cheers Josho and Kateo) and the meal you cooked the day after was really really good. All in all an excellent weekend. And I can now cut onions properly . Will definitely get to SF one day....

Big hugz

You arse

Glad to hear you made it back home safely

Lost what?

Doc, I feel your pain about the long flight...when myself and my daughter were on our way back, we had a couple in their 50's in front of us that dropped their seats back the moment they sat down and if we so much as bumped into their seats, we'd get dirty looks...they even complained to the flight attendants!!! Brandi started crying because she was so exhausted but it's impossible to sleep with someones seat in your face...neither of us can sleep sitting up and had used our trays on the flight over to lean on and sleep...the attendants had to tell these people repeatedly to raise their seats when they brought meals...I think they just wanted to be a pain in the arse!!!

Once we got to LA, since we were continuing on, we were on the same plane and it was almost empty...so they let everyone move to different seats...both Brandi and I were able to stretch out full length and finally get some sleep...

I won't go into the horror story of once we got to New York, but suffice it to say that I hope I never set foot in that infernal place again...rude is too light a word for it...

Umm...sorry...rant over...I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and I'm just sorry I couldn't have been back to meet you, too...make it back some time and we'll team up to do that Thanksgiving dinner...

Thank you, thank you very much

Oh, and if it's any consolation - it was really really foggy here this morning! unseasonably foggy

Imagine this: I lived for three years and only escaped to San Francisco in July. OMG what an awful place.

Are lived and survived synonymous in that context?

you didnt come back and visit us! well fingers crossed ill find you at burning man sometime.. eventually.....
was good to hang but love have fun back home

MNS... think "endured."