Goodbye and thanks for all the fish

So what does one write in a final blog?
We could share all our favourite photos of the amazing things we've seen: the mountainous landscapes of Patagonia, New Zealand and Tibet or the amazing wildlife of the Galapagos and Costa Rica...but have realised we don't have access to them as they're sitting safely on a hard-drive in Edinburgh, so we'll have to share them with you/ bore you with them when we next see you.
We could tire you with more accounts of the pain fun of skiing in -40C (where two runs were all we could manage between coffee stops), running the Kepler track in NZ in 9 1/2 hrs (our poor knees), being power-stretched by Shaolins way past the pain threshold, or the deep thigh pain that builds from cycling day after day over the Alps and across Europe...but those are things that are probably better felt, than written about.
We could write about all the amazing food we've eaten (and drinks we've drunk!), in particular the French Cafe in Auckland (the best food we've ever eaten) and our own culinary efforts in Gerty the wonder-bus...but you'll have to wait until you next come to dinner to see if it's influenced our cooking (or sommeliering).
We could try to impress you with some of the new skills we have learnt...kite surfing, kung fu, tai chi, photography...or our (often comic) attempts at speaking Spanish, Thai, Mandarin, Tibetan, Nepalese, Italian and French...but that's best done in person.
Or we could write about how the experience has had a deep and lasting impact on us and what we learnt from our time with the Shaolins and Tibetan Monks...but that's way too serious for this blog!
So all that's left to say is a few thank you's....
...to Brian and Jackie, for their help with all our mail & admin whilst we were away...
...to Andrew, for his help with our photos...
...for all of you who have enabled us to feel connected, despite the distances - via skypes, email, or just reading our blog...
...and to our guardian angels, who ensured a remarkedly event-free trip (except for: the occasional bout of illness, particularly in China; the destruction of one bag by a (Chinese) airport conveyor belt; one big flight delay causing us to need to buy a second set of onward flights (cheers LAN Ecuador) and at the time of writing a lost bag to the Italian postal service (but we're hopeful it will turn up soon!)).
For anybody who is tempted to follow in our footsteps - go for it: it will certainly stun, impress, sometimes disappoint, but overall, enrich your life (we're allowed one cheesy line surely?).
So that's all folks (until next time) - we can't wait to see you all and hear all your news - thanks again for watching.
And finally, in the (slightly adapted) immortal words of Frankie S:


And now, the end is near, and so we face, the final curtain,
Our friends, who we hold dear, we've missed you lots, of that we're certain,
Our trip, was full of fun, we've travelled each and every highway
We've faced it all, we've had a ball,
We did it, our way!


Goodnight x