So it’s over. My sabbatical from work has finished, and I’m back to work tomorrow. I have to write that again for it to sink in – I’m going back to work tomorrow.
I’m sure there’s a number of you reading this feeling a little smug that after my big jolly I’m about to go back to reality. Hope he suffers big time, after all his showing off with the photos and descriptions of great places. Why should he have all the fun? Welcome back to our life. Well, I can’t blame you if you did think like that, and I’m sure I’ll satisfy your hunger to see me suffer when I return.
I’d like to finish off my blogging for these three months firstly with some stats I’ve worked out, and secondly – via the next post – a poem about it all. As you may know, I do a bit of writing and the odd poem, so I wanted to record all of the things I’ve seen, done, experienced and felt in my time away and at home since I’ve been off. The poem hasn’t got great structure or form, but it’s not meant to be perfect. Some of the lines can only be understood by me, some only by a few others, but for the most I hope you can get a good snapshot of it all and a feel of my journey. I didn’t realise I’d actually done so much until I counted the 36 verses! Hope you enjoy it, but it’s just as much for me as it is for anyone else.
I’ll end by saying a few thank-you’s:
Mum, Dad and family – Thanks for supporting me and not freaking out when I told you about my plans.
Olive – Not sure what I would have done with Tom and Geri without you!
Steve – Cheers for the advice and for helping to make my NY trip so good.
Eric, Mary, Nick and Kelly – Thank you for making it possible for me to take the three months off work, and for the support given to me.
And finally Alli – For giving me so many wonderful memories in this period, and for simply being you.
Don’t worry – I fully intend to think of other exciting stuff to do and blog about soon! Just give me a while to sink back to reality first….
Sabbatical stats
Number of flights: 16
Number of countries visited/landed in: 8
Number of capital cities visited/landed: 6
Number of miles travelled by bus: 2100
Number of miles travelled by air: Approx 25,000
Number of McDonald’s/Hungry Jack’s eaten: 0
Number of hostels stayed in: 18
Number of photos taken: Approx 6500
Number of photos put on Facebook/website: Approx 1200
Number of blog entries: 33
Number of lifetime ambitions achieved: 1.5 (“To parachute out of the sky” and “To travel the world” (well, this trip took me a bit closer to this one, but plenty more to do!))