As far as the eye can see, the Great Wall winds its way along the mountain ridge. It's our last day in China, and the last day of the Odyssey World Trek. Tomorrow we fly from Beijing to San Francisco.
Far below, Jasmine and Kavitha sit by the reservoir chatting. I can hear them laughing. That's one thing I've learned on this trip: Americans are really LOUD!
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18 Months, 35 countries!
USA
Mexico
Guatemala
Belize
El Salvador
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Argentina
South Africa
Swaziland
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Burkina Faso
Mali
Senegal
Morocco
Spain
Greece
Egypt
Israel/Palestine
Turkey
Cyprus
Iran
India
Nepal
Thailand
China
Bold means we focused on that country
Italics means that I, personally, didn't go there, but at least 1 trekker did
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In the last 18 months I've been to 31 countries! That wasn't even possible until recently in human history. For example, imagine when Marco Polo journeyed along the Silk Road to China. He didn't cover HALF the distance we did! Then again, he didn't have guidebooks, ATM cards, laptops and Internet cafés like we do!
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Sometimes I didn't think we would make it. Once, we were all thrown in jail in South Africa! Kavitha once got stuck on an island with angry buffalo and crocodiles in Zimbabwe. Another time, Kevin got malaria! I was ready to quit a few times, like when we tried to cross the Sahara Desert.
This has been an unbeatable adventure! I bet we're the first to do this: we've done an amazing thing.
I'm sure you all have some of the same questions that my friends and family have, so here are my answers.
Question 1: So Abeja, now what are you going to do with your life?
Answer: I'm going to sleep a lot. Then I'm going to call all of my friends and have a big party. After that, I'll climb a mountain!
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Question 2: When's the book coming out?
Answer: Do you want to help write it?
Question 3: So, will you be doing the Odyssey US Trek this fall?
Answer: No way! I'm taking a break!
Thanks for reading, and stay in touch with the Odyssey and with the world. After all, it's getting smaller every day!
Abeja
p.s. - Please e-mail me at ...abejahummel@bigfoot.com